The Heart of Dayton and a Lost Dog Found

(I wrote this piece seven years ago when our dog, Cooper, was brought back to us after missing for eight days and taken right before his first birthday. It has never been published until now. It seems fitting that on Cooper’s eighth birthday today, we celebrate his happy life and the importance of what can be accomplished when we join together.)

The day our Silver Labrador Cooper went missing, I was reading a book by John Steinbeck, in which he travels with his dog Charlie across America in 1960. One of his opening thoughts revolves around the premise that you don’t take a trip, a trip takes you. The journey reveals its own special and unique purpose. And so in hindsight, the journey of losing and then finding our one-year-old pup, revealed the good heart of the Dayton community and changed how I now look at everyone around me.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with the story, our 75-pound silver disappeared out of our yard two weeks ago without a trace. We didn’t know if he had run away or was taken. As people learned of Cooper’s plight, it began to take root through social media. The power of one voice quickly turned into100,000 in just a few days. Friends, neighbors and even complete strangers felt the pull in their own hearts when thinking of their beloved pets vanishing without a clue. Media outlets like the Dayton Daily News added to the amplitude. What happened next was truly life-affirming. Besides sharing this story, our community sprang into action. People began to look for Cooper, searching shelters, putting up posters, combing Craig’s List for similar dogs, texting me pictures of dogs in the area that might be him and walking the woods, streets and neighborhoods where potential dog sightings had been called in. The ripple in the pond turned into a wave of awareness that got bigger and bigger. These wonderful people had started their own journey, which was connected to my own.

Let me share just a few examples of people’s kindnesses: One evening, unable to relax, I went back to a wooded park in Centerville, where people had sighted a large dog. As I walked in the approaching darkness through heat and bugs, I could hear folks in the distance calling Cooper’s name. I was alone – yet not. An elderly gentleman called to tell me he liked riding in his car so he was going to keep riding until he spotted Coop. A family in a minivan driving slowly through a neighborhood stopped to ask me if I was looking for Cooper too. She shared with me through tears that her husband sitting beside her just received a kidney transplant and was so moved by Cooper that they wanted to find him to try to give back something because her husband was still alive. A man called saying he would double the reward money if Cooper was returned. I could go on and on. Invariably, when people contacted me, they only wanted to help. They wanted no reward for themselves. They just wanted Cooper home.

Eight days after Cooper disappeared, someone brought him back and put him in an unlocked utility room attached to our house. Our sweet boy appeared healthy and unharmed. Whoever had taken him had enough goodness in their heart to bring him back to us. I honestly believe they realized they couldn’t take that dog anywhere without someone knowing it was Cooper. Our dog had become Dayton’s dog.

This trip — this journey ended well and showed the heart of a community that banded together to become the voice of one dog who could not speak for himself. An experience that at first left me feeling alone in my fear turned into an one that taught me I was more supported than I ever thought possible; that the kindness of strangers is immeasurable. Let me say that Dayton is and forever will be Cooper’s town and I’m so proud to say it’s mine, too.