Smh Article: Desperately Seeking A Little Dog Lost

[Panto]

Found this article quite inspiring and warming that it had a happy ending.

I would go to the ends of the earth to find my girl.

http://www.smh.com.a...0510-1eh1i.html

Desperately seeking a little dog lost

Carolyn Webb

May 11, 2011

Anna Holdsworth was determined to find her dog Millie, and her poster campaign eventually led to a reunion. Photo: Joe Armao

WHAT would you do if your dog was stolen? Some people would leave it be, but Anna Holdsworth kicked up an extraordinary stink.

She had 4000 leaflets and posters printed with a dramatic ''STOLEN'' across the top and photographs of the three-year-old gold-coloured spaniel, Millie.

Every day for three weeks, Holdsworth stuck the posters on lamp posts and shop windows, and slotted the leaflets into letter boxes.

Advertisement: Story continues below She hounded the local newspaper until they wrote an article, and she wrote to 40 veterinarians.

''I knew it was ridiculous to be going to so much trouble and that she was only a dog,'' Holdsworth writes at one point in her new book about the search, Millie's Gone: My search for a little dog lost.

But Millie wasn't just a dog, Holdsworth tells The Age. She was a best friend, almost a child.

''I just desperately wanted her back. It's just like losing a child, like if a little toddler is stolen. You can't bear it. You just have to do everything you can do to get them back. I know it shouldn't be as bad as that, but that's how I felt. She was my companion, she was my friend and I loved her and I just wanted to have her back again.''

After Holdsworth's husband John died of cancer three years earlier, Millie was a ''ray of happy golden light''.

Holdsworth had worked hard, successfully, to keep afloat the family's 120-year-old jewellery business - Holdsworth Bros, founded by John's grandfather in 1884.

But she would come home to an empty house, her three sons no longer living at home.

So she adopted a pre-loved dog, Millie, who became a great companion. Millie was an excuse to go for long walks, chat to neighbours and throw balls in the park.

On April 23, 2003, Millie was untied from a tree guard outside the Malvern Coles supermarket, and stolen.

Holdsworth remembers screaming, running across the road and accosting strangers and shop owners.

Entering the local police station, ''sobs were racking my body; I was trying desperately to control the hysteria''.

She says the policeman said they didn't ''do'' lost or even stolen dogs and directed her to the council pound.

Happily, the community overwhelmingly did want to help, and three weeks later a man who had seen the startling ''Stolen'' poster in a Malvern coffee shop spotted Millie near Caulfield train station and rang the number on the poster.

In a scene reminiscent of a movie reunion, writes Holdsworth, ''she threw herself at me, and I clasped her little wriggling body tightly and burst into floods of tears''.

Apart from having had her eyelashes and fringe trimmed, gaining a few fleas, and her ID tags and leash removed, Millie was well fed and happy.

Holdsworth likes to think so many locals would have recognised Millie as stolen ''that the thieves were afraid to ever take her outside so they let her go''.

Now aged 11 and almost deaf, Millie is spoiled half to death and rarely leaves her mistress's side. If Holdsworth has to enter a shop, Millie now has to be within eyesight, or left at home or in the car.

Holdsworth says she isn't angry, only grateful Millie came back.

She wrote the book as an example of how we love our pets and to urge others to keep hopeful if their own pet is stolen because there can be happy endings.

Millie's Gone is published by Melbourne Books at $19.95.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.a...l#ixzz1MZyuLmgg

[Keira&Phoenix]

Found this article quite inspiring and warming that it had a happy ending.

I would go to the ends of the earth to find my girl.

http://www.smh.com.a...0510-1eh1i.html

Desperately seeking a little dog lost

Carolyn Webb

May 11, 2011

Anna Holdsworth was determined to find her dog Millie, and her poster campaign eventually led to a reunion. Photo: Joe Armao

WHAT would you do if your dog was stolen? Some people would leave it be, but Anna Holdsworth kicked up an extraordinary stink.

She had 4000 leaflets and posters printed with a dramatic ''STOLEN'' across the top and photographs of the three-year-old gold-coloured spaniel, Millie.

