Fred, Beagle

Truck driver and his dog reunited
Sarah Weber
10:01 AM Nov 08 2010

Port Clinton (THE REST OF THE STORY)

Fred the beagle bounced happily off the chest of his master, Fred Sanicky, during a most unlikely reunion Sunday morning in Port Clinton.

Little more than a week ago, Sanicky thought he would never see his little pal again. The long-haul truck driver stopped to get a cup of coffee at a rest stop in Eaton, Ohio, west of Dayton, when Fred went missing. He had tied Fred outside the truck so the pup could get a little fresh air while he went into the store.

Sanicky got his coffee and returned to the truck within 10 minutes, but found Fred and his leash missing.

“I stood out there for four hours waiting,” Sanicky said. He hoped if Fred managed to get loose he’d tire and come back to the truck.

Fred escaped at a New Jersey stop one time, but that was different. The dog ran around the parking lot for about an hour before he came back to Sanicky for a drink.

This time Sanicky had tethered him with a good steel line, leaving little likelihood the dog disappeared on his own. Someone must have taken him.

Sanicky phoned his cousin, Mary Priddy, in Port Clinton to tell her she could cancel Fred’s upcoming vet appointment.

“We thought he was a goner,” Priddy said.

But Wednesday, Sanicky got a call from a retired couple in Anna, Ohio, about 70 miles away from where Fred went missing.

They told him they’d found Fred wandering around in their backyard. Luckily, Fred still had his collar and ID tags.

The couple wanted to know if Sanicky wanted the dog back.

“Of course I wanted him back,” Sanicky said.

But he was on a job and couldn’t reroute to get Fred right away.

So Priddy volunteered to go get the dog and take care of him until Sanicky came home.

“I don’t have any heat in my car, and I was freezing the whole way down there,” she said. “But the closer we got the more I got excited. I pulled in the driveway and I started crying.”

She shared grateful hugs with the couple and took Fred back to Port Clinton. He played with Priddy’s small pack of Chihuahuas last week while waiting to be returned to his master.

In Priddy’s kitchen Sunday morning, Sanicky scooped up Fred and held the wriggling pup to his chest.

“Yup, things are back to normal,” he said.

Sanicky got Fred late this spring from a friend who bought the pup for his children. The children named the dog Fred, and Sanicky didn’t want to change his name.

He likes having the dog to keep him company on his routes, and Fred loves to watch out the window.

When they stop Sanicky takes Fred for a walk and fixes him a good meal.

Priddy kept Fred’s vet appointment after all, and the doctor declared the 3-year-old Beagle in excellent condition despite his ordeal.

“Tomorrow morning we’re leaving for Springfield, Ohio,” Sanicky said.

Fred will be riding shotgun once again.

Source: http://www.sanduskyregister.com/2010/nov/07/homewardboundsw110810xml