A DUBLIN family have been reunited with their pet dogs who disappeared from a trailer behind their car on the way back from Co Kerry.
“It was like an ending to a Disney movie,” Katie Fleming said yesterday. “I can’t believe the goodness of people. It really is amazing we have the two of them back alive.”
Ms Fleming was describing her horror when she was told by her husband, Séamus, that their dogs were not in the trailer as they travelled home on Sunday night to Dublin having spent the weekend in Kerry.
The couple were heartbroken because one of the dogs, a golden retriever named Taylor, provides a lifeline to their son Patrick (11) who has Down syndrome.
“My son can’t verbalise but the dog understands him,” Ms Fleming said. “They have their own method of communication. It’s an amazing bond. It was vital we got Taylor back.”
The Flemings had travelled 172km from Castleisland when motorists brought the empty trailer to their attention as they drove through Moneygall, Co Offaly.
“My husband pulled in off the road and checked the trailer. When he came back to the car he told me we did not have the dogs on board,” Ms Fleming said.
“There was no way we expected them to be alive and well, let alone be found together. We had no hope.”
Ms Fleming contacted her sister, Nancy, who lives in Kerry, who contacted radio station Live 95FM to make an on-air appeal for her nephew’s special dog. The family also contacted Garda Cathy Healy in Askeaton, Co Limerick, who put the appeal out on Twitter.
The Geoghegan family then called Len Dineen’s radio show to say they had spotted the dogs and contacted gardaí, who held Taylor and Pixie Belle until the Flemings arrived to pick them up.
“The goodness of people was just amazing,” Ms Fleming said. “The dog is such a huge part of Patrick’s development.”
She thanked Mr Dineen, Garda Healy, the Geoghegan family and the people who helped in Moneygall. “The response was absolutely incredible,” she added.