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Old July 25th, 2005, 11:20 AM
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Dog Found After 5 Years (Inspiring and Wonderful Story!)

Monday, July 25, 2005 Back The Halifax Herald Limited

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Contributed
Sylvia Macdonald and her dog, Tosca, are reunited at last.

'Hot' dog returns
Stolen pooch found 5 years later
By TOM PETERS / Staff Reporter

It's the kind of stuff Disney movies are made of.

Nearly five years after her four-month-old puppy went missing, Sylvia Macdonald was reunited Saturday with her dachshund Tosca.

Tosca was stolen from the yard of her owner's Dartmouth home on Oct. 2, 2000. Ms. Macdonald informed police, put up Missing posters and even hired a private investigator. Information pointed to a woman in Dartmouth as a suspect but before anything could be substantiated the woman's neighbours said she had moved to New Brunswick.

Ms. Macdonald, an editor at The Chronicle Herald, was convinced she would never see Tosca again.

"The night she disappeared, it was raining and I was standing in the living room about 1 o'clock in the morning weeping away and Layne (her husband) came out, and I said, 'You know I am never going to see that dog again.' He said, 'Oh, we'll get her back.' But I never really thought I would see her again."

But late last week that all changed.

On Friday evening, Ms. Macdonald received a call from Kevin Burchill, owner of Oak Point Campground off Highway 11 near Miramichi, N.B., telling her he had her dog.

"He said, 'I am calling about Tosca,'" Ms. Macdonald said Sunday. "I said, what? He said, 'I'm calling about the dog, Tosca.' I said, 'What about her?' He said, 'Well, I have her' and said 'Did you lose her?' I said, 'No, she was stolen five years ago.' "

Information on a rabies tag put on the dog when she was about four months old led Mr. Burchill to a Dartmouth veterinarian who provided contact information for Ms. Macdo-nald.

Her initial reaction was that perhaps someone was playing a cruel joke on her, "although I thought 'Where would he get the name?' and he definitely was calling from New Brunswick."

She made a few return calls to Mr. Burchill, double-checking some additional facts, and felt confident enough to make the trip to Miramichi to get her dog.

Mr. Burchill said Sunday he had spotted the dog on Friday sitting along the highway near his campground.

"The dog was sitting on the side of the road and it looked like a baby sitting in diapers. You know, it was way out of place. You know, how many times do you drive by and see a dog walking along the highway, but this one just stood out like a sore thumb. I guess because of the size of her legs, only about three inches long."

By the time Mr. Burchill had turned his truck around, Mark Fillmore of Claireville, N.B., who said Sunday he "just likes dogs" and had two large pointers in his truck, had already stopped. A third concerned driver, Erin Watling, a resident of a nearby cottage, pulled over as well.

"The dog just looked so out of place just sitting there," Mr. Burchill said. "I didn't wonder if she was lost, I just knew it."

Ms. Macdonald drove to Oak Point Campground on Saturday. She wasn't so much overwhelmed by the news as she "still couldn't believe it and the closer I got when I was driving there, the more I was convinced I would get there and it would be a completely different dog wearing her tag. But we drove into the campground and there she was lying under a big umbrella with a bowl of water and I said, 'That's her.' "

Except for being a bit overweight, Tosca appears to be in good shape, Ms. Macdonald said.

"The coat is beautiful and the teeth are a little bit dirty. Obviously she hasn't been to a vet in five years, I would guess, but her face is exactly the same."

Tosca is now back home with her twin sister Maya, two other dachshunds, Dodie and Pucci, and a greyhound, Levi.

The initial hello wasn't overly amicable.

"They all hated each other. There was a lot of snarling and barking and squealing," said Ms. Macdonald. "There is still the occasional tussle but we seem to be adjusting. She is more scared of the greyhound, of course, but she seems to have made her peace with him too."

Ms. Macdonald described the reconnection as "unbelievable, a miracle. It reminded me of the parable with the prodigal son where the father says to the other son, 'Rejoice for he who was lost has been found.' It made me think of that."

Here is a picture of the dog with her "owner": http://www.herald.ns.ca/2005/07/25/photos/1030.jpg
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Old July 25th, 2005, 12:22 PM
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Dogastrophe Dogastrophe is offline
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CK, I beat you to this article by about 4 hours (http://www.pets.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=17761). Rock, paper, scissors to decide whose to keep

Seriously though, would a Mod please remove my original post as I like CK's title better plus took the time to link the picture. Tks.
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Old July 25th, 2005, 01:25 PM
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Sorry Dog, I did not see yours (I have that tendancy to be always zipping by and I just read the New Posts!). I'll let the mods decide, lol - as long as people get to read the article.
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Old July 25th, 2005, 01:48 PM
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Dogastrophe Dogastrophe is offline
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I'm the same, post first, check later. Otherwise I'd forget to post or lose the original link.
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