A Ridgefield man was reunited with his missing dog thanks to a sheriff’s deputy, a Facebook user and a Rainier couple.
Gary Brill Jr., 51, of Ridgefield has been looking for his nearly year-old dachshund, Annie, since Nov. 28, when he drove to a neighbor’s house, leaving his two dogs, Danny and Annie, inside his van. When he returned, he found Annie was missing.
Clark County sheriff’s Deputy Jeremy Koch, who had read about Brill’s story in Sunday’s edition of The Columbian, spotted information the same day from a 911 call in which Brill reported a Facebook post that he believed was about his missing dog.
Koch contacted the Facebook user, Lyndsay Pettit, the daughter of Ridgefield police Officer Jeff Pettit.
Koch learned from Pettit that Annie had wandered up to her, malnourished and with a bad case of fleas, according to the Clark County Sheriff’s Office.
After checking with local animal shelters, Pettit posted a photo of Annie on her Facebook page to find a foster family for the dog, according to the sheriff’s office. Annie was then given to a couple in Rainier.
Koch contacted the couple and made arrangements to meet them in Longview. However, he first delivered the good news to Brill.
Koch said that Brill was so ecstatic that he began weeping for joy and insisted that Koch give the $200 reward to the couple.
The couple met Koch on Sunday at a Longview Starbucks. They gave back $100 of the reward money, telling Koch that they had taken Annie to the vet to have her dewormed and to help with her flea problem, according to the sheriff’s office. The couple told Koch that the $100 was for Brill to have Annie chipped.
The couple gave Koch the veterinarian documents, new rabies tags and Annie, who was wearing a brand new sweater.
Annie’s tail wagged furiously as Koch pulled up to Brill’s house and the deputy reunited her with her grateful owner and her brother Danny.
Brill promised Koch that he’d use the money to have Annie chipped.
