Sandra Jordan, The St. Louis American
Posted: Tuesday, March 22, 2011
It's a day she hoped for when Amy Meley's Chihuahua, named Stinky, returned to her rightful home in south St. Louis. It's a shame dogs can't talk like humans, because Stinky had quite a journey.
After hearing a gunshot on Memorial Day weekend, Stinky ran off family property into the woods and made her way into the middle of Highway 143 near Edwardsville, Illinois. Witnesses told Meley that vehicles pulled over to keep from running over the pint-sized pet. But one person, described by witnesses to the canine caper as a blonde woman in a white Dodge Durango, did more than pull over.
"'I saw a woman with her on Sunday night driving down 143 right by the VFW Hall,'" a witness told Meley a few days later. "This woman picked her up and put her in the window of her car. We were all talking to her, saying ‘oh this dog is so cute - this has got to be someone's dog. The woman reportedly said, ‘Oh, she's so cute I might just keep her.' When witnesses protested, the lady reportedly said, ‘I'm just kidding.'"
But she wasn't kidding.
"She went into the VFW, turned around and went back into 143 and she said she turned into Ginger Lake Estates complex," Meley said.
That was the last time anyone saw Stinky.
"I started putting flyers up in the neighborhood that said thank you to the woman in the white Durango who picked up Stinky...please contact me if you need a reward ... I would drive and go back through Ginger Lake a few hours later and they'd be pulled down."
That was in 2005.
Meley was heartbroken. Someone stole the dog she rescued from a shelter in Chicago. Meley and her family plastered the subdivision and the Edwardsville area with laminated flyers; she put ads in the newspaper; she visited veterinarian offices; St. Clair and Madison County animal control offices; she posted her lost dog online; bugged the crap out of the police department and even offered an award at one time, but no Stinky. She became known as ‘The Stinky poster lady."
Photos of Stinky remained on her bedside nightstand, on her refrigerator and even on her mom's refrigerator. Meley kept her beloved dog's bed, her clothes, and her toys - all in hope that one day she would return. Stinky was 8 years old when she was reported stolen.
Meley now has - four big dogs - all pit bulls - all rescued animals, although two are foster dogs. Everyone who knows Meley, a seventh grade science teacher at Ritenour Middle School, also knows about Stinky, long gone and ever present at the same time.
Meley also began volunteering at Stray Rescue, in hopes that what she experienced would never happen to another family.
Fast forward to midday Sunday March 13. My husband and I were driving home in North St. Louis County when I noticed what at first appeared to be a weird looking squirrel foraging for something to eat from a yellow food wrapper. Upon closer approach, the squirrel turned out to be a little dog - a Chihuahua. Not only was it strange to see a food wrapper on the sidewalk in that particular area, it was even stranger to see a tiny pet without a leash or its owner.
It seemed the dog was oblivious to being only a few feet from a well-traveled road with fast-moving cars. My husband was thinking something would eat this dog up, because it's so small. As I was thinking it, my husband, Cardell Jordan, asked if I thought we should go back and get the dog and find out who it belonged to. We made a u-turn to grab this little fellow out of harm's way and get it back into the yard or house it escaped from - probably in one of the nearby subdivisions.
Or so we thought.
"I went over to where we saw her. She was walking in the grass, so I called her and she turned around and she started coming to me, like she was really needing some help," Jordan said. "So we kind of met, and she let me pick her up and I brought her back here."
He could feel all of her little rib bones.
"She was really shaking like she did not have a lot of balance," he said.
When he got back into the vehicle, we wrapped her in a towel and took her home. She had no collar, so our best hope was that she had a microchip that could identify her owner on Monday when the shelter and the vet's offices were open.
The dog may have been on its last leg because her eyes were red and looked very weak. It was starving - and ate every morsel of dog food we put in front of her and she drank plenty of water as well. The dog must have been out in the elements for a long time. Her nails were quite overgrown, but they were cut evenly across.
