Taz, chihuahua

Dog lost for five years found in Berkeley, returned to Central Valley
By JM Brown, Correspondent
Posted: 12/29/2011

A family in the Central Valley got the best -- and most delayed -- Christmas present this year, one that has really put them in the mood to ring in the new year.

Taz, a Chihuahua found running around outside the Berkeley Bowl on Dec. 23, is seen here in the arms of original owner Anne Magnussen on Christmas Day. Thanks to a microchip scan at the Berkeley Animal Care Services, the dog was returned to the family in the Central Valley more than five years after he was lost.

Ann and Craig Magnussen and their two teenage daughters were reunited two days before Christmas with a Chihuahua they lost five years ago. The little guy, named Taz, showed up in the parking lot of the Berkeley Bowl on Dec. 23, a bit dirty and disheveled.

A produce clerk asked longtime customers Dan and Katy McMullan, who have a Chihuahua of their own, to look after the dog. The couple took him within hours to the Berkeley Animal Care Services, where a microchip scan revealed his true owners and their phone number.

"My heart was beating so fast -- I couldn't believe it was happening," Ann Magnussen said, remembering the call she received from the animal shelter. "This is the absolutely the craziest thing I ever heard."

Magnussen called her daughters, who were just 11 and 13 when Taz went missing on Dec. 1, 2006.

"They just started screaming, they were so happy," she said.

She said husband Craig got in the car so fast to head to Berkeley, he forgot his wallet. Hours later, Taz was back at home with the family's two other Chihuahuas, Tyson, 11, and the most recent addition to the family, Zoey, 2.

"We're a Chihuahua factory over here," she said.

Magnussen said Taz responds to his name when called, even though he's been gone longer than he was with them.

Taz was just 2 when he and Tyson got out of the yard of a home the family was renting while building a new house.

The family canvassed the neighborhood looking for the two runaways, finding only Tyson. They put up posters and visited shelters and schools before eventually giving up hope. Just earlier this year, Ann Magnussen threw away Taz's identification papers because she assumed he was dead.

The owners may never know what happened to Taz or how many people have had him since 2006. Who knows whether he was stolen or just taken by a good-natured passer-by who didn't know to check for a microchip.

"He was fed well, a little bit dirty but had no fleas," Magnussen said. "I try to give them the benefit of the doubt."

She's thrilled the McMullan family knew the right thing to do. After a produce clerk at Berkeley Bowl asked the couple to keep Taz in case an owner came looking for him, the couple decided to take him to the shelter.

"What was really touching is, he had this really ingratiating smile," Dan McMullan said of Taz. "He was the sweetest little dog."

Taz even got along with the McMullans' own Chihuahua, Clarence, who is named for the angel in the Christmas movie "It's a Wonderful Life."

Marcie Burrell, a city animal control officer, said reunions after so many years are rare, maybe two or three per year. She is happy Taz was microchipped, in good health and had a good home to go back to.

"It was cool, of course," Burrell said. "One of the good stories."

Source: http://www.contracostatimes.com/breaking-news/ci_19639510

Leo, yorkie

Stolen dog reunited with owner
December 27, 2011

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- A South Florida woman received her Christmas wish after a local law enforcement officer found her stolen Yorkie.

A Miami Beach Police officer found Leo, the stolen Yorkie, wandering on the beach late Saturday night.

Leo's owner, Anita MacLannan, received the phone call from the Fort Lauderdale Police Department that she had been wishing for. "When I saw him in the car, I knew it was him. I started running over, holding him, crying," said MacLannan.

The officer who found Leo recognized him after seeing the story on 7 News. "And the next phone call we got from her was we got baby Leo back!" said MacLannan's ex-boyfriend Nick Santagado.

Leo was possibly taken moments after burglars ransacked MacLannan's home along Northeast Third Street and 12th Avenue in Fort Lauderdale, Friday. The thieves took her TV and jewelry, as well as her precious pet Leo.

On Saturday, MacLannan hired a pet detective and his K9 to sniff out the scent, in hopes of finding Leo. The search led nowhere. "It's more than likely someone stopped and picked him up in a car and scooped him up," said hired private investigator Andrew Novatak.



Anita is grateful for everyone who helped search for Leo. "Thank you to everybody. The police department, Miami, the Fort Lauderdale Police Department, and everybody look for him, the news," said MacLannan. "Best Christmas present ever. Just in time for Christmas. I held him at 12 o'clock."

The thieves that broke into and stole items from Anita's house are still at large.

Source: http://www1.whdh.com/news/articles/national/12006263758462/stolen-dog-reunited-with-owner/

Cruz, pitbull

Bryan Family Returns Missing Dog to Oklahoma City Family In Time For Christmas
Bryan City Council Member Ann Horton and her family returned "Cruz" the dog to Oklahoma City after he somehow found his way to Bryan.
Reporter: Clay Falls
Posted: 9:38 PM Dec 23, 2011

After traveling--somehow--to Bryan, Texas, an Oklahoma City dog is reunited with his family just in time for Christmas. Watch a video here

Two days before Christmas and one family is getting their wish a little early as an Oklahoma City family has a reunion they'll never forget.

Their dog disappeared from their home and was found four days later right here in Bryan.

Now "Cruz" the dog, is making it home for the holidays.

He's an energetic pit bull terrier that loves people, that's also deaf.

"He has a sweet disposition. We're looking forward to the trip," said Bryan City Council Member Ann Horton.

Cruz, like many of us has had some travels this month. A few days back he disappeared from his family's yard, in Oklahoma City.

