Little Bo-Peep and Facebook

I am really not a fan of Facebook for kids, especially not for kids under 13, Facebook’s age requirement, but it did help in tracking down a beloved pet.

Little Bo-Peep

Over the summer, my 13 year-year-old niece’s 3-year-old Maltese Yorkie mix, Little Bo-Peep or Bo for short, dug her way out under the fence in her backyard and escaped to travel the neighborhood. Once my niece and her family noticed the dog got loose, the search was on. Where, oh where, did this little three-pound dog wander off to?

My sister and brother-in-law and nephew searched the neighborhood, knocking on doors, looking for the cute little dog. Even their neighbors and my parents helped with the search.

Once it got dark, after several hours of searching, they decided to call it a night. My niece was beside herself. She was crying non-stop and couldn’t stop thinking about her little dog. She even slept by the front door, waiting for little Bo to come home. Bo didn’t come back. The next day the family searched again, looking for the dog. My niece made flyers with a photo of her dog and put them up around her neighborhood. She was so worried Bo got hit by a car or someone took Bo and made her their own pet. Bo didn’t have a collar on her with a name and number. My niece had given Bo a bath before she got away and forgot to put her collar back on. Bo didn’t have the special microchip locator in her either,  so there was no way for someone who found her to bring her home.  

Besides posters and searching, my niece decided to post a photo of Bo on her Facebook account with “Please pray for Bo. She’s missing and I hope she’s OK and will return soon." She got several responses and people saying they would pray for Bo’s safe return.  

On the second day, my two daughters and I also helped in the search for the dog. We drove around the neighborhood and nearby parking lots. I also shared my niece’s Facebook post, just in case any of my friends saw her dog. I also looked online at the local animal shelters and the Sheriff’s website for lost animals, along with Craig’s List. We didn’t see Bo on any of the sites. I also posted information about Bo on the sites. We prayed for little Bo to somehow find her way back home.

On the third day, my niece got a Facebook message from a friend. The friend thought Bo was at her house. My niece didn’t want to get overly excited, because someone earlier thought they had her dog and it wasn’t Bo. The friend sent a text with a photo. It sure looked like Bo, but her friend lived about 15 minutes away, how could Bo have traveled that far? The friend said her brother was driving down the road, just next to my niece’s subdivison, and saw this little dog crossing four lanes of traffic, nearly getting run over. So he pulled over and put the dog in his car and brought her home. Bo was given love, attention and a bath.

The interesting part of this story is that my niece had just become friends with the girl on Facebook about two weeks prior to Bo disappearing. They were friends in kindergarten and hadn’t connected for years. If you know how Facebook works, not every post everyone shares is seen by all their friends, so this was pretty amazing.

When my niece finally reunited with her lost puppy, they were both so happy to see each other. And I had to admit, it was good my niece had a Facebook account, even though I am always telling her 13 is too young to be on Facebook.