WARNING: Disturbing content
A St. Albert family received the surprise of a lifetime this week. Four years after their dog Grif was stolen, they’re back together.
Kathryn Morrow’s little dog Grif — a Brussles Griffon — and her sister’s dog JJ — a Pekingese cross — disappeared in 2013. Morrow and her sister told police, offered a reward and shared photos online, but the few leads they received didn’t go anywhere.
“I really didn’t give up,” Morrow told Global News. “I was starting to tell myself recently that I should probably stop looking because it was unrealistic to get her back, but I’ve been hopeful this whole time.”
On Wednesday morning, Morrow woke up to three messages on her phone and photos of a 10-year-old spayed female Brussles Griffon who had been turned into Edmonton Animal Care and Control.
“I think my heart stopped beating at that moment,” Morrow wrote on Facebook. “I couldn’t even speak through my sobbing.
“The three-and-a-half hour wait for ACCC to open was the longest wait of my life,” she wrote.
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Grif was found badly injured. She was dropped off at the centre with an elastic band wrapped around her head and neck.
“The elastic band had severed her ear,” Morrow said. “Her ear is about two-thirds of the way off on either side and she’s got quite a deep laceration in her neck and the side of her head. She was in pretty rough shape. Her nails hadn’t been trimmed. She was emaciated, anemic.
“They were pretty hesitant to give her back to me because of her condition,” Morrow said. “They told me what happened to her and I was a mess.”
When she finally was able to see the dog, it was an emotional moment.
“I said her name and she turned to face me and indeed it WAS Grif!” she wrote. “They brought me closer to touch her through the cage, but she didn’t seem to recognize me. Her cataracts had gotten worse, she seemed to be part deaf, and she was all doped up on pain meds. I was heartbroken.”
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Morrow filled out the paperwork and carried Grif to the car to take her home.
“After about five minutes in the car, Grif realized exactly who I was and tried desperately to climb over the centre console to sit on my lap!”
Grif is on antibiotics for an infection, is malnourished and needs reconstructive surgery. A gofundme page has been started to help pay for the procedure.
JJ is still missing, but finding Grif has given the family a new sense of hope that the second pup will also be found.
“My heart is exploding with love and thankfulness,” Morrow said. “Delay is not denial, so whatever you’re praying for, please keep praying and don’t give up. If my miracle can happen, so can yours.”