Home > Gwinnett > Rick Badie / My Opinion > Archives > 2007 > January > 28
Sunday, January 28, 2007
Lost and injured, Oreo the dog found a friend
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Mark Callachan spotted the pooch on Dickens Road. He apparently had been hit by a car, and was trying to pull himself to the edge of the road with his front paws.
Callachan stopped.
Neighbors peered from their windows. Callachan asked a man if the male Shih Tzu Maltese was his. No, he said. So Callachan asked for a blanket. He wrapped the dog up, put him in his truck, and continued to work. He’s a kindergarten teacher at Hopkins Elementary in Lilburn.
At school, Callachan photographed the dog and attached it to a campus e-mail. He hoped someone would claim the pet, or possibly know its owner. He didn’t want to contact animal control. If no one claimed the canine at the shelter, it would eventually be put to sleep.
“I didn’t want that to happen,” said Callachan of Atlanta.
When the e-mailed proved fruitless, Lee Mynett, another teacher, stepped in. She offered to take the dog to a vet at Animal Care Hospital in Lilburn. The dog, in shock, with lacerations and a broken left hip, spent the night there Tuesday. (SEE PHOTO OF OREO BELOW.)
Days earlier, Chris Denslow, a math specialist at Hopkins, had seen a “Lost Dog” poster along Ponds Road. It had a phone number, photo of the animal, and listed a $200 reward for his recovery.
On Tuesday, the day Callachan picked up the dog, Denslow noticed the flier again. Maybe the rescued dog was the toy dog in the flier that went missing Jan. 15. It was a long shot, though. The location of the poster and the spot where Callachan found the dog aren’t that close. But Denslow thought it was worth a try. On Wednesday, she brought the poster to school.
On Jan. 15, thieves broke into Ken Mauragas’ home, ransacked it, and stole two plasma TVs and money. But out of all the things that turned up missing, “Oreo,” his dog, mattered the most. He surmised that the sick thieves had snatched the pooch as well as the loot.
“That’s my feeling,” said Mauragas, 57, a service manager at Norman’s Electronics in Chamblee. “He’s a very happy dog. He licks you to death.”
Initially, Mauragas posted xeroxed “Lost Dog” fliers. But the wintry, rainy weather that swept through Gwinnett two weeks ago made hay of them. So he put out some laminated signs. He checked area animal shelters and clinics, too.
On Wednesday, Mauragas’ phone rang. It was Mynett, the Hopkins’ teacher. She described the rescued animal. Mauragas didn’t think it was his Oreo, but he drove to the Animal Care Hospital to take a look. Just in case.
“I went right to my knees,” he told me. “I lost it. I was just crying.”
On Thursday, Oreo had surgery at the Georgia Veterinary Specialists in Roswell to insert pins in his lower torso. His is a long road to recovery.
And Mauragas and Oreo have the good folks at Hopkins to thank. You know what they say, though: What goes around comes around. Which brings me to that $200 reward.
Hopkins Elementary students and faculty have been raising money to install a playground at the school.
Now, thanks to Callachan, Denslow and Mynett, they have some money to add to the project.
Rick Badie’s column appears on Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays. Contact him at 770-263-3875 or e-mail: rbadie@ajc.com.
EDITOR’S NOTE: You don’t have to take a poll to find out what’s on people’s minds. Just drop by a barbershop. Rick Badie, your AJC Gwinnett News columnist, will get trimmed and educated Wednesday when he visits Uncle Doug’s Fresh Cuts, 6200 Buford Highway, in Norcross. He’ll be there from noon to 2 p.m. Read all about it online and in print in Thursday’s AJC.
Permalink | Comments (6) | Post your comment | Categories: Rick Badie
