All I want for Christmas – is to find the owner of this stray dog

Date Published: {J}

By Denise McNamara

For one little Galway girl, this year’s most fervent Christmas wish is not for a Flicker, Nintendo 3DS or iPod touch.

It is that a small, jet black Labrador who wandered into their Moycullen home last Sunday is renunited with his humans.

“I don’t want any boy or girl to miss their dog this Christmas,” insisted seven-year-old Ella Fitzpatrick.

“I won’t be able to sleep properly until his owners bring him to his proper home.”

Ella and her five-year-old sister Carly, dad Tony and mum Charlotte, were putting up seasonal decorations outside the house when the little fella trundled up the road.

Ella started feeding him and he just refused to leave.

He has two strong leather collars around his neck which appear to have been cut.

“My own instinct is that he might have been stolen and dumped,” believes Tony.

“He’s certainly not strong enough to pull off one of those collars, not to mind two. I hope I’m wrong but I have a feeling he’s far from home.”

Ella was distraught at the notion that another family would be without their beloved pet, especially at this time of year.

“She was in a terrible state on Sunday night. Ella is the real caring person so we had to swing into action so we could at least be doing something to help the situation,” recalled Tony.

They did up leaflets and dropped them off at all the pubs, clubs and schools in the area. They contacted the vets in Oughterard and Moycullen as well as the local gardaí to see if a dog was reported missing.

After contacting the Connacht Tribune, they also sent out emails to Galway Bay FM and the breakfast show on 2FM.

So far they have yet to hear anything about a missing Labrador, who is probably around three years old.

He is very mild mannered little fella who is enjoying all the attention.

While he appears to have been well cared for, he looks like he has been through a bit of an adventure.

The family have a nine-year-old King Charles themselves called Buddy. The Labrador is currently boarding with neighbours, who have space for him outside alongside their gun dogs.

Anyone with information about a missing black Labrador, smaller than a regular Lab, should contact 0878386604 and make a little Ella’s Christmas wish come true.