Fonzie, greyhound therapy dog

Angus family finds missing dog five days after tornado
By Cheryl Browne, Barrie Examiner
Monday, June 23, 201

After nearly a week of searching for her best friend, even Master Seaman Roxanne Cronk admits she was beginning to wonder if she'd ever see him again.

Cronk's dog, Fonzie, took off running out the front door of their home on Banting Crescent when an EF2 tornado blew through Angus last Tuesday evening, taking most of the second floor of their home with it.

Roxanne Cronk, of Angus, is glad to have 'Fonzie', her nine-year-old greyhound, back home after he went missing for five days after a tornado struck their home last Tuesday.

Cronk was hustling her partner Master Cpl. James Wood's children down to the basement as the twister hopscotched down the street wreaking havoc on more than 100 homes in their neighbourhood.

“The door burst open and he ran by us out the front door,” Wood said Monday afternoon.

Resting on the back lawn of CFB Borden's emergency housing unit, which was provided to the young couple after the tornado, Cronk rubs Fonzie's ears as if to reassure herself he's still there when she talks.

Fonzie, aka Cocktail Decoeyes, was adopted by Cronk through the Greyhound Pets of Atlantic Canada five years ago as a retired racing dog when she was stationed at CFB Greenwood in Nova Scotia.

Now nine-years-old, the calm, well-mannered greyhound has a grey muzzle and the gentle disposition needed to be a St. John Ambulance therapy dog at the Riverwood Retirement Home in Alliston.

The tall, long-legged greyhound walks shakily across the lawn and sits down, tired but composed after a week on the lam as Cronk tells the tale.

“I was out driving around Sunday since about 6:30 a.m. and a few hours into it I called James blubbering. It was so late in the week and everybody was looking for him and nobody had seen him in days and I just couldn't take it anymore,” Cronks grins through her tears as she remembers the desperation she felt Sunday.

“And I said, 'it's OK, come home',” Wood said, and then they laughed.

“And just then I saw him and yelled, 'There's Fonzie',” she said.

Just ahead of her, Fonzie could be seen loping down the 25 Sideroad, near the 7th Line, as if out for a jog.

Two cars were pulled over to the side watching him, and as Cronk ran after him and called out to her dog – who kept running – one driver offered to drive her closer to the frightened pet.

“He looked like the Littlest Hobo,” Cronk said of the 1980s TV show of a dog who travelled alone from town to town.

“I yelled 'Fonzie stop!' and he finally slowed down. I said, 'Come on Fonzie', and he turned and put his head down but his tail was wagging and he came back to me,” she said. “I just hugged him crying and I think I've been blubbering with relief ever since.”

Another kind stranger drove them back to her car and her brother Rockwell Cronk – who'd arrived from CFB Trenton and had been looking for Fonzie since Friday night – arrived with Wood and his sons for the family reunion.

A quick check by a Mill Street veterinarian found that he'd lost about three pounds and had a stiff leg, but was otherwise in good condition considering he'd spent five days alone in the woods just a few kilometres from home.

As Cronk and Wood set up their temporary home at CFB Borden, they want to express their gratitude to the hundreds of people who participated in the search for their missing dog.

“So many people did such great work looking for him, it was just a fluke she found him running along that road,” Wood said.

Seniors and staff at the retirement home were passing along the information to their friends and family, another friend had set up an Facebook account, as well as a Twitter tag #helpfindFonzie, while posters were made and shared by Angus residents.

An Ontario greyhound organization was sending out updates about the missing canine, and police and hydro workers were keeping a lookout for him as well, Wood said.

“People took days off work to look for him. It was amazing,” he said.

“We had a call from a woman in Oakville this morning, asking if we'd found him yet. We told her we had and she was so thrilled. Another woman wrote an e-mail and said her daughter wants to come meet 'the dog who is a hero'.

“It's just incredible the amount of support we've had.”

Source: http://www.thebarrieexaminer.com/2014/06/23/angus-family-finds-missing-dog-five-days-after-tornado