Brandon, long haired chihuahua

Lost in the Snow

As told by Terri Burney

February 9, 2010

During a snow storm on Saturday, January 30th, little Brandon was allowed to mill about outside the house while his family was shoveling snow. Turns out he needed more supervision than the family members could give him while shoveling, and he wandered off.

Ten days and MANY fliers later, plus Craigslist postings and assorted other efforts, firefighters that had seen a little dog hanging around their station called the county Animal Control Office. Brandon's family has reported him missing to the AC Office, and someone there matched the description of the wandering dog with the missing dog, and called Brandon's owner, Phil. Stuck at work, he started a series of phone calls that put Lynda at fire house, where she investigated the sighting, canvassed people in the area, and put up and handed out fliers.

When Lynda arrived at the station, she met up with Billy, one of the firefighters there. As they were talking about Brandon and how he had been hanging around their firehouse for the past 24 hours, who went running by them but Brandon himself! But he was gone in a flash.

Lynda started flyering around the immediate streets, taking flyers to places such as the Jewish Community Center and the 7-11, and she talked to people who were out and about throughout the next several hours. In this canvassing, she heard many reports of Brandon running around this area over the last day!

After a few hours, and after she was soaking wet from hanging fliers and walking through the deep snow, Lynda was about to call it a day, and go home and get some dry clothes on. She decided to make one last drive through the church parking lot where she originally saw Brandon. Again, she saw Brandon running toward the fire house! By now, it was about 3:15 - 3:30, and Phil had left work (near Dulles Airport) and was to be arrivingt at any time. She called him, and he confirmed that he was on his way and would be there soon.

So Lynda waited until Phil arrived so that she could show him the three primary spots Brandon seem to be hanging around. She stayed in her van while Phil started walking around the three areas. Another volunteer, Terri, had shared with him that he could try softly talking to Brandon (not calling out his name!) but just talking to him like he normally would at home, before going on a walk, or going to bed, or giving him treats... something that Brandon seemed to understand when they talked to him.

For a few minutes, Phil did just this; he walked around talking out load to Brandon just as though he was right there. As Lynda watched Phil heading back towards the fire house, and her van, she saw that Brandon was walking right behind Phil -- practically on his heels. Lynda thought to herself, What the heck, now that Phil has his dog, why is he making him walk rather than carrying him . . . not realizing that Phil didn't see Brandon or know that he was right under his feet!!!

When Phil saw Lynda's face, and her arms up in the air, he turned around and to his surprise, saw his long lost dog! He bent down and Brandon jumped up in his arms and was kissing and kissing him, and he was still giving him kisses when Terri got there about 10 minutes later! This was a truly happy ending after ten very difficult days for Brandon's family.

Source://findbrandon.blogspot.com