POLK COUNTY, FL. – A 10-year-old pup named Tiny, who went missing from a Polk County home in September, was located 67 miles away and three months later.
According to Clearwater Police, in September, Tiny went missing from her family’s back yard in Polk County.
Fast forward to the last week of December, when Officer Ryan Kenna found a wayward pooch near Tower 1 on Clearwater Beach.
He took it to Pinellas County Animal Control, where after some investigative digging, they learned through a chip that the dog came from Polk County – more than 67 miles away.
Sophia Burgess and her family put up signs in the neighborhood when Tiny turned up missing and also posted online pleas for her return. After more than three months, it wasn’t looking promising. Then a couple of weeks ago, her 15-year-old daughter, Jaliyah, had a dream that Tiny came home. Sometimes, a dream can turn into reality.
Burgess got the call from animal control late on Dec. 30, just before the facility was going to close for three days for the new year’s weekend. “I had to hold it in all weekend,” she said.
She didn’t tell her two children right away in case there was some type of mix-up and it wasn’t Tiny after all. She knew right away once she saw the pooch that it was indeed Tiny.
“They were so thankful and so excited,” Jenna Wiese, who works with the county’s animal control department, said of the Burgess parents who came for the pickup. “You could feel the gratitude.”
The parents brought Tiny back home, and the two children were overcome with emotion at the unexpected reunion captured on video, according to police.
“They cried like babies,” Burgess said.
So what was Tiny doing for the last three months? How did she make to Clearwater? There are so many unanswered questions.
“I wish I had the answer to all of those questions,” Burgess said. “I’ve never even been to Clearwater.”
For Officer Kenna, it was neat to be an integral part of a happy ending for the family.
“It’s great knowing that a family was reunited with their four-legged loved one,” he said. “It was the perfect time of year just after Christmas and starting off the new year on a better page for the family.”
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