by Meg Fraser
May 27, 2010
UNLIKELY REUNION: Stew, or McDoogle as Trisha Molloy and his Rhode Island foster family called him, was reunited with his owner, Rory Didas on Thursday at the Hampton Inn in Warwick.
On March 25, Rory Didas ran out of his home in Rockwall, Texas after his dog Stew got loose. Stew has always been a runner, so the Didas family knew the drill. They hit the streets, looking for the 5-year-old Boston terrier they had owned since he was eight months old.
“He’s always been my runner. He usually sticks around the neighborhood but he’s deaf so you can’t call him, you have to look for him,” Didas explained.
The search was unsuccessful. Stew was nowhere to be found.
About 1,500 miles away, he was snuggling up to Trisha Molloy in her Cranston home.
When Stew ran off in March, a passerby on their way through the city picked him up. Didas called the area shelters, but the traveler brought the dog all the way to Fort Worth, 60 miles away from his home and family.
Within a few days, Stew was in trouble again. Shelter employees who did not realize he was deaf deemed him aggressive. Before the sentence could be carried out, Friends of Homeless Animals, a non-profit animal rescue organization, stepped in.
“He narrowly avoided euthanasia,” Molloy said.
Molloy is a volunteer with Friends of Homeless Animals. Often times, due to the volume of homeless dogs and cats in the southern states, rescue animals are brought to the northeast on caravans. Stew arrived on one such caravan.
As Molloy began the search for a home for him, she fostered the terrier, which they knew as McDuff. Molloy and her fiance Steve Murphy didn’t care for the name, so they called him McDoogle.
It didn’t take long for McDoogle to fit in with the family.
“He’s a very, very sweet boy. We may have spoiled him a little bit,” Molloy said.
Stew – or McDoogle at the time – got along with Molloy’s two other dogs, but was more of a people puppy. He liked to cuddle with Molloy and Murphy.
They too noticed his penchant for running, though, and had to keep a close eye on the dog. He settled in nicely, but likely missed the acre and a half he was used to back home. Home missed him too.
“To most people it’s a dog, but to us he’s a family member. You don’t realize it,” Didas said. “We all went into a funk.”
Including their younger Boston terrier, Sally. Didas’ 8- and 10-year-old sons were also worried that Stew had been injured by one of the coyotes in the woods surrounding their home.
Didas held out hope, however. When his calls to shelters turned up empty, he posted a photo on Petfinder.com.
Meanwhile, across the country, Molloy was firming up adoptions plans. Just as she got the wheels in motion, one of her coworkers from Friends of Homeless Animals saw the photo of Stew and noticed similarities to McDoogle.
“We were able to connect and we compared notes,” Molloy said.
Within days, Didas had reserved a flight.
And when he set eyes on the dog last week at the Hampton Inn in Warwick, Stew’s wagging stub of a tail gave him away.
“I thought he liked us, now I see how he is when he really likes someone,” Molloy said, laughing.
Didas scooped the dog into his arms and cradled him like a baby.
“He’s a great dog. I’m extremely excited,” he said.
As if getting Stew back weren’t gift enough, Molloy pushed a bag forward. Along with some treats and food for Stew’s trip home, there was a shirt for the pup and a small scrapbook titled, “Living it Up: Stew’s Vacation in Rhode Island.” Flipping through, Didas got a glimpse of his dog at the park, cuddling with his foster family and visiting Rhode Island people and places.
“We’re going to miss him,” Molloy said.
Murphy broke in, adding, “I already do.”
He described the reunion as “unbelievable.”
Didas attributed it to rescue volunteers like Molloy and Friends of Homeless Animals.
“You can’t really say enough wonderful things. They saved his life,” he said, shaking his head. Didas said he plans to make a donation to the organization.
“Holy cow, there are great people looking out for each other,” he added.
Didas flew back to Texas first thing on Friday, but said his wife had already made the rounds to let the neighbors know of Stew’s homecoming.
After the whole family got to reunite, Didas said there was just one more thing on the agenda: get Stew an electronic tracking chip.
Source: http://warwickonline.com/view/full_story_news/7723125/article-Missing-Texas-dog-found-on-RI-vacation--1-500-miles-away?instance=home_news_right
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