A Redding homeowner is thankful after reuniting with her dog who had been missing in the woods for 36 hours. It was a community-wide effort to bring her home.
“It still doesn’t feel real. It’s crazy and I’m so grateful to have her,” Sue McIntee, of Redding, said.
It’s a huge sense of relief for her reuniting with her four-year-old Brittany dog Millie Thursday morning.
McIntee said it’s a moment she waited 36 hours for after her pup took off during an off-leash walk at Topstone Park in Redding, but she did have on an e-collar.
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“She ran off the trail. I thought she was going to circle back, but she didn’t,” she said.
She and her son searched the park without success which left her with little sleep.
“The thought of your dog being out in the woods with coyotes and whatever else could happen was terrifying,” McIntee said.
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She posted on social media for help, and it didn’t take long for it to come. The volunteer group Connecticut Dog Gone Recovery stepped in and posted flyers and encouraged the community to help find Millie.
“They were up there, and everybody was seeing it. It was posted on all kinds of town Facebook pages,” McIntee said.
It didn’t take long for an answer. A school bus driver saw Millie sitting on a porch and called the number on the flyer. That’s when McIntee and volunteers went to Old Redding Road where they coaxed her back into their arms.
McIntee visited the bus driver who she’s eternally grateful for.
“You just made such a big difference. You’ve made this a happy ending,” she said.
Millie was found ¾ of a mile away from her home. While we may never know what she saw while she was missing, she was in relatively good condition.
“There was Millie, soaking wet, filthy on someone’s porch,” McIntee said.
Peggy Jorgensen lives next door to where Millie was found and captured the precious reunion, saying this is what Redding is all about.
“This was amazing. A community came together, and we found Millie,” she said.
McIntee said she’s going to be more cautious with Millie and will now always have her on a leash during walks.
“Her off-leash days are over,” she said.
