A lost dog was rescued, nursed back to health and reunited with his family for the holidays thanks to the efforts of a Good Samaritan, a nonprofit group and caring City staff.
A Good Samaritan found Gizmo and brought him to the Mission Viejo Animal Services Center on November 22. The dog was scared, cold and had no identification. DAWG, the nonprofit fundraising group of the Animal Services Center, paid for emergency bladder stone surgery and the removal of several teeth that were causing Gizmo severe problems. While volunteers and staff nursed the friendly dog back to health, J.R. Stewart, an Animal Services Officer, began searching for Gizmo’s owner. The fruits of his detective work paid off when he found the dog’s family. They had moved from Huntington Beach to Colorado and then to Aliso Viejo. Gizmo had been missing for more than a month.
His family was overwhelmed with gratitude to DAWG and all involved. DAWG agreed to accept a small payment toward the $2,000 spent on Gizmo’s medical care, since the family could not afford to pay for all the medical bills. On December 6, Gizmo was happily reunited with his family and showed his affection and joy by “kissing” the family’s young son.
“Now Gizmo can spend the holidays with his family thanks to the Good Samaritan, the generous DAWG group, caring staff and one very persistent Animal Control Officer,” said Gail DeYoung, Animal Services Manager. “The Mission Viejo Animal Services Center is extremely grateful to have so many caring community members and staff that work throughout the year to save and care for our animals.”
This was a Christmas story to be sure. I was lucky enough to be part of arranging for critical care for Gizmo. It was thrilling to see this normally quiet dog get so excited at finding his family. The reunion was one of pure joy. Little Gizmo made those happy dog noises and danced around repeatedly jumping up and kissing his family. This very nice family had been looking for their dog for over a month but because they were new to the area, they did not know that our shelter serves Aliso Viejo. What a great feeling to see this family reunited.