By Rick Smith
April 23, 2010
Jessica Cochran hugs her dog for the first time in almost four years after she was reunited with her missing dog, Roby, at Kirby Park on Thursday. Cochran, who moved from San Angelo in 2007, drove 1,000 miles from Iowa to retrieve her dog after it was left at the animal shelter.
SAN ANGELO, Texas — When the young woman stepped back outside, her “baby” was gone.
Jessica Cochran had taken Roby, her Pembroke Welsh Corgi, into the front yard of her San Angelo home for his regular evening ritual. Her well-trained 2 1/2-year-old dog knew the drill: Go down the steps. Do your business. Come right back.
But Roby never came home on the November night 3 1/2 years ago.
Cochran, an Iowa native who had been stationed at Goodfellow Air Force Base, saw a dark pickup driving away into the night.
Roby had vanished.
Big dogs with short legs, Corgis are bred to herding animals. They’re friendly and loving — and expensive. To Cochran, pets are family. She bought Roby from a San Angelo breeder when the pup was 8 1/2 weeks old. They had been together ever since.
“He was my buddy,” she said. “We went everywhere together.”
She wouldn’t give him up without a fight.
Cochran filed a police report. She put up notices in veterinary offices and pet stores, visited and revisited the animal shelter, drove up and down alleys, looking in yards. She ran an ad in the newspaper.
Nothing.
When she left San Angelo a year later, Cochran knew she would never see Roby again.
“When I moved away, I kind of learned to move on and give up hope,” she said. “My pets are my kids, and I just hoped somebody was taking care of him.”
But, she said, “I never forgot him.”
She moved to Wyoming first. Then, two weeks ago, days before a scheduled move to her home state, Iowa, she received a certified letter from San Angelo’s animal shelter.
“I was shaking,” she said. “Everything was going through my head. Was he found dead?”
She opened the letter and cried.
“What’s wrong?” her father asked.
“It’s Roby,” she told him. “He’s home.”
Someone anonymously left Roby in an after-hours kennel at the shelter. He looked cared for. Shelter workers scanned a microchip implanted between the Corgi’s shoulder blades and found contact information.
Would she come get her dog?
In the middle of a move, Cochran asked San Angelo best friend Mindy Ross to pick up Roby and keep him safe.
Late Thursday afternoon, Cochran ended a 1,000-mile drive from Iowa at Kirby Park in San Angelo.
A few minutes later, Mindy drove up and opened the car door.
Roby jumped out. Sniffed the air. Pricked up his ears.
“Roby!” called Cochran. “Look Roby! Come here!”
He barreled across the lawn, into Cochran’s waiting arms.
“Where have you been?” she asked, hugging her dog.
“Let’s go home.”
Source: http://www.gosanangelo.com/news/2010/apr/23/missing-for-3-12-years-lost-dog-finally-finally/
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1 comment:
I've shed a tear of happiness watching this video and reading the story. Thank you to the San Angelo shelter for following through with the chip number!!! Grats Roby and Jessica!
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