When Stephanie Mueller of Fairview Heights, Ill., was driving back home on Halloween 2013 night, the last thing she expected to encounter that night was a lost, hurt dog, but as an animal lover herself, Mueller couldn’t keep on driving and leave on the road the limping Labrador retriever to its own fate.
Mueller exited her car and approached the dog. The canine was friendly and came over to her immediately. With the help of her husband, who was also in the car, they placed the dog inside the automobile and drove him to an emergency animal hospital in Collinsville, Ill.
“[The dog] had a collar but no tags,” Mueller told BND. “And it had a lot of what looked like tumors. We thought it might be sick.”
Fortunately the dog had no injuries. The limp seemed to be from old age. The Muellers didn’t think it would be right to surrender this elder, gentle soul to animal control, instead they decided to take him home and help him find his family.
The next day the lost dog was taken to Lashley Animal Hospital in Swansea, Ill., where he was scanned for a micro chip. The canine did have one, but unfortunately it was not registered to anyone in particularly.
Lashley Animal Hospital staff was able to find out where the chip had been implanted and after a few phone calls the Good Samaritans learned the when and who had purchased the chip.
With a phone number in hand, the Muellers contacted the chip’s owner but unfortunately the phone number was no longer active.
Stephanie Mueller didn’t give up. She decided to do an internet search and find anyone in the area that matched the last name she had been given.
Jackpot! The web search yielded one result, a Facebook page to a Chicago man with Sabengsy as the last name.
Quickly Stephanie sent a Facebook message:
“I figured it was a long shot, but I just said we had found this dog and your name. Do you know anything,” Mueller said.
Within minutes she received a response. The Chicago man informed Stephanie that the dog could be his sister’s dog.
“Two minutes later, [the dog’s owner] was calling me,” Mueller said. “She lived in the neighborhood where we found [the pet].”
It turned out the limping dog the Muellers had rescued that Halloween night was named T.K and belonged to Patricia Sabengsy.
Sabengsy said her dog suffered from beningn tumors and hip dysplasia, this is why he limps when he walks. Also, due to his mobility restrictions, T.K could not have wandered far from home, but when animal lovers find a lonely, hurt dog, the first instinct is to help and rescue the pet in need.
T.K was reunited with his family soon after and the Sabengsys were once thrilled to have their beloved family member back home.
Thank you Stephanie Mueller, because of your love for animals T.K., the wondering dog, was safe and sound and his life did not end in a tragic accident on Halloween night.
