A therapy service dog reported missing from a home in Bedford, N.S. has been found safe.
Marley is trained to alert her owners when their son Luc is having a medical emergency and police said she is very important to the health and safety of the boy.
“She's great therapy for Luc, and Luc just loves her. She's really good with him,” says Samantha Monaghan, Marley’s owner. “Luc has a rare brain disorder and a rare genetic disorder. So it affects his moving skills and it affects seizures and metabolism, and stuff like that.”
The family had been outside having a barbecue and playing with the two-year-old yellow Labrador retriever Tuesday afternoon. They noticed she was missing around 5:30 p.m.
Halifax Regional Police responded to the home on Stockton Ridge around 8 p.m. Tuesday.
“I told him that she belongs to my little guy and I said ‘we need to find her.’ He took off into the night, he got other cops to look in the woods with flashlights for her. We were out until like 2 a.m.,” says Monaghan.
Several units searched the area for several hours Tuesday, using a thermal imaging device to check wooded areas, but they failed to locate the dog.
Marley was eventually found on Stockton Ridge around 6:20 a.m. Wednesday.
The officer who returned Marley is quickly gaining a reputation as the animal whisperer. Const. Andrew Gordon recently saved ducklings and picked up a seal that wandered onto the road.
“It was pretty rewarding, it was emotional when dad came to the door,” says Gordon. “Nice to have a call like that and end the night that way.”
Monaghan says Marley was glad to be home.
“She was all happy, barking, wagging her tail.”
And the family was just as happy, after a sleepless night Luc curled up with Marley for a sleep.
“I just wanted to thank Const. Gordon for taking time out of his work to look for such an amazing little dog, because he really made my little guy’s night, and morning to bring her back to him,” says Monaghan.
With files from CTV Atlantic's Marie Adsett
