Dog, believed killed by neighbor, turns up in Greenville year later, 68 miles from home
A family in Greenwood thought their dog was gone forever, until they got a call from a woman 70 miles away in Greenville, a year after they were told the pit bull was dead.
Esther Atkins, of Greenville, who happens to be a world-class marathon runner, posted on social media that she took her dog, Grace, for a morning walk Thursday in the Skyland Park of Nicholtown.
Atkins said a brown and white pit bull followed them home, and even though Grace was not friendly to him, the pit bull kept being sweet and wagging his tail.
Atkins took the pit bull in and posted pictures and information online. Then she took him to a vet, where they learned he was microchipped. The Humane Society of Greenwood help identify the owner, who had reported him missing a year ago.
The owner said reporting him missing was just wishful thinking at the time, because one of her neighbors had told her that he killed the dog, named Rachet.
Esther Atkins, Instagram Rachet, before being reunited with owner
Atkins shared pictures with Rachet’s owner, who said her young daughter started to cry when she saw him.
“You really don’t know how much this means to my kids and me,” Rachet’s owner said.
Rachet napped at Atkins’ home, having no idea what was going to happen on Friday.
On Friday afternoon, Rachet was in a privacy-fenced area, and he began sniffing the air and wagging his tail as his owner approached. When he heard his owner’s voice, he began wagging his tail, jumping and whining joyfully.
Their theory is that the neighbor who said he killed Rachet actually sold him to someone in Greenville, but it’s likely the details of Rachet’s missing year will never be known.
On Friday afternoon, Rachet was back home in Greenwood with the family that once thought they’d never see him again, thanks to a dog lover who didn’t judge a pit bull by his cover and let him come home with her.
Rachet with his owners and Esther Atkins
Frowdo on August 5th, 2018 at 17:42 UTC »
Im actually hoping this in our case. Cop across the street threatened to shoot our cat and not terribly long after she disappeared. Hope shes just having an awesome adventure somewhere.
ILOVETOSWEAR on August 5th, 2018 at 17:04 UTC »
Maybe it was the neighbor who dropped the dog of somewhere far away.
chilliboots on August 5th, 2018 at 16:20 UTC »
I had an aunt(wife of uncle?) that tried this but kind of worse. My uncle had decided rather late in life to change careers and go to school but he didn’t want to, or couldn’t work and had several small kids and his wife couldn’t work so they rented a real cheap house at the cheapest school in the cheapest part of the country while his parents paid for everything. They end up next to this neighbor with several barky loud hunting type dogs. So one day my aunt feeling sly, throws these dogs into her station wagon and goes to the pound and try’s to leave them there but this being a small town the guy at the shelter knows the neighbor and simply calls him and says “ your neighbor brought us your dogs” I felt bad for my uncle, not because he had to face that neighbor but because he’s still married to her.