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Family's pet comes home
The Cheatham family was ecstatic at finding their lost dog, Titus, at the Putnam County Humane Shelter. But Titus almost moved a state away before the Cheatham's found him.
The big black half-Labrador dog got away from his home after a lightning strike knocked out the invisible fencing around his home.
"A female lured him away," said the wife of his owner, Elizabeth Cheatham. The dog did have a collar but was not micro-chipped.
The family searched for their pet and put up notices, but nobody knew where Titus had gone.
The dog was a birthday present for father and husband Gary Cheatham.
"Gary saw an ad for him when he was a puppy. He was in a little town called Mecca. The girls and I decided to get him for Gary's birthday," said Elizabeth.
"We decided to go to Mecca and change our lives," laughed Elizabeth. "And Titus did change our lives."
The dog was found at the Ice Box in Cloverdale and taken to SPOT. They kept him for several days and posted a flyer, but eventually they turned the dog over to the Putnam County Humane Shelter. The poster remained up.
Meanwhile, the Cheatham family was still searching for their two-and-a-half-year-old pet.
Humane Shelter Board member Lynn Bohmer knew Titus was smart as soon as she met him.
"I worked with him for about an hour and he would sit and obey. I knew he had been somebody's pet," she said.
Not knowing his real name, the shelter folks named the dog Moose and posted his picture on their Web site. They identified him as being part Labrador and part mastiff.
The Cheathams called the shelter asking about their black Labrador, but either he wasn't there yet or had already been adopted.
"He had some very distinguishing things like the brown leather collar he was wearing," said Elizabeth. "But they didn't think he was there."
A family in Ohio who owned a mastiff and was looking for a similar dog adopted Moose. They saw his photo on the Web site and called about him.
They brought their own dog and visited the shelter, playing with Moose for over an hour. The two dogs seemed to get along well so the Ohio family adopted him.
He left for Ohio that day. But within a few days, the family called the shelter. Once at home their dog became very territorial and refused to get along with Moose. They were worried about the dogs harming one another, so they brought him back to the Putnam County Humane Shelter.
The next day, Gary Cheatham came to the shelter looking for Titus.
His neighbor had been to SPOT and seen their flyer. She recognized the dog and came home and told the Cheatham's where Titus was.
"Moose recognized them before they ever got to his cage. He was so excited to see them. We knew it was their dog," said Bohmer.
"He rode home in the back of the pickup truck," said Elizabeth. "He was so happy to be home he broke his leash trying to get out of the truck. He ran to each of the kids and then found his ball and brought it to us to play. He knew he was home."
"We were happy and Gary was really happy to have his dog back," said Elizabeth.
The Cheathams paid an adoption fee to get Titus back. He had been fixed, gotten all his shots and is now micro-chipped.
The family plans on putting up a regular fence for him soon.
"The electric fence doesn't keep other dogs out and we don't want him lured away again," they said. "We're just happy he is back home."
And Titus is very happy to be home with his real family.