[News] Lost Yorkie Reunited With Family After Three Days

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If Gus could only talk, he would have a tale to tell.

But for now, the four-and-half-pound Yorkshire terrier puppy is happy just to be wagging his tail.

On Wednesday, Gus was reunited with this family after his three-day adventure in Napa.

"I just can't tell you how happy we are," said Debbie Sutter, the mother of Gus' owner, 16-year-old Carolyn Sutter.

Thanks to many helpful Napa residents -- including Mike Covey, who was the one that returned Gus to Sutter, and the good detective work of Sutter and her sister -- Gus is once again in his bed in Galt, near Lodi.

Gus' amazing adventure started last Sunday.

Sutter, who lives in Galt, was visiting her sister, Kathy Nixon, in Napa. When they left Nixon's home to go shopping, Gus, along with Nixon's black lab, Happy, were romping around in the garage and side yard at Nixon's Tokay Drive home in west Napa.

But when they returned, only Happy was there to greet them, Sutter said.

"We put bricks and blocked any place in the yard where we thought Gus could get out. He's so tiny, he doesn't need much room to slip under a fence," Sutter said. "But I guess we must have missed a spot."

Sutter said a neighbor told them a woman, who was carrying a pup matching the description of 9-month-old Gus, approached him in his yard and asked if he knew anything about the dog.

"Of course he didn't recognize Gus, and said no," Sutter said. "He didn't know the woman either."

On Sunday, Sutter and his sister went door to door looking for the pooch, but came up empty.

The first break came on Wednesday when Sutter returned to Napa to carry on her search for the pint-size pup.

Sutter had redone her lost dog flyers to include information about the blonde woman who she suspected might have her dog.

"On Wednesday, a man who lives in my sister's neighborhood said he saw a woman matching her description the day before asking to use a telephone. She said she needed to get to Redwood Road. He said he didn't see the dog, just the woman," Sutter said. "That's what led our search to Redwood Road."

The next break came later that day, when a clerk at Vallerga's Market on Redwood Road, said she saw a blonde, heavy-set woman with the dog at the store around 9 p.m., Tuesday.

"She said the woman was wearing a big, heavy jacket and had the dog inside the jacket," Sutter said. "We talked to several other people who live on Redwood Road that said they had seen the same woman with a dog that looks like Gus tucked inside her jacket."

Sutter said one Redwood Road resident told her a woman matching the same description knocked on his door and asked for money to feed the dog. "He said he gave her $5."

While at the Vallerga's Market parking lot on Wednesday, Sutter and Nixon gave flyers to Covey and his friend, who were riding their bicycles.

"When I looked at the picture of dog, I knew I had seen this woman named Cathy with a dog just like that the other day. She was on Redwood Road," Covey said. "I went to Cathy's boyfriend's Steve's house and she wasn't there, but the dog was. I told him, 'Hey dude, I know who that dog belongs to, and the lady wants her dog back.'"

Steve handed over Gus to Covey, who walked to the liquor store at Solano Avenue and Redwood Road and called the number on the flyer.

Within minutes, Nixon, her 11-year-old son Trevor and Sutter were all receiving plenty of wet, sloppy kisses from Gus, who was sporting a bright fuchsia sweater fashioned from the sleeve of a discarded sweater.

"The woman who found him must have made the sweater for him," Sutter said.

For his efforts, Covey received a crisp $100 bill. "This is great. I just moved, so I think I will use it to get my telephone turned on," Covey said, with a big grin.

"I just can't tell you how happy we are to have Gus back. I just imagine where you have been the past three days," Sutter said, looking at the dog's furry face.

Gus responded with a swish of his tiny pink tongue across Sutter's hand.

As for Cathy, who found Gus, she also will be rewarded -- if Sutter can find her.

Covey, who was reluctant to show Sutter where Cathy lives, promised Sutter he would tell Cathy to call her.

"I never thought for one minute anyone actually stole Gus. But if that woman hadn't taken Gus in, there's no telling what could have happened to him," she said.

Gus' first order of business after being reunited with his family in Galt is a trip to vet.

"He's going to get a microchip, so if he ever gets lost again, we will have an easier way of finding him," Sutter said.

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