Dallas Area Woman Finds Her Lost Dog On The Internet

    /24-7PressRelease/ - HOUSTON, TX - December 11, 2006 - A cookie-baking incident set off Kathi Werden's smoke alarm. The resident of the Dallas, Texas, suburb of Flower Mound, opened the front door to help let out the smoke and while she wasn't looking, her beloved sever-year-old Shih Tzu, Chloe Lane, stepped out on the front lawn.

Chloe is not the kind of dog to run away, but when a neighbor walked by with her black Labrador Retriever, Chloe headed down the block. At just that moment Courtney Pritchard of nearby Lewisville, was bringing her child to a local daycare facility and spotted the little dog. Kathi hadn't missed her yet so wasn't looking. Being a dog lover, Pritchard opened her car door and Chloe jumped right in and went with Courtney to her mother, LaRae Pritchard's home where she stayed with mom's three Chihuahuas.

When Werden missed her pet, she realized that she hadn't bought new tags since her recent change of address. She stifled her panic and started the search. She called the animal shelters and the veterinary office in the area. She canvassed the neighborhood, put up more than 200 posters, did everything she could think of that Friday.

Saturday, Werden, who is a senior recruiter for a Dallas technology company, performed an Internet search for "lost a dog" and found FidoFinder.com, a website devoted to reuniting lost dogs with their owners. The lost and found dog database assists thousands of dog owners every year to search for their lost dogs. She logged onto the site in an instant and listed Chloe Lane.

Courtney Pritchard was working that weekend and didn't have a chance to return to Flower Mound, so never saw the signs, but her mother saw the dog's name on her tag and searched the Internet for "lost dog Chloe." That led her to Fido Finder. She visited the site and there was the listing for the Shih Tzu who was her houseguest. The site put her in touch with Werden and the two arranged for Chloe to be reunited with her owner.

None of them could be happier. Being a dog-lover herself, LaRae Pritchard understood the bond that connects people with their pets.

To celebrate, Werden bought a companion Shih Tzu for Chloe. The new puppy, named Lucy Bell has settled in nicely and Kathi Werden's mom, Pat Werden, is helping with the training. She loves dogs, too and couldn't be more pleased with her new "grand-puppy."

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