By Art Marroquin Staff Writer
Posted: 03/07/2011
Alexa, Kai, Lisa and Koa Nakkim get reacquainted with Chuck, their dog who was missing for four years.
Every night for four years, Eric and Lisa Nakkim prayed that their missing dog, Chuck, was safe and might even come home someday.
Their prayers, spanning more than 1,500 days, were answered Friday when a woman called their home to report that she found the long-lost black Labrador/pit bull mix.
"Every night, especially when it was cold, we would think about that dog and wonder where he was," said Eric Nakkim, an emergency room doctor at Torrance Memorial Medical Center.
"It's just like seeing a long-lost friend," he said. "I'm ecstatic and overwhelmed with emotion."
The Palos Verdes Estates family adopted Chuck in April 2002, when he was just a 2-month-old puppy.
But as he grew, Chuck made a habit of sneaking out of a fenced backyard, usually through a gate that was left ajar by one of the family's four children. The mischievous mutt always found his way home and sat by the gate, patiently waiting to get back to the safety of his family's yard.
Chuck performed one of his infamous escape acts on Jan. 7, 2007, but this time, he didn't come home.
"We don't know if he got lost or got picked up by someone," Eric Nakkim said.
The family hoped someone would find Chuck and call the phone number etched into a round, silver tag that hung from a black collar bearing metal spikes.
The Nakkims distributed fliers plastered with Chuck's mug. Ads were placed in the newspaper. A year had passed and the Nakkims feared the worst.
It's still unknown what happened to Chuck in the ensuing years.
Eric Nakkim thought Chuck could have become lost after wandering off. Lisa Nakkim said she hoped the friendly dog was keeping company with a lonely homeless person.
"We just gave up hope on ever getting him back," Eric Nakkim said.
The family's despair quickly turned to elation when they received a phone call from Linda Sheldon.
Sheldon had just got off a bus about 6:30 a.m. and was walking to her job with the environmental division at Torrance City Hall when she spotted a dog near the intersection of Maple Avenue and El Dorado Street.
Sheldon, who has helped strays before, called to the dog.
"He was a little shy, but he came to me," Sheldon said. "I could see he was very nice and very homeless from his condition."
The thin, friendly animal was wearing a black collar with metal spikes that were worn to the nubs.
Attached was a silver tag with lettering that was worn smooth, but still legible, except for the last digit of a phone number.
The dirty, smelly dog trotted alongside Sheldon to her office. After she gave the dog some food and water, Sheldon began calling numbers in hopes of finding the owners.
Her first attempt led to a disconnected line.
She dialed again, changing the last digit of the phone number. This time, Sheldon reached Lisa Nakkim.
"She described Chuck exactly: big, black and friendly," Lisa Nakkim recalled.
The Nakkims picked up the dog from Sheldon on Friday afternoon and thanked her for contacting them.
"I'm just happy that he's gone from rags to riches," Sheldon said.
After a daylong visit to the vet on Friday, Chuck finally went home with his family. A checkup found that the 100-pound pooch had withered down to 60 pounds, likely from malnutrition and dehydration. He was sent home with a prescription to clear up a urinary tract infection.
Additionally, all the gates to the Nakkim home are now secured. But Chuck has taken to sleeping indoors since he arrived home.
"We can't have this happen again," Lisa Nakkim said. "We're just so thankful that this good Samaritan took the time to check on a missing dog, and that he's finally home with us."
Source: http://www.dailybreeze.com/ci_17561701?source=rss_viewed
Another, printer-friendly version of the story is here
Ooops, I repeated this story later when I found a video that makes the story far more memorable than this version. Oh well . . . http://lostdogsfound.blogspot.com/2011/06/chuck-black-lab.html
1 comment:
that was the sweetest story ever aweee
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