Sometimes, it just takes a dog

VIDA: The loss expressed by Brenda Severns Dinges struck a chord in the community when she posted on social media last week that their puppy was missing.

“We had neighbors all the way up to Rainbow offering their help,” she said. “Local neighbors showed up within minutes to help.”

The response helped soften some of the emptiness her family felt, “we feel so blessed to live in this community with wonderful humans,” she said.

The people who showed up to help out searched “what seemed like scouring every piece of land. We even had a boat in the river searching. It was devastating to stop searching at dark.”

The next morning, an unlikely element was added to those efforts. Hatchet, is a friendly (and very smart) black Labrador who lives with his family on Goodpasture Road. He may not look a bit like Lassie, but he sure acted like that famous canine on the morning of February 13th. Hatchet woke up early, pestering his family to let him out the door. He barked, whined, and finally got his wish.

He ran directly to a pile in the hay barn and unearthed Sadie, a cute little puppy, who had gone missing during the frigid night before. Sadie had wisely sought shelter from the cold in the West family’s compost.

“Hatchet is a true hero,” Brenda said. “God bless the animals.” His reward was a big chewy gift box. And Sadie’s owners hosted searchers to a spaghetti feed Sunday night as a low-key celebration “of love, kindness, and new friendships.”