‘Over the moon’
After spending Christmas in a kennel, Shi is back home
VALLEY, N.S. – Marsha Lemmon received her best Christmas gift a little late when she was able to take her 10-year-old dog back home.
Shi, a Staffordshire terrierlabrador retriever mix, had been picked up by Colchester County animal control on Dec. 23 and was held in a kennel at the SPCA shelter during Christmas. But, on Dec. 28, Lemmon got a call saying she could pick him up.
“It was such an emotional experience,” she said. “When they brought him out to me I went down on my knees and he wrapped his paws around my neck and gave kisses.”
The day before, she didn’t know whether she’d ever have her dog home again.
Shi has been picked up by animal control a few times since the family moved to a new home in 2016. He always wears his tags on his collar, and Elsie Debay, the former animal control officer for the county, knew where he lived and would take him home.
He usually got out two or three times a year, often going through the door when young children opened it, sometimes visiting nearby homes where people would give him treats.
“Earlier this month he got out and, then, about two weeks later, on Dec. 23, he got out again,” said Lemmon, who has had Shi since he was eight weeks old.
“Due to the weather, my door shifted and the wind blew it open.”
Lemmon said she searched for Shi until receiving a call from animal control officer Dave Henderson, who told her he had picked up the dog and was seizing him.
Lemmon has paid the holding fee to get him back in the past but says she wasn’t given that option this time. She had to explain to her four children, aged three to 13, that Shi wouldn’t be home for Christmas.
She contacted the SPCA shelter and asked about delivering Shi’s Christmas presents. Because he’s in an area only to be accessed by staff, the shelter worker offered to take the gifts to him.
“I ended up asking a friend to bring them because I didn’t think I could handle going there and not being able to see him,” she said. “I called later to see how he was doing and the woman I spoke with was very caring and told me he loved opening his gifts.”
She tried calling animal control on Dec. 27, but neither the animal control officer or his supervisor were in. On Saturday, she was contacted by provincial SPCA.
“They told me the municipality had contacted them and said I could take Shi home, but I had to work on solutions to him getting loose. I put a gate on the deck and have ordered fencing. I certainly don’t want him to get loose again.”
Since getting home, Shi has been doing a lot of sleeping and staying close to Lemmon. When she tried to leave him alone in order to drive her son to the rink, he began howling, which is unusual for him.
“Confined areas have always made him anxious, and I think he was barking and howling a lot when he was in a kennel because he doesn’t have much voice right now,” said Lemmon. “Christmas wasn’t very merry for him or for us but we’re over the moon to have him back.”
No one with Colchester County animal control was available for comment.