The Cash family got a visit from a yellow lab mixed named Henry at their home, only to find out he has been lost for 23 days.
When Mound House resident Melinda Cash saw a yellow lab roaming her property on Sunday evening, she didn’t think anything of it.
She didn’t realize the dog was missing for 23 days until she recognized the dog’s furry face from the “Lost Dog” fliers near her mailbox.
“It was accident that we found him,” Cash said. “The dog was a bag of bones. I knew it was Henry.”
Henry is a 7-year-old lab mix who went missing from his family Jan. 6, near Airport Road and Arrowhead Drive. Although he strayed in Carson City, the dog is based out of Orange County, Calif.
However, his “grandfather,”Eric Durfee, who lives in Incline Village, often babysits the pup.
“We handed out 900 fliers,” he said. “I slept in my van for three weeks to find him.”
Durfee wasn’t alone in the search; the Carson City and Lyon County Humane Society joined the hunt, as well as many residents from Carson City, Dayton and Mound House, thanks to the Facebook page “Bring Henry Home.”
According the Durfee and his search teams, Henry’s sightings were recorded in places such as College Parkway and Virginia City, within a 2-5 day period.
Cash said Henry was frightened, so it was difficult to catch him at first. Luckily, the family was able to secure the dog form there. She called Durfee to report his missing dog has been found.
“He’s received a lot of phone calls about this,” Cash said. “He was suspicious when I called.”
Based on the flier, the descriptions of Henry were easy to follow: shaved golden retriever wearing a bright, blue collar that may reflect green in light.
However, there was one detail Durfee didn’t share on the flier that Cash noticed to convince him that it was Henry.
“He was wearing a choke chain with his bright, blue collar,” she said. “He was quiet when I told him. That pinched him.”
The SPCA of Carson City picked up Henry from the Cash and rushed him to the nearest veterinarian. During the weeks missing, Henry lost 33 pounds and had frostbite on the tip of his nose.
But other than that, he is in remarkable shape, Durfee said. When he was notified about finding of his dog, he rushed out of Los Angeles to Incline Village on Monday.
The fact Henry survived almost an entire month in the wild made Durfee choke up.
“He’s on the road to recovery,” he said. “The participating communities have been so supportive and helpful.”
There’s an reward for Cash for finding Henry and she already knows what she’s going to do with it.
“We want to donate it to SPCA,” Cash said. “We didn’t do this for a reward; we feel we were accidentally in the middle of it. It was a family effort and thank goodness the dog stayed on our property.”