A construction worker, a doggy day care, and Thor: How the Milwaukee community helped reunite a lost pup with his owner

 

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- Abby Voss was supposed to have a day off on Wednesday, Nov. 20, but she still decided to head into Happy Paws -- a grooming, day care and boarding facility in Milwaukee where she's worked for the last three months.

"I love dogs, absolutely," Voss told CBS 58's Ellie Nakamoto-White. 

But at the beginning of her shift, the team received an odd phone call.

"It was a construction worker and he's like, 'hey, are you guys missing a dog?'" Voss recalled.

After checking to make sure all of the animals in their care were accounted for, she and another coworker headed out to the work zone, which coincidentally happened to be along the Menomonee River behind Happy Paws.

“Immediately, I was like, I want to go help if it’s right there," Voss said. “I felt like dad mode started and I was like, we got to go get this baby!"

The two had to trek through mud and sludge down to a rocky ravine where a small white dog was running back and forth on the river.

Workers had to use an excavator to build a wall of dirt so Voss could more easily head down the 15-foot drop to where the pup was.

After about 20 minutes, Voss was able to safely corner the animal.

“I had him in my arms and everything just went silent for a second, and I was like, buddy, you’re going to be okay," Voss said.

When they arrived back at Happy Paws, they discovered that there was a microchip and were able to call the owner.

"It felt like I lost a child," said Tammy Hernandez, who added that her 2-year-old chihuahua, Thor, had gone missing from the area of 29th and Burnham last Friday.

Hernandez, who works as a nurse, said she spent the entire five days searching for her pup.

So when she got the call on Wednesday morning, she rushed over immediately.

"I knew right away it was him," Hernandez said. "Riding all the way home, he sat on my shoulder like he was a parrot. They took good care of him here."

Thor is now safely back at home, with his siblings Loki and Chewbacca.