Missing dog turns up at a shelter 3 hours away, 21 days later
The family located the dog through a tip on Instagram.
Riley is home. // Courtesy of Mary Hornbeck.
Anyone who has had a pet disappear knows the drill. You print fliers, disperse them around your neighborhood. You call the local shelters and veterinarians in the area. Then, you hand things over to the social media gods and try to let them work their magic.
And then, you wait. On the edge of your seat, like Bill Hornbeck and his family did. The Hornbecks’ dog, a 13-year-old red lab, had gone missing New Year’s Eve from their back yard.
Hornbeck explained that the day Riley went missing he had come home for lunch and let her outside, something he often does. His wife and daughter were home, but they didn’t realize Riley was in the backyard and she waited outside for a little over an hour before deciding to take matters into her own hands (or . . . paws).
“I think she got kind of antsy and she went through an opening [in the fence] that’s been there for over a year.” Hornbeck says, “I knew she could stick her head out of it and I left it that way because she likes to look at pedestrians and dogs that walk by.”
After slipping through the hole in the fence, the elderly dog decided to sit in the front yard, likely in hopes of her family noticing her. The person that noticed her instead was a 7-Eleven employee, on his way to work across the street.
The man was on foot, so he stopped to check Riley’s dog tags and make some calls. The good samaritan was unable to reach the Hornbeck’s, but he left a message in which you can hear another man approach the situation.
The other man on the voicemail dismissed the employee, telling him the dog lived in the neighborhood and that he would take care of it, and the 7-Eleven employee, already late for work, headed out.
Riley Hornbeck. // Courtesy of Mary Hornbeck.
This is when Riley truly disappeared, and the Hornbecks believe she was dognapped.
After dispersing 400 fliers, making a police report, posting on social media, offering a $1,000 reward, and an exhaustive search through public and private security footage neither the dognapper nor dog were found.
It had been nearly three weeks and though the Hornbecks had received an outpouring of support from their community and online groups, they were beginning to give up hope. That is, until Bill Hornbeck received an Instagram DM from a young woman who had been following Riley’s missing posts.
“I got a message around 9:30 p.m. last Thursday morning [January 21st] and a picture attached to it, and it was a picture of Riley at the Kansas Humane Society in Wichita,” says Hornbeck. “I knew immediately from the picture it was Riley, I know her so well I know there isn’t any other dog that looks like her.”
Riley was posted for adoption on the Kansas Humane Society website and social media under a new name: “Meryl”. Hornbeck immediately called the shelter and explained that this was his dog, then hit the road for a three-hour drive to bring Riley home.
Kansas Humane Society told Hornbeck he would need to pay the $180 adoption fee, but an anonymous donor who had been following Riley’s story covered the bill.
The anticipated reunion was a little anticlimactic, according to Hornbeck, but now that Riley is home she has adjusted well and her “happy tail” is back.
Riley, home at last. // Courtesy of Mary Hornbeck.
The woman who first spotted Riley on the shelter’s social media declined the $1,000 reward and the Hornbeck family plans to start a fund in Riley’s name to donate to people who need their pets microchipped. Riley was not microchipped when she went missing, and the Hornbecks hope their fund will prevent other pet owners from going through the same thing.
While the Hornbeck family is still unsure of how Riley made it all the way to Wichita, they do know that the red labrador was first brought to Murfin Animal Care Campus on January 14th, after being found wandering a street in Andover, KS, a suburb of Wichita. Riley was found without dog tags and after receiving care, she was transferred to nearby Kansas Humane Society.
Riley is up to her usual shenanigans now, such as cheering on the Chiefs. // Courtesy of Mary Hornbeck
The Hornbecks are still doing some digging to see if they can find out what Riley was up to in her absence, but they are overjoyed to have her home and for the support they received.