She didn't make a sound - and she slept on the towel in a crate that belonged to our little dog, which kept returning to the crate to check on the visitor's well-being.
In the meantime, our daughters created "Dog Found" posts on Facebook and I posted the same on lost pet websites. I also searched online for any missing Chihuahuas fitting her description within 50 miles of the St. Louis area. On fidofinder.com, I found a tan female Chihuahua missing from Dunlap Lake, Illinois. I thought I had a hit, until I clicked only to find that dog, named Stinky, disappeared in 2005.
"It couldn't be the same dog," I thought at the time.
The weather was nice on Sunday during the day, but the temperature dropped very cold that evening and produced a pretty good snowfall. We don't think this dog would have made it through the night.
Back in St. Louis that same evening, a friend visiting Meley asked her about the dog's photo on her frig, which stood out among all of the pit bulls.
"That's my original baby - that's Stinky. Someone took her six years ago," Meley explained. "I don't have to worry about her because Stinky is always here with me."
Microchip check
Promptly handling the most pressing item on his "Honey Do List," Monday after work, my husband took the dog to be scanned for free at St. Louis County Animal Control North, located on Seven Hills Drive. The dog did have a microchip and the owner was called and a message was left. Rather than leave the dog at the pound, my husband decided to bring her back home, at least for the rest of the week, where we could work on fattening her back up and helping her regain her strength while the shelter worked on contacting the owner.
I asked my husband if the shelter said who the owner was.
He said "No," by this time looking annoyed at what he suspected was the start of an inquisition.
I asked if the shelter mentioned what was the dog's name.
"Oh yea - it's Stinky," he said.
"I saw that name on one of the web sites, but the dog was reported lost years ago," I told him.
"The shelter said she was reported stolen in 2005 or 6," my husband said.
My husband was right.
I did have more questions, but not for him - they were about the dog.
Where had she been all this time?
How did she get from Edwardsville, Illinois to North St. Louis County in Missouri six years, 26 miles and one state away - not to mention crossing the Mississippi River?
This explains why she had no collar.
This explains why there were no missing dog flyers in the neighborhood.
This pooch is a "hot" dog!
The phone call
Weley's husband Riley heard the message first. It was the call his wife had waited almost six years to receive. When he eventually got Amy to listen to the message, she had a hard time believing what she was hearing.
"This is ridiculous that this animal control would call me - how did they get the wrong number?" she said to her husband, who said to her "They didn't. It's the microchip. They scanned her - it's like a barcode."
Meley then asked, "Could they have taken her microchip out and put it in another dog?"
He said, "No, they wouldn't do that. You are talking crazy - it's Stinky.'"
The next ring was a second call from St. Louis County Animal Control.
The big reveal
Needless to say, my husband received several happy, tear-filled messages and conversations with Amy the next day, who eagerly wanted to arrange the pick up.
Parent teacher night at her school delayed the reunion until late in the evening.
No problem - we would all end the evening on a high note.
Amy Meley came to the door and gave each of us a big hug. Then we brought out her now 14-year-old little furry bundle.
"Oh my God," as she covered her mouth then held out her arms. "Stink! What's up, girlfriend? Hi Momma!" Meley said as she finally got to cuddle her long lost family member. "I never, ever thought I would see her again."
Meley just sat on the floor with her dog and shed tears of joy.
Back home
"The pit bulls love her," Meley texted the next day. "She's still a little hesitant. She slept with one of our dogs on Thursday night."
On Friday, Stinky visited the veterinarian, and Meley said although she probably has lost some hearing and vision, she looked pretty good, considering everything.
I hope Meley believes in microchips for pets again. Losing Stinky made her a cynic over the years.
She would tell people "those chips don't do any good unless somebody good finds them."
Microchips are good.
And so is my husband, even if I am biased.
And what a lucky dog.
Source: http://www.stlamerican.com/news/local_news/article_ad800016-54d5-11e0-9f96-001cc4c03286.html
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