Somehow, someway he wound up at the Bryan Animal Center, after he was picked up in town.

"They had just rescued him from a shelter in Oklahoma City. They put him out in the backyard, and he disappeared and found his way to Bryan so we feel like Santa Claus," Horton added.

Bryan City Council Member Ann Horton, her husband and daughter were planning on going to Oklahoma City to see family and wanted to help.

While they don't know exactly how Cruz got down here to Bryan, the Horton Family is making sure he's back in Oklahoma in time for Christmas.

They left Thursday morning on the homeward bound journey of more than 350 miles back to the Sooner State.

"I had left him in my backyard for like ten minutes... I go back and check on him and he is gone," said Cynthia Rodriguez, an Oklahoma City resident.

Rodriguez looked for Cruz for two hours after he disappeared with no luck.

A few days later she got a phone call.

"I said where are you so I can pick him up and she said, 'Well I'm in Texas,' and I was like wow how did he get over there,?" she recalled.

Since she, her 4-year-old daughter Kimberly and husband couldn't come down to Texas, the Hortons came to her.

"I think it's one of those warm fuzzy Christmas stories and we're just happy that we get to be a part of it," said Ann Horton.

"Yeah he's back thank God he's so happy to be back with us. It's going to be a nice Christmas for us this year," said Cynthia Rodriguez.

A Christmas with Cruz.

Cruz is said to be recovering safe and sound at home Friday night.

A rabies vaccination tag led officials in Bryan to the family in Oklahoma City.

Source: http://www.kbtx.com/local/headlines/Bryan_Family_Returns_Missing_Dog_to_Oklahoma_City_Family_In_Time_For_Christmas_136173093.html

See another version of the story at: http://www.theeagle.com/local/Pup-made-trek-from-Oklahoma--6859926

Stevie Oedipus Wonder, terrier

A happy ending to the tale of blind pup
Return of missing dog is owner's ‘Christmas miracle.'
By Jason Buch
Saturday, December 24, 2011

Belinda Gutierrez was reunited with her dog Stevie Oedipus Wonder after ACS volunteers found a listing for him on Craigslist.

Stevie Oedipus Wonder is lucky to be home for the holidays.

The cairn terrier mix pup disappeared from his home on the far West Side at the end of November, was reported dead and had almost overstayed his welcome at Animal Care Services this week when his owner found him.

“This is my Christmas miracle,” said Belinda Gutierrez, who thinks Stevie is about a year old. “I actually thought I was going to have a sad end of the year and a sad Christmas.”

But thanks to Craigslist, an animal-loving schoolteacher and efforts by ACS to find Stevie a place to spend the holidays, Gutierrez picked him up from the shelter Thursday.

And to make this heartwarming story of a puppy making it home in time for Christmas with his family even more so, Stevie's not just any puppy. A veterinarian told Gutierrez her dog was born without eyes, she said, and he showed signs of abuse when her daughter found him wandering around a duck pond at Marbach Road and Ellison Drive early this year.

Gutierrez, 49, said she's a cat person, but when her daughter called her crying — at first they thought his permanently closed eyes were a sign of abuse — she told her daughter to bring over the puppy.

“He wouldn't go up to anyone if it wasn't my voice or my daughter's voice,” she said. “He didn't like men's voices. He would bark.”

But Gutierrez said his friendly attitude won her over. He became a big part of her life, dragging her out of the house to get exercise that she needed as much as he did. So she was very upset when Stevie escaped Nov. 29 and days later, when her landlord told her he was dead.

“We thought, ‘OK, he's gone and he'll have to just wait for us at the rainbow bridge,'” said Gutierrez, a health care provider.

Stevie came to ACS on Dec. 11, said Jeanne Saadi, the agency's live release coordinator. Because he had a collar and a tag, the shelter would hold him for five days before he was euthanized, Saadi said. But the contact information on his tag was out of date and the shelter could not reach his owner.

Luckily for Stevie, Brooke Orr, an English as a second language teacher at Highlands High School and a co-sponsor of the school's Voices for Animals Club, was moved when she saw a post online from ACS trying to find a home for him.

Orr said she asked the shelter to put a Save a Life hold on him, thinking she'd take care of him over the holidays. Also luckily for Stevie, Gutierrez's daughter had placed an ad on Craigslist in an effort to find him.

“I saw the posting of the little dog and I saw that he had a collar and a tag on,” Orr said. “And I thought that he must belong to someone. So I went to Craigslist and went to lost and found and I put in ‘blind dog,' and there he was.”

So she contacted Gutierrez and let her know Stevie was safe.

When she went to the shelter to pick him up, Gutierrez said she was concerned Stevie would be unable to recognize her.

“All he had to do was hear my voice,” she said. “And I stood at the entrance of the kennel building and called out, ‘Stevie, Stevie.' And he started barking all over the place.”

She was so unhappy with her landlord letting Stevie escape, Gutierrez said, that she left the mobile home and moved into an apartment.

On Friday, Stevie was playing with a dog friend in the living room and jumping up to greet visitors of both genders. In the kitchen, Gutierrez had stocking stuffers for him. A couple of the items seemed like the standard gifts Santa Claus would bring for a puppy that made it home for the holidays: doggy treats and rawhide chew toys. But there was an unusual addition to Stevie's Christmas gifts.

“He loves carrots,” Gutierrez said. “We always say he's trying to get his eyesight to improve.”

Source: http://www.chron.com/news/local_news/article/A-happy-ending-to-the-tale-of-blind-pup-2423074.php
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