Kelli Downey
20th September 2011
Jason Hodgson is delighted to have his pet dog Minnie back after she disappeared from his Yarwun home more than three months ago.
"I HAD given up. I thought someone had stolen her."
Jason Hodgson never thought the day would come when he saw his pet dog Minnie again.
Three months ago the American Staffordshire cross Irish wolfhound disappeared from Mr Hodgson's Yarwun home.
After many hours of searching, he and his family had given up all hope of seeing the dog again.
"It's all a bit of a mystery," Mr Hodgson said.
"We keep her in an enclosure during the day when my wife and I go to work and the kids are at school."
But in early June the family returned home to find the enclosure still locked and Minnie missing with no signs of her having escaped.
Her disappearance devastated Mr Hodgson, his wife Anita and children Jade, 16, and Joshua, 15.
As Minnie had never attempted to run away before, Mr Hodgson feared the beloved family pet had been stolen, possibly for the purposes of pig hunting.
"I travelled up and down the highway to try to find her - looking to see if she had been hit," Mr Hodgson said.
"About a week ago I packed up her bed and put it in the shed."
The breakthrough came on Monday when Mr Hodgson saw a photo of a dog he believed to be Minnie in The Observer, promoting Friends of RSPCA Gladstone's Dog Adoption Day.
Mr Hodgson went straight to the Adoptapet website to see if it was indeed his missing dog.
There were three photos of Minnie, who had since been renamed Jaz after being rescued from the pound by Friends of RSPCA on June 30.
Picked up from the pound as a stray, there is still one month where Minnie's whereabouts are unknown.
Mr Hodgson organised for a viewing of the dog on Tuesday and went to the Gladstone residence where she was being cared for.
"As soon as I called her name she came and went straight to the ute and tried to jump on the back," Mr Hodgson said. "She rode up front all the way home."
While a bit more subdued than usual, a relieved Mr Hodgson said Minnie had settled back in at home.
Mr Hodgson said he was extremely grateful to Friends of RSPCA for rescuing Minnie and taking such good care of her.
Friends of RSPCA Gladstone urges pet owners to microchip their animals so they can always find their way home.
Source: http://www.gladstoneobserver.com.au/story/2011/09/20/missing-dog-makes-her-way-home/
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