‘George’ back home after his owner is found
ALOST dog rescued from a busy road in Rufford “smiled” as he was reunited with his owner.
The Staffordshire bull terrier – who was named George by rescuers, after the Curious George cartoon, as he was “a monkey” – was reunited with his Croxteth owner after 11 days apart.
The 10-year-old dog was discovered running around on Liverpool Road, near Fearns Farm, on October 10.
Sheryl Flint, an animal rescue volunteer from Southport, offered to care for him while she tried to trace his owner.
She said: “I was contacted on the Thursday and set about trying to find his owner as he was not chipped and there are also not many houses around where he was found.
“We posted on Facebook pages, and drove around Rufford to try and find his owners, but no one recognised him so we thought he must have been from somewhere else.”
The dog was in distress due to being away from home and was constantly crying or barking.
But as “George” was overweight and didn’t like to be left on his own, Sheryl refused to believe he had been abandoned and spent more than a week searching for his owner.
She said: “He kept crying. It was like he was trying to find his family.
“When he barked it also sounded like he was saying ‘home’. I could tell he was loved.
“I told the council I was prepared to keep him for 28 days, as we all know if George goes to kennels seven days later he would be difficult to rehome.
“Kennels are overflowing; at least with us he stands a chance.”
It wasn’t until last Saturday that Sheryl received a call from a woman who had seen the posts on Facebook and claimed to be the dog’s owner - and told her his real name was Lennox.
The owner, who does not want to be named, and Sheryl sent pictures of the Staffordshire bull terrier, and it appeared to be the same dog.
The following day, the owner, in her 60s, came to collect Lennox and only had to shout his name for him to run over and greet her with a ‘smile’ and a wagging tail.
Sheryl said: “It was lovely to see him going home to his family.
“He was the happiest I had ever seen him, he looked like he had a big smile on his face.”