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Google Finds Dog
By Matthew Strong
Poor Mikey
Mikey Has Always Been A Good Boy. In the fall of 1999 someone brought in a puppy to the 911 dispatch center in Calaveras County. He was only a few weeks old and my girlfriend at the time brought Mikey home. I wasn't exactly thrilled having a dog, but finally agreed. It didn't take long for Mikey to adopt me. So I guess he became my dog too. (except when he did something wrong, the it was her dog, right?) Mikey did however belong to her so I had to respect those terms.
A few years later we moved to Tahoe. Sometime after that my ex and I split up and I had to say goodbye to Mikey. He was her dog and had to stay with her; I was going to miss him, he had become a pretty good buddy to me. I then relocated to Sacramento.
Early last year she had contacted me that she had to give up Mikey because she was not allowed to have dogs where she was moving. I had moved to Sacramento, CA and at the time had been living where there was no way they would allow Mikey. I desperately wanted to rescue him, not have him go to the pound. I contacted my friends, nobody had room for him. I wanted to rescue him, but I was new to the area I couldn't afford to move somewhere dog friendly and have a good home for Mikey. It was really tough because there is nothing I could do, I really loved him and well, he adopted me, he was my friend. I've been so worried what could had happened to him.
Since then I've acquired a good job and moved to a better location, I have access to everything I could have needed for Mikey. Every single day I've wondered what happened to him, wished I could have had him as my dog, with me. I also wonder if he found a new home. I was really afraid to know about his fate. I look in my backyard or go somewhere I say to myself "Mikey would have really loved this." Even my friends remind me of Mikey stories and what he would do in any situation. Several times a week I look at his photos, he was such a good dog. I felt so bad about the situation he was put in and I thought I'd never see him again, get to hug him again, have him crawl to the bottom of my sleeping bag and curl up.
Google Search
Well over a year later; this last November, on a Sunday evening I had trouble sleeping. I then decided to jump on the Internet for something to do. I then started doing a Google image search. Out of curiosity I just typed random names. Then, thinking about my long lost buddy; Mikey; I typed in "Tahoe Mikey". The first image that came up was a dog that looked exactly like him. With further research on Petfinder.Com I was able to confirm it was him.
The big question was now, is he still at the Shelter? I immediately sent an email to the organization advertising Mikey. I didn't sleep a wink. I finally received an email the following morning. It was the confirmation by the staff at WARF that it was Mikey and he was still their waiting to go home. Mikey had been waiting over a year.
From what I understand he had a few possible homes, some that everyone felt that where not good enough for Mikey. They wanted what was best for him, what would make him happy. Unfortunately time was running out, he had been at the shelter too long.
Just a few short weeks before I discovered Mikey, a nice couple, Jesse & Shauna went to the shelter looking to adopt a dog and really were taken by Mikey. They took him home but unfortunately, their roommate did not like Mikey, so they did not keep him. However, they came regularly to walk him and take him for rides - and even take him overnight when the roommate was away.
Everyone was worried about what was going to happen to Mikey, just like I had worried what could have happened to him. But this was a miracle for everyone, for the crew at WARF, for myself, and most importantly, for Mikey. Mikey Was Finally Going Home!
Matthew Strong has a website for
Mikey, where you can
find out more about him.
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