Two-year-old Max returns home to Rockville Centre.
By Tara Conry
January 9, 2011
There was a happy ending to the story of a dog found wandering alone on a busy street on the border of Malverne and Lynbrook late Saturday night.
Max, a 2-year-old Chocolate Labrador, had been darting across Lakeview Avenue around 11:30pm on Dec 8 when Malverne resident Ryan Conry spotted the playful pup.
Another driver, a middle aged man with a few passengers in his car, had stopped to try to retrieve the animal but the dog was much too quick as it romped around the snow and through the streets and roadways.
Conry spun his car around and came to the pooch's aid, using a few pieces of cooked chicken breasts he had been bringing home from a family party held that night to coax the dog toward him and grab the leash.
"He hopped right into the car," said Conry, who added that the other concerned driver followed him home to his house to make sure the dog was in safe hands.
Once inside the Conry home, Ryan discovered that the dog did not have an ID tag, but it quickly became clear that the dog was no stray. In fact, he appeared to come from a good home. He was friendly - licking everyone's faces- housebroken and would sit upon command. At first he enjoyed frolicking throughout every room in the house and following his new friends like a shadow, but he soon showed them he was not there for a permanent stay when he made not one, but two breakaways.
While on a walk that night, he broke the belt the Conry's had fashioned as a temporary leash and escaped down the block before two of the family members cornered him and caught him again. Then around 1am, he hopped over a small gate and pushed open a screen door to flee the house, at which point Ryan Conry found himself sprinting several blocks in the chilly night through Malverne wearing only a thin undershirt in pursuit of the dog, who kept stopping to make sure the young man was still following.
"It was like he was playing a game," said Conry, who didn't even have a coat, a leash or a cell phone on him to call in back-up.
He finally caught up to him around Our Lady of Lourdes School in Malverne, where he tackled the animal and grabbed hold of the collar.
"Once I had him, he didn't fight me...he easily walked with me back home," Conry said.
It appeared that the dog didn't know how to find his way to his actual home, but the Conrys, who had watched their beloved 14-year-old Old English Sheepdog pass away in late June, were determined to unite the lovable animal with his owners. They called the local police stations for Malverne, Lynbrook, Rockville Centre and Nassau County, but the officers said no one had reported a missing dog that matched the description.
"He's so fast, he could have come from Connecticut," Richard Conry said.
They began to post announcements on Facebook and Patch, hung flyers in some of the local stores and after purchasing a heavy-duty leash, walked the dog around the neighborhood asking passer-bys if they recognized the pure bred pooch.
Many people remarked that it was a beautiful dog, but not one they had seen in the neighborhood before. The Conrys also brought the dog into Asissi Veterinary Hopsital in Malverne, where a helpful technician scanned the dog for an identification chip but her search was fruitless. They also checked their list of patients to see if the dog matched any others that had come through their doors, but did not.
The Conrys were starting to wonder if anyone was even looking for the dog and if through their good deed they had unknowingly just brought a new addition into the family, when a call came in late Sunday afternoon from the Rockville Centre Police. An officer said they received a call from a woman looking for a dog that sounded much like the one the Conrys reported finding.
They connected with a woman from Rockville Centre, who described the dog exactly and said his name was Max. The woman said she knew the owners, who had moved to the area recently from Michigan, and had been searching with them until 3am for the dog. She explained that Max had been staying with a relative of the owners when he got loose Saturday night.
Moments later she and the owners were at the Conrys door with a camera full of photos of the same dog that had spent the night in their home. They said they had called local police stations in the area to report their dog missing, but not all were cooperative. They were very grateful to the family, even joking that they had found a new sitter, and happy to have their dog back.
While Max seemed to enjoy his adventurous trip and short stay in Malverne - where he enjoyed plenty of treats and left with a new stuffed toy - he was very excited to see his owner again and return safely home. (Although the Conrys kept the leash in case he decides to return.)
Source: http://malverne-westhempstead.patch.com/articles/lost-dog-found-in-malverne-reunited-with-owners
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