Bruce’s happy ending has sting in the tail

Date Published: 10-Feb-2011

By Denise McNamara

After a six-week search, a Galway family have been miraculously reunited with their beloved pooch after he was found wandering the streets – some 130 miles away.

Bruce – a one-year-old black Labrador and Scottish setter cross – did not return home after his usual cross-country jaunt in search of hares near the Kimball family home in Menlo on December 11.

Liam (13) and Tomás (11) went out with their dad Richard till 11pm that night in search of the dog they had raised since a pup. But their efforts were in vain.

The family made up posters and plastered them at all petrol stations and shops in the locale. They put a notice on Galway Bay FM and put ads in all the publications where he might be sold and contacted as many vets as they could manage with his picture. They approached farmers as far away as Tuam to convince them not to shoot Bruce if he was spotted.

The boys prayed hard for his safe return. It was the only Christmas present that appeared on Santa’s list.

From the beginning Richard was convinced he had been stolen. There is a massive market for stolen dogs in the run-up to Christmas with an equally lucrative underground trade in breeds which are used for fighting. Bruce looked like a Doberman from afar but on closer inspection experts would realise his nose was too short and too square to be a purebred.

It was only after contacting the Galway SPCA (Society for the Protection and Care of Animals) that they got on the right track. One of the volunteers urged them to check out the website, lostdogs.ie.

When they logged on, there was Bruce’s face smiling looking out at them. He had been found in a cul-de-sac in Artane on the North side of Dublin on December 14 after he began playing ball with a group of kids.

“One of the fathers thought he was a Doberman and knew that if he went to the pound he could be put down. Realising how good he was with kids, he knew he must be a family dog, so he contacted the Dogs Trust.”

As well as being housed in style, he was neutered and micro-chipped. Staff were in the process of finding him a new home when the Kimballs called.

“When I went to see him he just looked at me as if to say: ‘My God, I can’t tell you what they did to me’. He recognised me straight away and licked my hand.

“Since he was neutered he’s been a bit demure. But he’s coming into his own now. He used to have a funny laugh, he hasn’t made that yet but he’s getting into the routine again,” adds Richard.

For more on this story, see the Galway City Tribune.