Shelter's new approach reunites dog with owner Copyright 2018 Nexstar Broadcasting, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Arthur Watson and his dog Princess. They were reunited through a Facebook post from the Kent County Animal Shelter. (Sept. 20, 2018) [ + - ] Copyright 2018 Nexstar Broadcasting, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Arthur Watson's dog Princess, who he was reunited with through a Facebook post from the Kent County Animal Shelter. (Sept. 20, 2018) [ + - ] Video
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — A new program at the Kent County Animal Shelter is working to save more dogs from being put down, using Facebook to place them in good homes.
It's already working. A man who lost his dog on the other side of the state was able to find her though one of the posts.
"I wish she could talk so she could tell us what happened," owner Arthur Watson said. "Me, my mom, my dad, we are just sitting here going, 'How?'"
Watson lives in Yale in the Thumb region with his husky Princess. She got lost in March when some unexpected storms rolled through the area.
"I was trying to bring her back in the house. Well, the storm kind of rolled in kind of fast on us and she slipped her collar and bolted cause she got scared," Watson told 24 Hour News 8 in a Thursday interview via video chat.
Watson looked and looked for her without success. He tried getting help online, but heard nothing for months.
Six months later and more than 170 miles away, Princess was found running around downtown Grand Rapids.
"She was pretty dirty, hadn't been brushed for a while, so it looked like she kind of had been out there for a while," Kent County Animal Shelter employee Claire Barker said.
Still, she was in good health. Workers cleaned Princess up and took her picture, posting it on the Kent County Animal Shelter‘s Facebook page.
The day she came in just happened to be the first day of the new program. As part of it, each dog found is posed, photographed and posted on the Facebook page.
Minutes after a photo of Princess appeared online, someone saw it and contacted Watson.
"I was like, 'That's my dog.' There is no doubt, that is my dog. All the markings matched," he said.
Watson called the shelter and picked Princess up Monday.
"In all actuality, it's a miracle," he shared. "It goes to show miracles do happen and never give up. If I would never thought to put it on Facebook in the beginning and the right people at the right time weren't going to see it, then she wouldn't be here," he said.
How Princess wound up Grand Rapids remains a mystery.
angry_pecan on September 21st, 2018 at 16:13 UTC »
I got one of my past dogs through a rescue group in Fargo, ND. I live in Saskatchewan. The only flack I got was from the US border guards who gave me this incredulous look and asked "Don't you have dogs in Canada?"
I've probably got the details wrong, but about 10 years ago I was a volunteer for a couple dog rescues and at some point I heard a story of a family who lost their dog (I think a Briard or a Bouvier, something big with a B that was uncommon). They searched all the shelters, put up posters, etc. Couldn't find her. Gave up. Kept looking for another dog but don't think they ever got over their first one. A few years later, a rescue group mentioned a dog of that breed they were going to pull from the shelter; somehow the family ended up going to that shelter to help the rescue (4-5 hours away IIRC) and it was their dog! Not gonna lie, I cried my eyes out for them.
jeremythelee on September 21st, 2018 at 14:59 UTC »
It's rare that I see my neck of the woods in a positive sub. And saving animals, you can't get any more wholesome.
TheGunshipLollipop on September 21st, 2018 at 13:53 UTC »
I used petfinder.com to get my last couple of dogs. One was 5 hours away, one was 2 hours away.