A Warminster family is celebrating the return of the family dog after a long – and long-distance – absence.
The dog went missing a month ago and ended up a long way from home. Even police are scratching their heads about this one. How did a dog from Warminster end up near Guelph? What's even more amazing is how the dog made it home.
For Dylan Martin, what matters now is he finally has his best buddy back.
“Without him it was really depressing,” he says. “The whole time he was gone I was upset. Whiskey’s my best friend.”
Last month, Whiskey, a German Shepherd-Collie cross, disappeared from his home while he was chained up in the yard.
“I'm not really sure what happened,” says Jenny Martin. “I wish I knew who took him.”
Whiskey was actually found the same day he was reported missing; he was found near Guelph, almost 200 kilometres away.
“He was just north of the 401,” says Martin.
Because he didn't have any tags, no one knew who he belonged to, so he was taken to the Guelph OSPCA. Two weeks later, the dog was adopted out. But he was returned a short time later.
Staff at the OSPCA matched Whiskey up to a picture they found online that Martin had posted in a desperate attempt to find her missing dog.
“One of my employees was on a Facebook page trying to match up a dog and found Whiskey's picture,” says Michelle Gellatly with the OSPCA.
It’s still a mystery how Whiskey got to Guelph, but Martin thinks someone picked him up and took him there.
Police were called in to investigate, but are still unsure what happened.
“It's not a common occurrence but it's not unheard of,” says OPP Const. Graham Knox. “We have investigated thefts of dogs before.”
Whiskey has since been micro-chipped with all of his identification just in case something like this ever happens again.
If someone did steal the dog, they could face theft and cruelty to animal charges.
