When a lost dog is found, most owners feel an immediate sense of relief. But when a lost dog is found hundreds of kilometres away from home, those owners are left with a new problem: How do you get them back?
A national volunteer network has developed a novel way to reunite these far-flung dogs with their owners -- by harnessing the goodwill of truck drivers.
The group, Furry Hobos N Highway Heros, invites dog-loving truckers to transport missing animals back home. Trucking can be a solitary job, and the idea is to provide truckers with canine company while helping out a family in need.
Margaret Foster, a former truck driver herself, started the group in 2013 and says she has reconnected approximately 400 dogs with their owners.
“We call it just paw it forward, eh?” Foster told CTV News, adding that the service is totally free. “If people can only do it for money than you're not doing it for the right reason.”
Among those success stories is Frankie, a therapy dog that disappeared from Spruce Grove, Alta. over the summer. Frankie’s owner, Ashley Power, was in hospital with pneumonia when a dog sitter let Frankie off his leash, and he ran away.
Somehow, the dog ended up more than 1,200 kilometres away in Langley, B.C., just outside Vancouver. It’s unclear how he got that far, but it’s believed that he likely hitched a ride.
Truck driver Scott Stevens volunteered to pick up Frankie and bring him home, he says, because he has a “big soft spot for animals more than humans.” The pair had such a connection that Scott said he wouldn’t mind keeping him.
“If she doesn't want him back, he's a good truck dog, I'll take him,” Stevens said.
No such luck for Stevens.
Power and her three-year-old daughter were overjoyed when they were reunited with Frankie.
“I’m so excited,” Power said.
Judging by the wag of his tale, Frankie was too.
With a report from CTV’s Alberta Bureau Chief Janet Dirks
