Once you adopt a dog, that furry angel becomes a permanent part of the family. You love them as if they were your own child and, if something bad happened to them, it would be soul-crushing.
Luke and Amber Miller adopted a special needs Maltese four years ago and fell in love with him immediately. His name is Petey and, even though he doesn’t look like much, he is a tough little guy that stole their hearts. Petey got along great with their other dog, Topper, and also their children. He was a beloved family member, but one fateful afternoon, nearly everything fell apart.
Petey the deaf Maltese that weighs in at only 6 pounds.
He may not look like a bruiser, but he’s tougher than you think.
What happened to him recently will prove just that.
Luke and Amber left Petey and Topper with Marie, a favorite caretaker, while they were on vacation. On August 19th, the dogs were playing in the back yard with a couple of other household canines when disaster struck. A hawk swooped down from the sky and snatched up Petey, right in front of Marie. She stood in shock as the bird of prey carried Petey towards the 40-acre swamp near the property.
As soon as she could, Marie sounded the alert online, resulting in an overwhelming response. First, she contacted Petey’s family, who were understandably shocked and heartbroken. Fearing the worst, Luke and Amber reached out to Denise, a local hero for all things dog-related and the person that helped them adopt Petey originally. Not only did she rally with her son, Shea, and husband, Doug, to search the swamp along with Marie, but she also posted an urgent SOS online.
People in Salisbury and the nearby Falls Village, CT, leapt into action (both digitally and physically) to help find the poor abducted Maltese while the group searched the swamp for the deaf pup.
While they searched for Petey, Denise even called a local ornithologist in an attempt to locate where the hawk might’ve taken the dog.
She suggested to look for a spot high and open…but the group couldn’t find Petey.
But then, a miracle occurred! Petey was found!
He didn’t have a scratch on him — and he was discovered after he simply sauntered onto Marie’s neighbor’s back porch.
After surviving the horrific adventure, cool as a cucumber, he even peed on the neighbor’s rug.
From now on, Petey’s family is going to make sure his paws are planted firmly on the ground.
At least he can still spend time at the beach, where the seagulls are small and he can’t get snatched up!
It’s amazing that a small community could provide such an overwhelmingly positive response when a dog was in need. Thank you to all who helped look for Petey while he was taken, including Denise from Dogs Deserve Better. It’s miraculous that Petey survived this big adventure without a single scratch. If he didn’t slip from the hawk’s talons as he did (presumably), this story could have taken a dark and terrible turn.
Welcome home, Petey! 🙂