“He was missing for most of that day and all night. I thought he was gone.”
Those were the words of Dorothy DeBuck, her voice cracking over the phone when I asked her to tell me how she felt when her husband, Jack went missing two weeks ago.
Jack DeBuck, who suffers from the early stages of dementia, went out for his usual walk with his dog, Sheena. According to his wife, Jack knows his way around town. “He’s always walking around. He knows directions,” Dorothy said. “I think he knew exactly where he was going.”
But Jack must have gotten side tracked and didn’t return home that day. The series of events that reunited Jack and Dorothy prove a story can have a happy ending when all the right pieces and people fall into place.
Apparently Jack left his home in Albuquerque on a Friday afternoon two weeks ago and ended up at The Range Café in Bernalillo almost 24 hours later and 12 miles from his home. Noting his disorientation, the people at The Range contacted the police to help Jack, and Bernalillo Animal Control to help the white Shepard mix dog.
“My theory is that he walked to where we used to live in Placitas,” said Dorothy. “He is good with directions, just not very good at communicating.”
Indeed he wasn’t. The authorities took Jack to UNM Hospital for observation. Meanwhile, Sheena was taken to Watermelon Mountain Ranch in Rio Rancho and scanned to see if she had a microchip that might identifier her.
Sheena in fact had a microchip and Jim Putnam, office manager at WMR made some phone calls. “I found that it was a Home Again chip and I called the company,” says Putnam. “I got lucky and got Dorothy's old address in Placitas and two phone numbers. One apparently not good, one still good. Putnam got on the horn to Dorothy and told her her dog had been found.
Putnam then called Melissa Middleton of UNMH and told her the last name of the gentleman she had was Debuck.
“When I told her the last name was DeBuck, she echoed it with a little excitement,” said Putnam. “I asked her if that rang a bell and she said that the man had muttered ‘debunk, debunk’ but they didn't know what he was saying.” She was thrilled to receive the information and identified Mr. Debuck.
“Watermelon Mountain Ranch took really good care of Sheena and they brushed her,” says Dorothy. Jack and Sheena were really happy to see each other when we got there to pick her up. I want to give credit to Jim for finding her chip that lead to us.”
When I asked Dorothy if she lets Jack go out anymore, she was cautious. “He’s still walking the dog,” she said. “He just goes for shorter walks now.”
Not only is the need to micro-chip your dog a smart way to identify her should she get lost, but in some cases it can identify its master as well.
Quote of the Week: "In my life's chain of events nothing was accidental. Everything happened according to an inner need." - Hannah Senesh
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