Abby Is Home!

Abby Is Home!

By Debbie Scola

This story involves Faith, Hope and Angels as a gift from God.

It all begins with a phone call John and I received.
While we were out to dinner with friends on June 23 at around 5:30 p.m., we were informed our four dogs – Attie Mae (hound), Tony (Westie), Gibbs (small yorkie) and Abby (25 lb. yorkie poo) – had escaped our fenced yard and were running around the neighborhood.
The neighbors were able to wrangle the three oldest dogs into the back yard, but our youngest, he one-year-old Abby, took off.
We hurried home and jumped on our golf cart to start the search for her in our neighborhood. Abby is a runner and thinks it is fun to play keep away. We had volunteers also looking and we searched until dark, when a bad storm rolled in.
I was heartbroken, our baby girl was lost and in a storm. We sat in chairs watching from inside our garage not knowing how we would be able to rest thinking about Abby being lost in the storm.
I had already contacted the IDtag.com hotline to report Abby lost and gave them all the pertinent information. They said that an alert would be sent to all local shelters and vets in the surrounding area. If anyone found her, they could take her in and a vet would scan her to determine her owner’s information. Of course, that only works if someone could catch and bring her in!
We posted a picture and the details of her disappearance on Facebook and all the lost dog sites we could find. We contacted all our friends and neighbors and asked them to pray for her safe return. John and I held hands as we prayed that our poor baby would return home safely.
On June 24, the morning after Abby’s disappearance, I was contacted by Susan Morton with PetFBI. She assured me she had experience in recovering lost pets and offered her assistance in creating and posting signs in the surrounding area. I welcomed her help and felt calmer knowing we had an expert assisting in the recovery our sweet angel Abby.
We felt God answered our prayers and sent help to us in our time of need. The last sighting of Abby was at 6:30 p.m. on the night of June 23.
We continued our search on June 24 in between intermittent rain. In the afternoon, Susan and her husband were searching for Abby in the field behind our neighborhood with binoculars. They thought they saw something.
John and I crossed the overgrown field in the golf cart and made it to the other side. Searching behind the houses in Crimson Ridge neighborhood yielded no results. Disappointed and saddened, we returned home. It was now 24 hours since Abby disappeared.
Susan suggested putting food and water and her toys outside close to our home so maybe it would lure Abby back home. We put her dog crate and her belongings at the edge of the garage and left the door up all night with the light on.
In the two days that followed, we rode around the neighborhood in the golf cart squeaking her favorite toy in hopes she would hear it and come running. We knocked on doors and asked people on the street if they had seen Abby.
Four days came and went with no sighting or any hope of bringing her back home. We prayed that she would be safe and happy wherever she was.
We had bought Abby a year ago last summer and there is a story behind it.
We lost our oldest son Joshua in July of 2022 to a tragic accident. Since that time, survival and living life became difficult. But with friends and family and my faith, I was able to go on. August 17 is Joshua’s birthday.
Buying Abby has helped me deal with the grief. She has brought me so much joy and I felt I had a part of my son with me again. I named her Abby as that was my son’s dog.
She was indeed my sweet Angel and I felt like I lost Joshua all over again when we lost Abby. The emotions were overwhelming. But my faith in God and his will for my life sustained me during this trial.
On Tuesday, July 1, we received an encouraging phone call from a young man saying he spotted Abby in the field the day before while riding his bike.
He felt positive it was her, as he had seen the poster in the neighborhood. John and I immediately drove to the field and walked on foot to the highest point in the open field.
We searched with binoculars. And, praise Jesus, John made eye contact with Abby from his binoculars. He walked to where he saw her. But she disappeared into the heavy thicket. I questioned whether he really did see her, and he was unwavering.
“Yes, I saw her,’’ he said.
It was hot and began to rain heavily about that time, so our search was ended abruptly for the time being. We vowed to return as soon as the rain subsided. We contacted our friend Susan and gave her the details of what happened.
We met up after the rain on the dead end at Woodrow Lane. Susan, Bill, John and I scanned the tree line with our binoculars and low and behold, we saw Abby sitting at the edge of the woods as big as day.
We could not believe our eyes, as we slowly approached her on foot. She remained in our sight for a good five minutes before disappearing into the wooded area again.
but now we had Hope for the first time in over seven days. We walked the area squeaking her favorite toy and John went home and brought back our other dogs.
We thought the noise would draw her out, but it was not working.
Susan said Abby is scared and untrusting of anyone after being outside alone for seven days. Susan and her husband began to put the cage together and set up a field camera inside the cage. They doused it with liquid smoke and tuna and placed chicken meat balls and food inside the cage.
She said it should attract Abby and hopefully not other wild animals like raccoons or opossums. By then it was dark, and Susan said we should go home and wait. She said if the cage is tripped it would alert her phone. So, we did just that. We went home to wait.
At midnight on July 2, we received the most amazing phone call ever.
“We got her!!”
We hurried to meet Susan at the location where the cage was placed. Abby was wet and shivering and did not recognize us. We loaded the cage into the back of the truck and drove home.
Leaving her in the cage, we lifted from the bed of the truck into the garage. We closed the door and opened the cage door.
She began wagging her tail, as she now recognized us and knew she was home safe. Yes, our baby Angel was at home at last.
I felt compelled to write this story to let people know that God is here and him returning Abby back home after eight days was a true miracle that you cannot deny.
God Bless you.
– John and Debbie Scola