THUNDER BAY – When Jordan Carroll’s dog went missing over a month ago, it was a devastating blow for the college student who had longed for a canine companion since childhood.
The 18-year-old now believes his dog Tucker, who escaped during a trip to the dump in early March, is living with another family. He’s spent the better part of the month trying to locate the dog and prevail upon its new owners to return him.
His quest has prompted a massive outpouring of support from local residents, with over 2,700 people joining a Finding Tucker group on Facebook, and dozens of strangers lending their time to help find the dog.
It was a dream come true when Carroll, an engineering student at Confederation College, brought Tucker home about five months ago.
“I’ve wanted a dog since I was 10 years old probably,” he said. “I wasn’t allowed to get a dog under my parents’ rules, so [when] I moved out, I got Tucker.”
The dog was about six months old when he managed to slip away during a dump run on March 5. Carroll chased the animal for kilometres through the bush, he said, with no luck.
It didn’t take long for friends and family to start lending a hand.
“By that evening, we had over 30 people out there looking for him,” Carroll said.
Since then, his attempts to reunite with Tucker have attracted a large and dedicated following.
The Facebook page has become a hub for hundreds of messages of support, offers to help, and amateur sleuthing efforts.
Volunteers have posted lost dog posters in the windows of their vehicles and local shops, distributed flyers door-to-door, and reported suspected sightings.
“The community reaction has been absolutely amazing,” Carroll said. “I can’t thank everyone enough for their contributions – the hours they’ve spent driving around and looking.”
“I wouldn’t have expected it. This happened and I see that there’s a lot of good people. It’s just amazing.”
The volunteers' dedication is surpassed only by that Carroll and his partner. The couple continues to search every day, he said, sometimes following tips for hours, and they’ve looked into solutions including using drones and bloodhounds.
They’ve also put up a reward of $3,000 for the dog’s safe return.
So far, the most promising lead has been a suspected sighting at a local gas station.
Someone familiar with the dog’s description allegedly confronted a woman at the station, saying she was aware the owners were looking for the dog.
According to the account, Carroll said, the woman became upset and said her family was attached to the dog and wouldn’t give him up.
He’s confident the sighting involved Tucker, based on the nature of the interaction and the dog’s distinctive features.
Tucker is a Lab crossed with a Great Pyrenees, with features including a brindle coat pattern, wavy tail, and a “dinosaur spike” of hair growing in the opposite direction along his spine.
“I’m sure they deserve a dog, just not mine,” Carroll said of Tucker’s new family. “I think with [the] $3,000 [reward], you could get a very nice dog.”
The couple is hoping Tucker’s new owners will take advantage of options to return him anonymously by bringing the dog to the humane society, a fire station, pet store, veterinarian’s office, or send a message via Facebook.
“I don’t know if a plea is going to work to get him back, but regardless of who has him, whether they give him back anonymously or not, it doesn’t matter to me – I just want him back,” Carroll said.