Every day for three weeks, Holdsworth stuck the posters on lamp posts and shop windows, and slotted the leaflets into letter boxes.

Advertisement: Story continues below She hounded the local newspaper until they wrote an article, and she wrote to 40 veterinarians.

''I knew it was ridiculous to be going to so much trouble and that she was only a dog,'' Holdsworth writes at one point in her new book about the search, Millie's Gone: My search for a little dog lost.

But Millie wasn't just a dog, Holdsworth tells The Age. She was a best friend, almost a child.

''I just desperately wanted her back. It's just like losing a child, like if a little toddler is stolen. You can't bear it. You just have to do everything you can do to get them back. I know it shouldn't be as bad as that, but that's how I felt. She was my companion, she was my friend and I loved her and I just wanted to have her back again.''

After Holdsworth's husband John died of cancer three years earlier, Millie was a ''ray of happy golden light''.

Holdsworth had worked hard, successfully, to keep afloat the family's 120-year-old jewellery business - Holdsworth Bros, founded by John's grandfather in 1884.

But she would come home to an empty house, her three sons no longer living at home.

So she adopted a pre-loved dog, Millie, who became a great companion. Millie was an excuse to go for long walks, chat to neighbours and throw balls in the park.

On April 23, 2003, Millie was untied from a tree guard outside the Malvern Coles supermarket, and stolen.

Holdsworth remembers screaming, running across the road and accosting strangers and shop owners.

Entering the local police station, ''sobs were racking my body; I was trying desperately to control the hysteria''.

She says the policeman said they didn't ''do'' lost or even stolen dogs and directed her to the council pound.

Happily, the community overwhelmingly did want to help, and three weeks later a man who had seen the startling ''Stolen'' poster in a Malvern coffee shop spotted Millie near Caulfield train station and rang the number on the poster.

In a scene reminiscent of a movie reunion, writes Holdsworth, ''she threw herself at me, and I clasped her little wriggling body tightly and burst into floods of tears''.

Apart from having had her eyelashes and fringe trimmed, gaining a few fleas, and her ID tags and leash removed, Millie was well fed and happy.

Holdsworth likes to think so many locals would have recognised Millie as stolen ''that the thieves were afraid to ever take her outside so they let her go''.

Now aged 11 and almost deaf, Millie is spoiled half to death and rarely leaves her mistress's side. If Holdsworth has to enter a shop, Millie now has to be within eyesight, or left at home or in the car.

Holdsworth says she isn't angry, only grateful Millie came back.

She wrote the book as an example of how we love our pets and to urge others to keep hopeful if their own pet is stolen because there can be happy endings.

Millie's Gone is published by Melbourne Books at $19.95.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.a...l#ixzz1MZyuLmgg

What a beautiful story.

And a reason to never ever leave your dog tied up outside a shop when you go in. But I am so glad she was able to find her. I think I would be the same if it was one of my girls.

Thanks for sharing

[Odin-Genie]

I would go to any extent to find my dogs if they were ever stolen and will not stop till they were found.

Lovely story, but it also provides a very good reason not to leave dogs unattended in public places.

I am also surprised that the police didn't help. Legally, dogs are property and if a person reports a stolen property the police is supposed to look into it.

Edited May 18, 2011 by Odin-Genie

[Liath]

I would go to any extent to find my dogs if they were ever stolen and will not stop till they were found.

Lovely story, but it also provides a very good reason not to leave dogs unattended in public places.

I am also surprised that the police didn't help. Legally, dogs are property and if a person reports a stolen property the police is supposed to look into it.

I had a dog stolen from my yard by people who claimed she was theirs. The police didnt want to know about it. If it was a boat or car they wouldnt have done something. In their words, they had no facility to hold a dog until rightful ownership was established. I had papers and everything to prove she was mine but possession in this case was 9/10's of the law. I never saw my dog again. i was devastated to the point I moved house because everytime i entered the building I expected her to be there I still have her rego tags, bowls, toys etc.. Even the council didnt want to know about it, everyone kept passing the buck.

[Dju]

I would go to any extent to find my dogs if they were ever stolen and will not stop till they were found.

