as told in a thank-you note from her pet parent, sent to his listserv
May 3rd, 2010
Thank you all for the emails, phone calls and visits…we are very fortunate to have such incredible neighbors and we can’t say thank you enough.
For those of you who are interested…we have a story that should probably include the name Lassie somewhere in the title.
As you know, we lost Brooklyn on March 23…a very sad day. Our adventurous pup was sauntering about with our Nanny Marta and little Miss Olivia making their second loop on Wilton Avenue. Brooklyn was distracted by something and made off between Jay and Shanna’s house and Chris’s house for a peek at a squirrel or two. Needless to say… Brooklyn never made it home that depressing Tuesday. And on top of that, our daughter was being woken up by the clanking of the dog tags so Mr. Bright Guy had the brilliant idea of “no collar Tuesday”.
So we had fliers made up…I think to the tune of 750 and had a few dozen posters made. Ben O’Toole and his clan of friends manned their bikes, and we plastered the neighborhood. We called all vets within a 50 mile radius and visited the local shelters regularly. We took out ads in the Washington Post and Craig’s List. As desperate as we were, we brought in a professional dog tracker, sent out a Pet Amber Alert and I hate to admit it, but we even succumbed to the hair brained idea of reaching out to a psychic…all of which were a total bust. It’s amazing what we will do in times of desperation.
And then the secret weapon…Robin Siegel. Robin lives in the area and happened upon one of our posters and shot me an email….”what can I do to help?” I’ve never met her and yet she treated us like we were her family and inspired us that we were going to find Brooklyn .
Last night, Robin came across an ad on Craig’s list about a Vizsla found in Virginia, and she responded to it. Well don’t crack the champagne yet…it wasn’t our dog.
BUT…the woman, Jessie, who found that dog had come across another listing of "a Lab/Hound mix" that was happened upon in Luray , VA …101 miles from good ole Silver Spring. The woman wrote Robin back to say “Sorry to bug you again, but we noticed this other dog (not the one we found) - I'm not sure how the humane society comes across their dogs, but we thought it worth sending to you.”
Robin passed on the note to me. I saw the adoption notice, which included a picture and immediately woke my wife…we both insisted that this was our dog. Now the picture was not a close up so we weren’t 100 percent. I drove to Centreville this morning to the humane society farm…incredible facility…someone left those folks a LOT of money.
Anyway, there she was running in a field. All the dogs announce my arrival with a chorus of barks, which grabbed our little reddish brown friend’s attention. And it’s safe to say that the staff did not need any evidence of ownership other than the massive howling, panting and whimpering…I’m speaking of the dog’s owner. Brooklyn was doing her own dance.
Now, we doubt Brooklyn made her way to Luray, Va on her own accord. We figure someone driving on Forsythe had the good intentions of caring for a collarless dog…and may have attracted her with a ham sandwich…then again a smile and a high pitch “here pup” would have sufficed. And then simply fell in love with her.
Brooklyn was found with a new collar, plump in the belly and still had her glistening coat…she was obviously well cared for. Our knucklehead dog was found on US 211 by Wallace Road …right next to the Days Inn Motel. She was scooped up by the Humane Society, given the name Annie and put up for adoption. So we surmise that on Friday her new trustees must have put her in the yard and gone off to work. And Miss Escape Artist must have had enough with her new landlords and hopped the fence looking for a way back home.
And here we are…six weeks later…we are like a pup with two peters…just loving life.
So lessons learned: leashes; micro chips; tattoos and determination in finding your dog…a family member…that our daughter Olivia calls “Sister”. And having good people like Robin Siegel who care enough to just help a strange family and their dog reunite. We offered Robin the reward money…she graciously refused. We will be making a donation to the Humane Society in Robin’s name.
WOOF
Brandon, Andi, Olivia and Brooklyn
Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/robinsiegel/4461566886
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