Many walks to track dog
An Auckland man who wore home-made posters of his lost dog for nearly a week has been reunited with his ‘‘best friend’’.
Harvey Welch, 72, stuck the posters to his shirt with masking tape and walked around Auckland for five days looking for 6-year-old Cotton. When he wasn’t walking, Welch was on the bus – standing to make sure that everyone who hopped on saw his poster. ‘‘[Cotton] is a part of my family. ‘‘It was so important that I did all that I could to get her back,’’ Welch said.
Cotton went missing on December 13, the first time she had ever strayed from their Titirangi property, Welch said.
Harvey and wife Katalina inherited Cotton from their daughter after she moved out three years ago.
‘‘I usually walked her once a day or every two days but I had been so busy, I didn’t walk her for about four days.
‘‘I was working in my garden and she’d normally come up to me but she didn’t that morning.
‘‘I think she must have decided to walk herself.’’
With the help of his son, Welch made two posters with Cotton’s photo and his contact details on them. He pasted these with masking tape on the front and back of his shirt and set off around his neighbourhood.
‘‘I couldn’t sleep well at night knowing that my best friend was out there by herself.’’
Nicole Horsemann from Nicole’s Corner Dairy in New Lynn said it was heartbreaking to see Welch’s desperate attempts to find his missing dog.
‘‘I felt so sorry for him. It was so hot and this poor old man was out looking for his dog, day and night,’’ Horsemann said.
She posted Welch’s photo with the sign stuck on his shirt on social media and immediately got a response. ‘‘Everyone wanted to help Harvey get Cotton back before Christmas.’’
In the end, Welch found Cotton in the neighbourhood on Tuesday. ‘‘A woman had been walking her and Cotton was well-looked after.
‘‘The woman, like myself, had no social media so she didn’t know that Cotton had been missing,’’ Welch said.
He said that the most important lesson he would take from the experience was to make sure Cotton had her usual walks.
‘‘We don’t want her taking matters into her own paws again.
‘‘The community has been amazing and I just want to thank everyone for helping me out.’’