International effort reunites two dogs with their New Brunswick family

A New Brunswick family is grateful for a homecoming nearly two years in the making.

The Waddell family, who now live near Hampton, N.B., had been living in the Philippines for four years doing community development work.

Melanie and Mike Waddell, along with their four children added two golden retrievers to the family during that time: Harley and Crosby.

Then the pandemic began.

As the world went into lockdown, the Waddell family only had a narrow window of time to get back to Canada in April 2020.

“We had to leave all our belongings and our pets behind,” says Melanie.

Initially, the family believed they would be able to return to the Philippines after a few months and bring Harley and Crosby home. As travel restrictions continued, that hope grew dimmer by the day.

“We just knew we needed them and wanted to get them here,” says Melanie, who began devising a plan with friends in the Philippines who were looking after the two canines.

“The people that we never really got good solid closure with, because we left in the middle of a lockdown, they were all a part of getting them on a ferry and it was really quite a beautiful story," adds Melanie. "So, it was a piece of them saying bye to the dogs, it was part of kind of saying goodbye to us.”

When Harley and Crosby landed in Toronto, Melanie and Mike were waiting to pick them up.

“You could just tell that they knew it was me,” says Melanie.

After 55 hours of travel by boat, plane, and van, the two dogs finally arrived in New Brunswick where more reunions were waiting for them.

 

 

 

 

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The homecoming would have been welcomed by the family at anytime, but is particularly poignant now.

“Having them here and having them here at this season of Christmas is pretty special,” says Mike. “Now they can be here with us to experience the highs and lows with us again and just be part of our family and bring a little bit of joy.”