Willy is the black and white dog whose picture so many of you kindly accepted and posted at your homes, in your shops, at your veterinary offices and at the shelters. He is a dog who has never strayed from our sides. But, strange things happen when a few mishaps converge; a gate left open, a dog frightened by an unfamiliar person. Willy took off and kept on running. Two days later we received the dreaded call from a kind person telling us that she had seen him hit by a car on Alejo Road, but that the driver stopped so she assumed that our dog would have been cared for and that we should be hearing from someone soon. That did not happen.
For five more days we hunted, called, agonized, and heard nothing. We distributed posters and contact Jim Franklin, president of our newly formed Ruth Hardy Park Neighborhood Organization, who put out an S.O.S. e-mail to all the members.
And then the beautiful call came from Sacha Khanbegian (pictured here with Willy). Sacha, who lives in the Ruth Hardy Park Neighborhood, found him -- injured and hunkered down across their street. Her daughter Lily, recognized him from the little posters. He is home -- he has a leg that is in need of further medical help -- but he is home. So that is the happy ending to this version of desperate dog-hunting sagas.
There are many lessons to be learned by this unfortunate experience and we will skip the obvious, but in the future, when we find a lost dog, we will take it straight to the animal shelter where they will scan for the Avid chip, and locate the owner, saving everyone a lot of grief.
We want to publicly thank the Palm Springs Animal Shelter, the Palm Springs Police and citizens support group; the local radio stations and Bill Feingold for announcing Willy's plight; Lindsay at The Desert Sun and Mireya at Press Enterprise; Bones and Scones, Jensons, World Gym, Cold Nose-Warm Heart, PAWS, Koffe, Pilates Palm Springs and the "just fabulous" store. They all willingly posted Willy's picture and our phone number. Thanks also to Jim Franklin. Many neighbors who got his e-mail called and reported seeing our dog, which gave us hope.
And a very special thank you to Cathy Brant, who introduced us to Palm Springs when we first moved in last August, and who shared in our pursuit. Our two daughters came from Colorado and Salinas, to join the search and rescue. We were covered, and if a lost dog could be found, he would be, and he was.
All of this demonstrated to us the big heart that is Palm Springs. We are happy to be here.
Jim and Veralee Bassler
