Thursday, November 16, 2006

Dog and kids reunited after 8 days

by Donna Bergmann

The Kuenzis’ dog, Taylor, just wanted to go for a little ride. Taylor leaped into the car Friday evening, Oct. 6, for an hour’s ride that took her on an eight-day adventure.

Photo by Clarke Davis

Emily Kuenzi, Tyler Banton, and Asa Kuenzi back at the rural Perry Kuenzi home with Taylor, who had an eight-day adventure in Lawrence.

Emily Kuenzi was running one of her littlebrothers, Asa, to Lawrence to
meet his friend Tyler Banton at the
movie theater at 34th Street and
Iowa. Emily, along with Taylor,
would be back home north of Perry
in no time. Taylor liked to go for
rides but most of her trips were only local.

The dog traveled well in the car so
it seemed like no big deal to take
Taylor along. As we’ve all seen, dogs
love to put their faces in the breeze and Taylor
wasn’t any different. And, Emily would enjoy the company on the ride back home.

The Kuenzis have six children. Emily is the second child and the only girl and therefore she has grown up helping out and enjoys the freedom that comes to an older child even if it does include running brothers to activities or to meet a friend for a movie.

The trip was uneventful until they arrived at Southwind 12 Theaters in South Lawrence. Asa opened the door and jumped out of the car to go meet his friend Tyler – and Taylor jumped out too. Off went Taylor on her adventure.

Emily tried to catch her but Taylor was just too quick and it wasn’t long before Emily had to admit that she was having no luck finding Taylor. She called home and her mom, Shari, told her to, “come on home.” Surely someone would find Taylor and take her to the Douglas County Humane Society and they would get her back from there.

Shari made three trips to Lawrence the following week to the Douglas County Humane Society and to the area around the theaters in hopes of finding Taylor but no one had seen her.

After a week, the Kuenzis were trying to come to terms with the fact that they just might not find Taylor at all. Although it is a little embarrassing for the Kuenzis to admit – Emily’s dad, Kevin, is a veterinarian in Jefferson and Shawnee counties – Taylor wasn’t wearing a collar or her vaccination tags, which only made the realization that Taylor might not be found more probable.

The Kuenzis live in the country north of Perry and Taylor rarely goes off the farm and collars can get caught on stuff in the woods so she doesn’t always wear the collar and tags. The only thing the Kuenzis could tell the humane society and people they talked to about Taylor was that Taylor is a 2-year old, mixed breed shepherd-looking dog and that they needed to find her, “Taylor’s a member of the family.”

Asa was heartbroken. Taylor spends almost all her time right next to Asa – studying or playing. Taylor is always with Asa and his friends. Speaking of friends, Asa’s friend Tyler – that he was meeting at the movies that Friday night – lives with his grandparents, Charles and Louise Copeland, in Perry and spends a great deal of time at the Kuenzis with his friend Asa. They’re best buds, one might say.

Tyler’s mom lives in Lawrence and he spends each weekend there with her and comes back to his grandparents’ home on Sunday evening to get ready to go back to school on Mondays.

Tyler likes his school and his friends and he’s getting a good education in a small-town school. His mom and grandparents work well together to make the best life for Tyler they can. Eight days after Taylor disappeared in the parking lot at Southwind 12 Theaters, Tyler arrived at his mom’s Lawrence home on Saturday, Oct. 14, and couldn’t believe his eyes.

There in his mom’s yard was the Kuenzis’ dog, Taylor. Tyler’s mom said that Taylor had been there in the yard since Thursday, Oct. 12, and wouldn’t leave. She wasn’t mean or anything like that, she just wouldn’t leave. Tyler immediately called the Kuenzi home. I couldn’t believe it, said Shari.

Tyler was so excited—and confused.

“How did Taylor find my mom’s house?” Tyler asked. Shari didn’t have an answer other than the dog must have smelled her way to Tyler’s mom’s house. It had been eight days since Taylor jumped out of the car in an unfamiliar town. She had never been to Lawrence and thus had never been to Tyler’s mom’s house and yet she must have used her sense of smell to find the only spot in Lawrence where she would be rescued and brought back home to Perry.

The Kuenzis can only imagine the adventure Taylor had during her eight days without her Perry family. Maybe she made some new friends. Maybe she even got a little wild and crazy, shared a drink with a new associate or stole some food from a back porch somewhere – and, possibly a little sightseeing before she got bored and decided to find a way to get back home.

Just like Dorothy in the “Wizard of Oz,” Taylor knew “there’s no place like home” and that friends can be helpful in getting you there.

Taylor found a friend to help get her back home where she belongs to a family that missed her very much.