Oregon family finds missing dog after disappearance from San Rafael Airbnb
Oregon family searches for dog missing in Marin County
Signs about a missing dog were posted in a San Rafael neighborhood, asking residents to help reunite the pet with its family in Oregon.
SAN RAFAEL, Calif. - An Oregon family's dog has been found nearly a month after escaping from a vacation rental in San Rafael.
Rebekah Whittaker of Eugene, Ore. said on Monday morning she received a phone call from a San Rafael resident who had found her labradoodle, Teddy, in a shopping center parking lot. Whittaker said she planned to make the eight-hour drive the same day, and retrieve her dog by Monday night.
Disappearing act
The backstory:
Whittaker and her family were vacationing at a rental home in San Rafael in late March when Teddy went missing. The family returned from dinner on March 28 and realized a door they hadn't noticed was left open, as was a gate, and that Teddy was gone.
The dog's rescuer reportedly found him the day after he disappeared, about 4 blocks away from the family's vacation rental. After she spotted one of the "nearly 1,000" fliers Whittaker had posted in the community since Teddy's disappearance, she contacted the family. A visit to the vet to scan the dog's microchip proved he was the same animal.
A helping hand
What they're saying:
Whittaker said Teddy had helped her cope with the loss of her mother and brother to cancer, and had been by the family's side for years. After he went missing, she posted calls for help on social media and neighborhood message boards, and returned to San Rafael every weekend to hang fliers and search for her dog. Her efforts rallied the community to her cause.
"Since Teddy went missing, the amount of people we met from all walks of life just going above and beyond to help us has been incredible," Whittaker said. "From a Boy Scout who is patrolling the neighborhood looking for Teddy, folks from the local police department, the fire department, letter carriers had had his flier."