After all the reposts and shares, a week after she's gone missing--we finally found Winter! Thank You, Lord! Hallelujah! Nakakataba ng puso that so many people expressed the same joy we have for finding her. There were people who encouraged us to keep on looking pa. My sister said in some Facebook Pet Owners/Sellers group were so happy, they were asking for a story on how we found her since some of them lost their pets too and are looking for some inspiration. So here goes...
April 26, 2015-- We were in Amadeo, Cavite to help out our Ina/granny for the Fiesta. After all the guests were gone, we just lazed and watched t.v. with our Titas and cousins. Ma made sure to close the gate because of the dogs. Long story short, we should've known that Winter as little as she is can be able to squeeze herself outside the gate. She was gone an hour after we last saw her "behaving" herself sa terrace. Yun pala may balak mag-gala ang bata.
Panicked, we frantically searched everywhere and asked around but there was no sign of her. Parang bula. We asked the owner of the house in front of our Tita's, my Tito even searched the area pero wala. Even our dad, who's supposed to go home in Bacoor where we lived, commuted pa all the way to Amadeo from the airport upon hearing Winter's missing so he can help with the search. Imagine my tired paps, (tulog na kami ng past 2), he still got up and went out around 3 am to continue searching. The whole family loves Wiwin that much.
April 27, 2015--My sister, Gaye shared a missing Dog post on her wall and various Facebook groups (including Bayan Mo, I-Patrol mo. Oha!). The family's given up hope of ever finding Winter. But my sister and I are still very positive (PAWsitive daw sabi ni sisterette) that we can still find Winter even though even sa Facebook people are making comments that it's a lost cause. :(
Unfortunately, this kind of situation brought the worst kind of people in our way. First, there was a guy who Vibered her saying they have Winter. When we asked for a video, he made a lame excuse about how the dog was with someone else, sinama daw sa palengke. Yung totoo?! How many of you have taken a dog while grocery shopping? How much more if it's a Wet and Dry market? Paano (How)?! Then we asked for a picture instead but the guy just cropped the picture Gaye posted on Facebook. He even sent an I.D. picture! Nakakaloka. Then he asked for my sister to deposit money to his account. Think we're that desperate we've gone that stupid to believe you? Okay, kalma, Yella.
Then there was a guy saying he saw a dog loitering in Amadeo, Plaza--and then he asked for a prepaid load on his phone! We had our cousin check but no, not Winter. Plus shih tzu, nag-gagala at walang kukuha? The guy must've seen the posters my sister plastered sa barangay. Barangay officials even put one of the poster on the Barangay Hall. We are thankful for that.
April 29, 2015--I wrote the blog post about Winter. We still continued sharing it.
April 30, 2015--There was a girl who texted Gaye about her neighbor's new dog. She asked my sister to meet up with her in SM Dasma. We put off grocery-shopping for my birthday celebration for later to accompany my sister. We were so excited. We have a good feeling about this. We waited. The girl kept making excuses that she had to buy something sa grocery or that she's already going up our meeting place. We waited for 3 hours. She never came.
My sister was fuming with anger, lamenting that she could've been at home posting and answering possible leads instead of waiting there.
Just so sad to know that there are people pala talaga who would take advantage of other people's desperation for their gain. We were depressed. Dramatic levels! The first 3 days you can't even talk to my sister. It was like a bad break-up going on for her. The family would reminisce happy Winter memories (see my last post here for more.) I cried while praying the rosary for Wiwin. Ilang novena sa ilang santo ata dinasal ko! Haha! (But thank You, Lord!) Kasi naman, Winter gets sick sometimes. Gaye had her confined one time. What if the person who got her won't care for her as much as we do?
May 3, 2015--Someone pm'ed my sister saying she thinks she found Winter. AND she's not asking for money, too. I won't write about how the tipster is related to the people who took Winter because they might read this and protecting her's the least we can do.
Ma and Gaye commuted all the way to Cavite City to check things out. They had Barangay officials/kagawads accompany them just in case. We waited for them at home. I had a Pawsitive feeling about everything though.
Ma came through the door first. And the Gaye announced: "Guess who's baaaaaack?!" So we knew. We shouted in joy! Haha. Winter is back! Syempre more kisses na naman si kiddo. Even her doggy family who were all quiet and sullen when she was gone kept on smelling her. Naghahabulan na naman sila. Riot na naman! :)
Anyway, she's okay. Although she's in dire need of a bath and haircut when we found her. She just got a shot of vaccine and was not allowed to take a bath for a week so she was dirty when whe got lost.
Anyway, she's okay. Although she's in dire need of a bath and haircut when we found her. She just got a shot of vaccine and was not allowed to take a bath for a week so she was dirty when whe got lost.
Turns out the people who took Winter are visitors of the lady in front of our Tita's house. Imagine, we were looking til 1a.m! We even have flashlights. We ASKED them! They denied it. I say they flat out lied about it. They found out we have Winter already. My Tita texted us that they paid her a visit and explained they bought the dog in Tagaytay. The dog was for sale daw for 3 thousand pesos WITH papers but they haggled and eventually bought her for 1 thousand only. Who sells a shih tzu with papers for just a thousand bucks?!
They're so defensive, they even went to the barangay ahead of us to see if anyone already filed charges against them. Hardy-harhar. My Ma's a momma-bear type of mother ready to defend her cubs (or beloved pets!), but what pissed us off was the fact that they knew we were looking for the dog. We don't trust their lame alibi so you can say that they blatantly lied about everything and had no plans of ever returning Winter to us! So Ma and Gaye went back to Amadeo and went to the Barangay but the people responsible weren't there. Oh, well. At least the neighbors are already warned about what they did. Sana hindi na maulit to sa ibang pet-owners.
At this point, I want to thank everyone who read my Finding Winter post, most especially to the people who shared our posts on Facebook. The power of Social Media is real, guys! Ang galing lang. So thank you, thank you, thank you.
Gaye said there are people who wants to hug Winter in person. Teehee. How sweet. And there are people who lost their pets too who were inspired and is asking for tips on finding their lost pets.
All I can say is, if you really love your pets, don't ever give up! No matter what other people will say. :)
