Good Samaritan stands on corner day after day trying to reunite lost dog with owner
While driving you can see a lot of things, people walking, other vehicles, and occasionally a stray animal. But what one Charlotte, North Carolina man saw on a Friday night while driving home caused him to pull over, and with good reason.
A dog was in trouble and he wanted to help.
As Jason Gasparik got out of his vehicle, he spotted a small group of people trying to corral the dog.
“I noticed a vehicle stopped on the road and someone was running around in the grass median,” he told The Dodo. “I then noticed the dog running in circles in the road, confused and scared.”
Gasparik decided to help and get control of the scared dog before she got hurt.
The 70-pound chocolate Lab would have none of it, refusing to let her guard down. Try as they might, the group could not get ahold of her, even with the help of a police officer and some treats.
After an hour had passed with no luck, Gasparik noticed something about the dog.
“I noticed she would run after me if I lightly jogged. She was playful but very apprehensive,” he said. “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.”
The dog had a microchip but it was unregistered
Taking the lost dog to a local clinic, Gasparik had her scanned for a microchip. She had one but it hadn’t been registered. At a loss, he took her home for the night.
Posting about the dog, who turned out to be named Roxy, on his Facebook page, he met with little success. That’s when Gasparik took matters into his own hands.
Taking matters into his own hands
“I made my sign with an old moving box and a tiki torch pole and decided to go to the corner [where I found Roxy],” Gasparik said.
With an upcoming business trip looming, Gasparik was running out of time. He spent the next couple of days standing on the corner with Roxy and the sign. His actions soon garnered the attention of others on the Internet.
Roxy’s owner is found
Not all heroes wear capes. 👏🏼😭This man is standing on the street in Ballantyne looking for this lost dog’s owner. @wcnc
Pup was found on Ballantyne Commons Pkwy(Photo: Eben Patten) pic.twitter.com/LCW9JPTlCL
— Meilin Tompkins (@meilintompkins) March 3, 2019
Finally, two days after he had found her, Gasparik’s efforts were successful.
He received a message on his phone from a lady who had just talked Roxy’s owner, who was searching for her several miles away from Gasparik’s position. Gasparik took Roxy to reunite with her owner.
It seemed that Roxy’s owner had mobility issues and had been driving around looking for her and calling her name out of the window of his vehicle.
“As soon as Roxy saw him her ears perked up and she ran to him and he had all the paperwork to show that he was the owner. And, of course, he had tons of pictures of her on his cellphone,” Gasparik stated.
It is important to register your dog’s microchip.
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As a result of Roxy’s story, Gasparik wanted to stress to others the importance of registering their dog’s microchip. If Roxy’s owner had done so, Gasparik could have reunited them within hours after taking her to the vet.
Gasparik plans on staying in contact with Roxy’s owner and take her on walks occasionally.
Check out the video below to see how Gasparik was able to reunite Roxy with her owner!
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Sources: YouTube – WCNC, The Dodo, People