Sadie

This dog's mom told her story in the local newspaper by way of a letter to an editor. I think this is a great way to thank the community for help in looking for a lost dog. Enjoy the story.

Happy ending to a lost-dog story
Tanya Palma, a resident of Spotswood
Guest Column

On the evening of Sept. 20, I was out in the yard with our dog, Sadie, when a large branch crashed onto our neighbor’s metal shed. The noise scared our timid Sadie, and she took off running.

As she ran through some of the streets behind our home, other people, dogs and noises scared her even more. After we searched for her for hours, our neighbors, the Gagnons, helped us make fliers and get some of them up as quickly as possible.

Every day that passed I would be around town putting up more fliers, whether I was driving around with our 6-month-old son, Brendan, or out alone on my bicycle. I spoke to all the kennels, shelters, veterinarians, animal control officers and regular officers that I could find to spread the word.

Each day, I talked to more of our community members, who were all very concerned. There are a lot of wonderful people in our neighborhood. There were some people who would call me after seeing the fliers, or stop me while I was putting them up, just to express concern.

After 5 1/2 heartbreaking days, I was starting to lose hope when I received a call from a girl saying she was sure she had seen Sadie in Heather Glen the previous night. With renewed hope, I went and put up more fliers (the flier count was now more than 400) in and around Heather Glen. While there, I had two residents stop and tell me they had also seen Sadie around the complex.

That night, the sixth night our pet had been missing, my husband, Bob, and I took the baby after dark in his stroller to Heather Glen and walked around, calling Sadie and shaking her food bowl.

As we reached the far exit of the complex and were trying to decide where to look next or if we should give up, we received a call from a girl named Patricia who had just returned home to Heather Glen and who had seen a dog run out of the woods and then back in near the playground. Patricia ran to find our nearest flier and called us immediately.

Bob took off, running to get back to the playground area, while Patricia went back to where she had spotted the dog to try and call Sadie out of the woods. When the baby and I caught up a few minutes later, Bob had Sadie in his arms, and he and Patricia were trying to wrestle the harness onto Sadie, who was so excited to see us that she couldn’t keep still.

I would like to thank everyone who was concerned for us — our family, friends, neighbors, mailmen, crossing guards, the whole community, everyone who called and was concerned.

Thank you especially to the girl who called Sunday morning, for prompting me to put up more fliers inside Heather Glen; to the people who cared enough to stop and tell me they’d seen Sadie there, prompting me to take the family for a walk there that evening; and to Patricia, for calling right away.

Thank you, everyone for helping to give us a happy ending and returning Sadie safely home.

Source: http://ems.gmnews.com/news/2004/1012/Editorials/