If you’ve ever experienced the heart-wrenching sensation of a dog going missing, then you understand what an awful emotion it is… not knowing whether you’ll ever reunite with him or what might have transpired.
Fortunately, a small canine named Toto, who had been unaccounted for three days in Rockland County, New York, was located by law enforcement and safely returned to his guardian.
Toto, a 16-year-old Lhasa Apso, didn’t set off on a journey to the enchanting Land of Oz, but thankfully, he had an equally joyful conclusion to his tale.
After the passing of Toto’s original owner, his neighbor, Anna Marie Miller, took him in and has been his caretaker for over eight years.
“He belonged to my neighbor, and when my neighbor died, I took him in,” Anna Marie Miller stated during an interview with ABC News.
On that Tuesday, when little Toto vanished, Anna’s niece was home alone with him. When a smoke alarm sounded, she briefly opened the front door, and it was during this moment that he made his escape.
Upon returning home and realizing her cherished pup was missing, they quickly took to Facebook, hoping someone might spot him. The entire community banded together to search for Toto, but he was nowhere in sight.
“I feared he might be in a ditch somewhere or lost in the woods and had perished,” Miller expressed. “I was praying that he would be found.”
She continued, “You know, you grow attached to them. They become a part of the family. Plus, he’s a wonderful dog.”
On Friday, three days after Toto’s disappearance, a neighbor of Anna’s was strolling near Miller’s residence when she heard a dog barking. She discovered Toto trapped in a storm drain. The poor little fellow had likely spent three days without any food or water.
The woman promptly contacted Anna and the police.
The Haverstraw Police Department announced on their Facebook, “This morning, PO Walter Vega and Sgt. Steven Rosado, along with the Village of West Haverstraw DPW, rescued a small dog from a storm drain that had been missing for three days.”
“The canine has been reunited with its guardian 🐾,” the post added.
Little Toto was evidently shaken from being trapped in the storm drain for a full three days.
Anna felt immense gratitude to have her little companion back. She took him to the vet for an examination since he wasn’t eating after being saved.
“He’s not eating or behaving normally. But, I believe it requires time, you know?”, Anna remarked, hoping that in a few days, everything would normalize.
Thanks to the swift and skillful response from the Rockland County police and fire department, once more, a treasured dog was thankfully rescued and reunited with his family.
Here, you can view the rescue footage of little Toto: