A posse of Alliance neighbors brings Buddy home

ALLIANCE − If Buddy could talk, oh, the stories he would tell. He'd have some answers, too.

For five days, this 13-year-old Border Husky went on an adventure that criss-crossed neighborhoods around the University of Mount Union and drew the attention of the Alliance community.

He was found safely in the backyard of a house about a mile away from his home after his owners and a posse of mostly strangers united to find him.

"He was within so many people's reach and then gone," said Sasha Ritchey, one of the helpers. "This community pulls together for stuff like this. It's weird, but it is a good weird."

How it started

It all started Oct. 25 when Buddy and a puppy got out of Tanya McGilvery's yard after she said landscapers left the gate opened. The family caught the puppy.

But, Buddy was gone.

More than 10 million dogs and cats are lost or stolen annually from U.S. homes, according to the American Humane Association's 2017 statistics, the most recent available.

"The first night, I was looking out the window, driving around at 1 a.m. to find him," McGilvery said.

Like other pet owners, McGilvery turned to the digital public square − social media − and asked for help, hoping neighbors in the area of State Street and Center Avenue saw Buddy.

Her family had just moved into a house on Center Avenue in July.

Messages were posted on Facebook and the Nextdoor app, and were shared numerous times. Soon, people joined the search, one-by-one, driving up and down streets, following up on leads.

Ritchey and her husband, Eric helped, as did Tracy Grove and her husband, Kyle, along with their kids. Wendy Sherrill and dozens of others also joined the search.

"When you were out looking, you'd run into others looking for him and we'd exchange numbers," Ritchey said. "It was wholesome. It felt good."

Sherrill added: "I think a lot of people in these neighborhoods are pet owners. They are members of the family. And if your family is missing, you're not going to sleep until you find them."

During the search, there were reports of Buddy traversing a stretch of State Street. He was spotted near a pet store, a pizza place, on the Mount Union campus and on home security cameras.

"We had so many sightings," Ritchey said. Grove added: "We want just wanted to get him home."

Buddy was almost caught a couple times, but he'd run from people trying to chase him down. That's common for pets that become lost, Sherrill said.

Sherrill, who has helped in other cases, said animals become more disoriented and skittish the longer they are on the loose and, "they'll even run from their owners."

"I think he pretty much stayed in this neck of the woods," she added, "but he just couldn't quite get back to where he needed to be," because the area was new to him.

How it ended

The night before Buddy was found, McGilvery's daughter Kendra Gibson celebrated her 14th birthday. It had been a tough couple days without him.

"I blew out my candles and wished he would come back," Gibson said.

Her wish was granted in the late afternoon of Oct. 30 when search party members saw Buddy. He was near Mount Union, about a mile from McGilvery's home.

Ritchey, with her husband, was returning home from out of town when the couple decided to take a look around the area for Buddy. The decision was fortuitous.

"At the corner of my eye, like a flash, I saw a dog darting into someone's yard, like he was being called, running from people," Ritchey said.

It was Buddy.

Ritchey called McGilvery, who had returned home. McGilvery and her family jumped back into their car and caught up with the group, driving around the area.

"Within minutes, she called. 'I got him. I actually have him,'" Ritchey recalled McGilvery saying.

McGilvery said that when they spotted him on Vincent Street, her daughter jumped out of the car.

"I started running after him. He went into a backyard, which was fenced-in, and he couldn't go anywhere," Gibson said. "He was about to bite me, then he smelled me."

Soon after, Ritchey posted an update on Facebook that the five-day search had ended. Grove said her children, ages 9 and 5, talked about Buddy for several days afterward.

"It was so worth it," Grove said. "Because not only was this family able to locate their dog, but my children learned how important it is to help others, too."

McGilvery said it took a night or two for Buddy to re-adjust to home life after his adventure. "But he's good now," she said.

Reach Benjamin Duer at 330-580-8567 or ben.duer@cantonrep.com.

Follow on Twitter @bduerREP

This article originally appeared on The Repository: Strangers help Alliance family bring Buddy the dog home after five days on the run