A little Maltese named Brody wandered off from his Lakeland home over the weekend, and in a weird twist, is now another family’s pet.
But they likely have no clue that another family is looking for him.
“He’s just always been around and we just want to get him back,” said Stephanie Brousseau, the mother of Candice Farrell, who owns the dog.
Brousseau got the dog for her daughter years ago after finding out he was born on the same day that her father passed away from cancer.
Brody the dog means so much to this family. It was born the same day the kids grandpa died of cancer. pic.twitter.com/5spm0thuI5
— Ryan Raiche (@ryanraiche) April 11, 2017
That started a long, sentimental connection with the dog.
“So I knew it was meant to be,” Brousseau said.
So this weekend when Brody escaped out of the yard, the family panicked.
They posted flyers, and spread the word all over social media.
Come to find out, a neighbor spotted the dog and thought she was helping by bringing it over to the SPCA Florida.
They were not taking in animals at the time, but two ladies in the parking lot were. They were there looking to adopt but didn’t even have to go inside to do it.
“There was nothing malicious and the ladies that ended up with Brody, they were just looking for a dog and it just ended up that way,” said Brousseau.
The SPCA is now reviewing tapes and is doing everything it can to find the ladies, and get the dog back.
“I think we are getting close,” said Adam Stanfield, Executive Director of SPCA Florida.
The agency has a poster filled with lost dog signs inside, as this kind of thing happens a lot.
But technology has made it easier to reconnect missing pets with their families. There are many community Facebook pages dedicated to lost pets and now even the NextDoor app has a special directory just for missing animals.
“Anything we can do to spread the information in that local area would be great,” Stanfield said.
The family is trying every avenue to figure out — to no fault of their own — walked away with their beloved Brody.
They believe it’s two women from the Winter Haven area. But they likely have no clue of where Brody came from.
