A B.C. woman who lost her dog in Edmonton over the holidays is overjoyed to have her precious pup back in her arms after a bizarre series of events that involved the animal being sold online to a new family.
The ordeal started on Dec. 23 when Trish Armstrong-Gibson’s family mini-Labradoodle, Murphy, escaped from the yard. She was visiting her son in Edmonton when the dog escaped.
A few hours later, Armstrong-Gibson received a message from a man who found Murphy in northeast Edmonton, after the dog was clipped by a vehicle. The man said another man in the area offered to take the dog to a local vet and left a phone number that ended up being out of service.
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Armstrong-Gibson’s family went days without hearing anything. They put up missing posters in northeast Edmonton, close to where they believe the dog was clipped by the vehicle. They called several local animal shelters and vets but weren’t able to track down Murphy. Until yesterday.
“A woman phoned me and said she thought they had our dog,” Armstrong-Gibson said Friday.
After asking a few questions to definitively identify Murphy, Armstrong-Gibson said she knew it was her dog.
“She sent a picture and I was crying so hard I actually couldn’t see the picture.”
The families arranged to meet to return Murphy to his rightful owners. The woman told Armstrong-Gibson that she bought the dog on Kijiji on Dec. 23 as a Christmas gift for her young son.
While the little boy was “heartbroken and very sad,” Armstrong-Gibson said they insisted the other family take the $500 reward money.
“We had to push her to take our reward money,” Armstrong-Gibson said. “They were going to buy a new puppy… the new puppy’s name was going to be Murphy.”
Murphy wasn’t injured, Armstrong-Gibson said. While he was a bit nervous at first, she said her pup has quickly returned back to his old self.
“He was really shaky for probably about an hour. It was almost like he was in shock a bit,” she said Friday. “After about an hour, he started to shake it off and he was running around and wagging his tail and kissing like crazy.”
Armstrong-Gibson said she didn’t ask the family for details about the online exchange of the dog. Her family has since headed back to British Columbia.
The Edmonton Police Service said a criminal investigation is underway.