Lovely story, but it also provides a very good reason not to leave dogs unattended in public places.

I am also surprised that the police didn't help. Legally, dogs are property and if a person reports a stolen property the police is supposed to look into it.

I had a dog stolen from my yard by people who claimed she was theirs. The police didnt want to know about it. If it was a boat or car they wouldnt have done something. In their words, they had no facility to hold a dog until rightful ownership was established. I had papers and everything to prove she was mine but possession in this case was 9/10's of the law. I never saw my dog again. i was devastated to the point I moved house because everytime i entered the building I expected her to be there I still have her rego tags, bowls, toys etc.. Even the council didnt want to know about it, everyone kept passing the buck.

That's so horrible :cry:

If someone stole my Hugo and I knew who it was, I would simply kill them.

If he was lost though.. after regaining consciousness, I would print out flyers and send them off to newspapers and post them all over town. Probably go doorknocking every day. I dunno, man, I don't want to think about it.

[tdierikx]

When my friend's Rotti was let out of his yard by a stranger, we had a team of people walking the surrounding 4 suburbs doing letterbox drops and looking for him - every day for 2 whole weeks!! Eventually one of her workmates rang one of the popular radio stations and they put out a call for anyone knowing about this dog to call in... that resulted in the person who had been "looking after" the dog to hand him in to a local vet clinic, who scanned him and contacted my friend. As she was at work and I was second contact on his chip, I went and picked him up... they didn't even ask me for any ID because Clay immediately went mental with cuddles and kisses for me and my OH, they realised that we were definitely some of his fave people on the planet... *grin*

T.

[Panto]

Liath - that's so sad! Sorry to hear about that. How long ago was this now?

Tdierikx - what a great outcome... great team effort to find him!!

I am considering making a tag for my girl that says "If ever I am found, I am lost. If ever I am stolen, my mum will search the ends of the earth to find me again. Pls help me get home: (phone number)". It would be a very big tag though!

The thought that someone might even steal a dog never entered my mind til I overheard someone say near my car (my girl was in the car, I was out of car but within eyesight), "That looks like an expensive dog - it'd make a good present ey".

[aussielover]

No offence but that dog in the photo doesn't really look like the type to be stolen: aged, clearly a pet so prob desexed and not useful for breeding, scruffy and not a potential fighting dog.

I suppose we don't have the full story though, and perhaps someone saw the dog being stolen. I would like to know how long she was in the shop for though

Of course I am glad that they were reunited, but it was highly irresponsible to leave the poor dog tied outside a large supermarket like Coles of all places. It is one thing to leave a dog tied up at a local shop where you can see them all of the time or where you might only be in the shop for a minute or two but no one can get out of coles in less than a minute lol!!!

Great that there was a happy ending.

[Panto]

I would have thought the photo was taken recently for this article and the dog is 11 now, but the incident happened in 2003, eight years ago. People steal for all sorts of reasons, may have been no other motive other than a kleptomaniac wanting her because she looked like a nice dog, or even to sell her? Who knows...

I wonder if she ever found out who it was that took her...

[tdierikx]

My friend's Rotti boy Clay was her soul mate - he was also the nephew of my heart dog Woosie... that was the longest 11 days of all of our lives looking for poor lost Clay! My friend was so traumatised at him being missing that her parents came over to stay with her, and I lent her my Woosie for a few days so she had something similar to her beloved Clay to sleep on her bed at night. I think there were abou 10 of us out every day searching and calling and dropping leaflets in letterboxes - we covered every inch of 4 whole Sydney suburbs more than once over the 11 days he was missing.

Clay was a very special boy - much loved by everyone who ever met him - we HAD to get him back!

T.

[Panto]

My friend's Rotti boy Clay was her soul mate - he was also the nephew of my heart dog Woosie... that was the longest 11 days of all of our lives looking for poor lost Clay! My friend was so traumatised at him being missing that her parents came over to stay with her, and I lent her my Woosie for a few days so she had something similar to her beloved Clay to sleep on her bed at night. I think there were abou 10 of us out every day searching and calling and dropping leaflets in letterboxes - we covered every inch of 4 whole Sydney suburbs more than once over the 11 days he was missing.

