The power of Google!

The story below is real.  :)  

Wednesday, around 12:30 p.m., I was sitting at a local Shawnee OK restaurant having what I initially thought would be a relaxing lunch.  About halfway through my meal I receive a phone call from a woman who works at a school in Oklahoma City, OK.  She states she found a greyhound that wandered onto school property that morning.  She said the greyhound is rather thin and that the tag on the collar has the name of Joey and a serial type of number on it, but there is no rabies tag or local phone number on the tag.  She goes on to ask me if Fasthound has room for him and I said "of course" (there is no way I am going to turn away a stray).

We decide to meet at a parking lot in Oklahoma City at 6 that evening so that I can get the greyhound from her.  I had already talked to Dr. Kendi (her official name is Dr. Horner LOL) and she said I could bring Joey in after hours and they would board him for us.  Les and I pull up in the parking lot.  Les saw Joey before I did and the first thing out of his mouth is "That isn't a greyhound, that is a whippet"  I immediately look up and see that it is indeed a whippet.  A somewhat smallish looking whippet at that.  

Les and I get out of the car and let the woman know he is a whippet (she has had no prior dealings with sighthounds) but we assure her we will take him and find him a good home.  We head to Dr. Kolar's and take a few pictures of him while we are waiting for Dr. Kendi to arrive .  

Joey

Dr. Kendi arrives and we bring him into the clinic.  All of us, Les, Dr. Kendi and I, feel like he is in good shape.  A tad thin (not unusual for an un-neutered sighthoud) but his coat is in great shape and his behavior is sweet and loving (not like one who has been abused).  Dr. Kendi suggests that his collar number might be a microchip number since some folks will put the chip number on a collar tag versus a phone number.  Dr. Kendi puts Joey in a crate at the vet's office and Les and I go home.  (She did not scan him for a microchip at that time since it was after hours and we were just trying to get him settled in).

As soon as I got home I called three separate pet microchip companies and asked if they have any information related to the number on his collar.  None did.  The third company I called said that the number was not a valid chip number.   

After I struck out on the microchip companies I decided to Google the number.  Google pulls a sort of Craigslist ad in, of all places,  a military base in Okinawa, Japan.  I click on the ad and there are actually three separate ads posted by the same person.  The ads are recent (2012).  It turns out that the number on Joey's tag is actually a phone number in Okinawa, Japan.  Les tries calling it but of course we cannot get through because we do not have the right country code or international calling on our phones.  Les goes back to the ads and discovers that you can email the person who placed the ad.  He emails all three ads and asks if the person has recently lost a dog.

At 8:00 p.m. (just ten minutes after Les placed the emails) I check my yahoo email and discover a reply.  The reply is "Yes, please contact me" and a local Oklahoma phone number is given.  I call the number and the call is immediately answered.  The woman states she lost a whippet named Joey that day,  fawn and white, who is not neutered and that she lives in Oklahoma City, OK.  I tell her that we have her dog (well Dr. Kolar's has her dog) and how we came into possession of him.  She was so happy.  She and her husband had just returned to the states at the end of January and she had not updated his tag.  

I gave her Dr. Kolar's information.  She stated she had made flyers and put all around her neighborhood offering a $100 reward for his safe return.  She wanted to give me the reward money but I told her I did not want it.  I told her I just wanted her to have her dog back and that I wanted her to get his tags updated.  I let her know that if she wanted to put the money on Fasthound's vet account as a donation we would appreciate it.  

I emailed her today and she picked up Joey yesterday and donated the reward money to our group!!!  How cool is that.    She said Joey is doing well and that they are happy to have him safe and happy at home.  

It just goes to show you that Google really is an amazing tool!  Not only am I happy that Joey is home with his family, I am also happy I didn't have to bring him to my house because Sweetheart would NOT have been happy with me at all.  :)  She would have been SUPER jealous that her 'mom' had brought home a 'portable' greyhound!

Jess and Sweetheart