MENTONE - Brandon Bays has a lot to be thankful for this Thanksgiving.
It was a year ago on Thanksgiving Day Bays had to leave his 3-year-old Shar-pei dog, Duke, in Houston, Texas, with a family member and move back to Mentone due to an unsafe family situation.
Bays, 21, moved from Houston back to Mentone with his sister Emmalee Ruch. Besides his dog, Bays left behind his Jeep and his clothing in Texas and still has not returned to get the items.
Bays' mother, Beth Ruch, and brother, Nick Stahl, moved from Texas to Mentone also for their safety in February with plans to return to Texas to get Duke, but that didn't happened.
It was a tough decision for Bays to leave his dog in Texas with a family member, but he thought it was for the best.
During a staff meeting at Creighton Brothers, Mentone, last week, Bays' boss asked if anyone had a dog living in Houston.
Bays replied he did and his boss informed him his dog had been hit by a car in Fort Worth and was discovered by a Texas resident. The odd thing is Fort Worth is four hours from Houston where Bays had lived with his dog before moving to Mentone.
The Fort Worth veterinarian clinic discovered Hank's rabies tag around his neck and contacted the Mentone vet where Duke had received immunizations before moving to Texas with Bays.
The Fort Worth vet obtained Bays' work phone number from the Mentone clinic vet and called Bays' boss to let him know Bays' dog was found and injured, but was recovering.
"I was in tears and shocked when I found out my dog had been hit and the only thing on my mind was how to get him to Mentone," Bays said.
At age 18, Bays purchased the dog from some Mentone residents.
"I have raised Duke since he was a puppy and he started my life out on my own with me," Bays said.
A woman in Fort Worth had found the dog bleeding and lying on the road in Fort Worth and took it to a vet clinic in Fort Worth.
Hank's pelvis was broken in two places, he had fluid in his abdomen and a collapsed lung.
On Nov. 14, Bays reunited with his dog at the Fort Wayne International Airport when he picked the dog up.
Bays has spent every dime of his savings paying Duke's vet bills and purchasing a ticket to fly his dog home.
Duke will spend the next six weeks recovering, finally reunited with his owner. He still has trouble jumping and has cuts on his legs and takes pain medication."I still can't believe he is here and is finally home," Bays said.
"If it weren't for people who went out of their way to care for Duke and take the time to contact me, he wouldn't be here with me," Bays said.