Clay was a very special boy - much loved by everyone who ever met him - we HAD to get him back!

T.

I've got goosebumps! What a great support network and very lucky dogs.

[~Anne~]

I would go to any extent to find my dogs if they were ever stolen and will not stop till they were found.

Lovely story, but it also provides a very good reason not to leave dogs unattended in public places.

I am also surprised that the police didn't help. Legally, dogs are property and if a person reports a stolen property the police is supposed to look into it.

I had a dog stolen from my yard by people who claimed she was theirs. The police didnt want to know about it. If it was a boat or car they wouldnt have done something. In their words, they had no facility to hold a dog until rightful ownership was established. I had papers and everything to prove she was mine but possession in this case was 9/10's of the law. I never saw my dog again. i was devastated to the point I moved house because everytime i entered the building I expected her to be there I still have her rego tags, bowls, toys etc.. Even the council didnt want to know about it, everyone kept passing the buck.

As much as it is wrong and irresponsible, I would have taken the law into my hands in this example. I would have retrieved her using force.

[sas]

How about the fact that it was a lovely sweet natured dog who'd make a lovely pet....

No offence but that dog in the photo doesn't really look like the type to be stolen: aged, clearly a pet so prob desexed and not useful for breeding, scruffy and not a potential fighting dog.

I suppose we don't have the full story though, and perhaps someone saw the dog being stolen. I would like to know how long she was in the shop for though

Of course I am glad that they were reunited, but it was highly irresponsible to leave the poor dog tied outside a large supermarket like Coles of all places. It is one thing to leave a dog tied up at a local shop where you can see them all of the time or where you might only be in the shop for a minute or two but no one can get out of coles in less than a minute lol!!!

Great that there was a happy ending.

[sas]

I would go to any extent to find my dogs if they were ever stolen and will not stop till they were found.

Lovely story, but it also provides a very good reason not to leave dogs unattended in public places.

I am also surprised that the police didn't help. Legally, dogs are property and if a person reports a stolen property the police is supposed to look into it.

I had a dog stolen from my yard by people who claimed she was theirs. The police didnt want to know about it. If it was a boat or car they wouldnt have done something. In their words, they had no facility to hold a dog until rightful ownership was established. I had papers and everything to prove she was mine but possession in this case was 9/10's of the law. I never saw my dog again. i was devastated to the point I moved house because everytime i entered the building I expected her to be there I still have her rego tags, bowls, toys etc.. Even the council didnt want to know about it, everyone kept passing the buck.

As much as it is wrong and irresponsible, I would have taken the law into my hands in this example. I would have retrieved her using force.

Ditto!

[Leelaa17]

I would do everything in my power to find my boy or girl. Problem is - I would be absolutely distraught so I dont know how much help I would be!!

They are my absolute world, and they are like children to me, even though I still try to treat them like dogs, I love them like they were my blood. They are my heart and soul.

I would do whatever it took to get my dogs back. WHATEVER it took.

[Leelaa17]

I would go to any extent to find my dogs if they were ever stolen and will not stop till they were found.

Lovely story, but it also provides a very good reason not to leave dogs unattended in public places.

I am also surprised that the police didn't help. Legally, dogs are property and if a person reports a stolen property the police is supposed to look into it.

I had a dog stolen from my yard by people who claimed she was theirs. The police didnt want to know about it. If it was a boat or car they wouldnt have done something. In their words, they had no facility to hold a dog until rightful ownership was established. I had papers and everything to prove she was mine but possession in this case was 9/10's of the law. I never saw my dog again. i was devastated to the point I moved house because everytime i entered the building I expected her to be there I still have her rego tags, bowls, toys etc.. Even the council didnt want to know about it, everyone kept passing the buck.

As much as it is wrong and irresponsible, I would have taken the law into my hands in this example. I would have retrieved her using force.

Ditto!

I don't care if its wrong. When it comes to saving my dogs life or getting my dogs back that were STOLEN from me, I wouldn't even think twice about taking the law into my own hands - as long as it didnt put the dogs in danger of getting PTS or anything I would do anything for them. Absolutely anything.