Until a week ago, Ron Stoley had never heard of Sydney the missing rescue dog. To him, she was just another lost pup that showed up at his brother's yard in Entwistle. Stoley fed and befriended the small, lab-mix and when temperatures dipped he captured her and sent her off to a shelter.
Until a week ago, Ron Stoley had never heard of Sydney the missing rescue dog.
To him, she was just another lost pup that showed up at his brother's yard in Entwistle. Stoley fed and befriended the small, lab-mix and when temperatures dipped he captured her and sent her off to a shelter.
Until then, he had also never heard of the $10,000 reward that had been pledged for finding Sydney.
"I wasn't expecting anything like this," he said. "I love animals. I would help any dog or cat who needs food."
Sydney ran away from her St. Albert home seven months ago, a day after she was flown in from the SPCA in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. A large-scale volunteer effort followed, with hundreds of people looking for the small, elusive dog throughout the summer.
A reward, originally $1,000, was increased to $10,000 in September. The money was provided by three of the volunteers who were looking for Sydney.
Arrived sometime in July
Stories of runaway dogs in St. Albert don't always travel to Entwistle, a small, Alberta town about 100 kilometres to the west.
Stoley says Sydney (which he calls Mandy) showed up in town sometime in July, often following his dog RJ around. She would hang out in his brother's yard and he would set aside an extra bowl of food for her, he says.
A few times, the dog would even let him pet her and catch her. When he tied her up, she always chewed through the rope, he says, so he couldn't keep her.
"I caught her lots of times and she'd run off. But she'd stick around," he says. "She had nowhere else and would follow my dog around … and she liked him. And there was food available."
One day in the summer, a young woman told him that Sydney reminded her of a dog missing in St. Albert, he says. She took his number but never called back.
He also called the animal control authorities but they had no room in the shelter for her, he says.
It wasn't until last week, when temperatures were expected to drop to minus 30 at night, that Stoley spoke to his friend Terry about capturing Sydney. They fed her pieces of bologna and made a trail of sausage bits into Terry's garage.
An hour passed before Sydney walked inside, he says. Then they closed the door behind her.
"That poor little thing. I think she would have had frostbite on her ears if she stayed out that night," he says.
Animal control officers came for Sydney the next day.
The reward was initially offered to Terry (who prefers to remain anonymous) but she declined the money. She later called back and suggested the money go to Stoley, said volunteer Lisa Hoff.
"She said that she had gone for a walk and prayed about it and that she came to the realization that this reward would help Ron," she says. "And then she went on to say that it was actually Ron who had done the majority of the work."
Stoley, who recently had a knee replacement and suffers from diabetes, says he's been living in a hotel while his dog RJ stays at his brother's home. Due to his health concerns, he cannot work and has no income, he says.
Sydney is now back in Puerto Vallarta, living with Robin McCaffry, a part-time St. Albert resident who volunteers at the SPCA in the Mexican city.
Armed with his reward money, Stoley says he will also find a new home. One where he can stay with his dog.
"If I knew she was missing or wanted, these people could have had her back three or four months ago," he says. "But she came for a good reason."
