It’s a happy ending after Montreal’s professional women’s hockey team, business owners and concerned neighbours pitched in to find a lost puppy named Frankie.
The 14-week-old rescue dog was found Tuesday evening in the Pointe-Saint-Charles neighbourhood.
Frankie has since been reunited with her loved ones and received a clean bill of health from a veterinarian.
She is a member of Kristin O’Neill’s family, a hockey player with Montreal’s team with the Professional Women’s Hockey League. Her team members and family helped in the days-long search for the missing pet.
“She was definitely happy to be found,” said Emily O’Neill, Kristin’s sister who also took part in the search.
Frankie went missing last Saturday in what was a matter of seconds after she got loose of her leash and took off. She ran through the streets toward a shipyard.
Frankie belongs to Meghan, another sister of Kristin O’Neill. The entire family came in from Ontario to put up posters and search the area to find the lost pooch.
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“It’s definitely a sad and difficult situation,” Kristin O’Neill said in an interview before the pup was found.
When the professional athlete shared a photo of her sister’s missing pet online, “basically the whole team” showed up at her apartment. That is where Frankie first fled.
“We all divided and conquered and tried to put up posters in different areas,” Kristin O’Neill said. “And search maybe in little hiding spots that she might be in. So it was really nice from them all.”
The posts made the rounds online too before Frankie was found. Team captain Marie-Philip Poulin shared a photo of Frankie to local Facebook groups, asking people to keep an eye out.
The short-haired dog from Mexico was initially being fostered but Meghan O’Neill and their resident dog quickly fell in love with her.
Frankie was officially adopted around Christmas, and she is described as small and super sweet. She’s also skittish and scared of people.
Frankie, who weighs fewer than 15 pounds, was wearing a coat when she fled. But with winter far from over in Montreal, her family was worried and asking the public for help.
“She’s supposed to be getting a new start here from her days in Mexico,” Meghan O’Neill said of her dog.
Not only did the O’Neill clan combed through the area and shipyard alongside the PWHL hockey team, but strangers also lent a hand. Local businesses had put up posters to spread the word.
“I just think it’s great to see everyone being so supportive. People around the community are really helping out,” Kristin O’Neill said, adding she was touched by her fellow hockey players’ kindness too.
“My teammates here have helped a lot.”
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