PORTLAND – A Portland man was reunited with his beloved pet after a little investigative work and a very random set of events.
Kyle Webster said he walked to the Safeway store on Broadway Avenue, near the Lloyd center with his dog, Holden and tied his pet outside as he usually does when he shops for groceries. But on this particular Sunday night, he was in the wrong place at the wrong time.
When he came out of the store around 8 p.m., the pooch was gone and Webster was beside himself. He said a couple sitting on a bench nearby told him that they saw a homeless woman take the dog just moments earlier.
So Webster went into detective mode. He noticed a group of homeless kids and asked them if they knew anything about the woman who took his dog. The teens said they knew of her and even took him to several of the places where she often hung out.
After nearly two hours of searching, Webster still hadn’t found his dog, so he gave the homeless group his phone number and filed a report with police, and starting posting fliers around town with photos of his Chiuahua/Pug mix puppy.
He also called a friend who works with the Transition Project for homeless. Amazingly, while he was on the phone with her, the friend spotted his dog with a homeless group in downtown Portland.
She stayed on the phone with Webster and quietly followed the homeless group until police arrived and seized the dog.
Webster was reunited with Holden a short time later and overjoyed that his little bit of detective work paid off.
He said Holden was shaking, hungry and dirty but otherwise fine.
Now he will never again tie Holden outside as he shops, no matter how safe the neighborhood seems to be.
