On a Friday night in March 2019, Jason Gasparik was driving home from a friend’s house in Charlotte, North Carolina. As he drove down the road, he saw a black lab running around on a grass median.
Another driver had already pulled over, and he explained to Gasparik that he hadn’t been able to get the scared, lost dog into his car. Gasparik tried to tempt the dog with treats, but the pup was too nervous to come over to him. A police officer and another driver also pulled over, but nobody was able to get the dog into their car.
Finally, Gasparik figured out a way to get the dog to come to him.
“I noticed she would run after me if I lightly jogged. She was playful but very apprehensive,” Gasparik told The Dodo. “I decided to run around the parking lot nearby and after some laps around, she finally got tired, lay down and I was able to grab her neck scruff.”
Gasparik took the dog over to a 24-hour vet clinic, where they checked to see if she had a microchip. She had one, but it wasn’t registered to an owner. Gasparik was disappointed, but he was still determined to find the dog’s owner. It would just take a little extra work.
Gasparik took the dog back to his house, and the dog immediately cuddled up against him.
“The first night I brought her to my home, she immediately jumped on my bed and landed right on top of me licking my face,” he said. “She was excited but you could tell she was so confused and scared — but happy to be hanging out with me.”
The next morning, Gasparik started tweeting out photos of the dog, hoping that someone would recognize her.
@CMPD_ACC I found this sweet girl yesterday evening in Ballantyne near the post office behind Stonecrest. I’m trying to reunite her with her family. Please help by sharing my post! pic.twitter.com/I2JcGPWkDx
— Jason Gasparik (@JGasparik) March 2, 2019
Gasparik didn’t get any responses to his tweet, and so he decided to look for the dog’s owners the old-fashioned way. Gasparik made a sign and headed out to a busy street corner in the middle of Charlotte. The sign said:
“I found this dog. Do you know her? Please help find her home!”
Gasparik stood with the dog on the street corner, waving his cardboard sign. He felt a bit silly, but he was attracting tons of attention, which is just what he wanted.
“Some [people] were skeptical and wanted to check if I was serious,” he said. “Many of them were asking if we needed food or water or [if there was] anything they could do to help. I just asked them to post on Facebook and Nextdoor as much as possible to help spread the word.”
Gasparik wasn’t able to find the dog’s owner on Saturday, and so on Sunday he and the dog headed back to the same street corner to try again. After a few hours, Gasparik received a message on Nextdoor—someone had found the pup’s owner!
The dog’s owner, Ed, came over to get his dog, Roxy. Roxy was so happy to be back with her dad!
Just to be safe, Gasparik checked the paperwork that Ed brought. He saw that the ID number on the paperwork was a perfect match for the ID number on Roxy’s microchip. After that, Roxy and Ed headed home.
Gasparik is so happy he was able to reunite Ed and Roxy, and he hopes that this story shows why it’s so important to keep pets’ microchip information updated.
Gasparik did an amazing job looking after Roxy. We’re so glad she’s back with her beloved owner!
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