Update -- here's the story from Terri's perspective:
Thank goodness for a volunteer by the name of Lynda! Mai had met her in a West Springfield shopping center while handing out flyers early in the weekend, and Lynda jumped right in and started looking for Brandon. She is truly awesome and came to the rescue today when we needed someone to get to the area where the new and very hot sighting had been called in.
When Lynda arrived at the station (Company #23, Guinea and 236), she met up with Billy, one of the firefighters there. As they were talking about Brandon and how he had been hanging around their firehouse for the past 24 hours, who went running by them but Brandon himself! But he was gone in a flash.
Lynda started flyering around the immediate streets, taking flyers to places such as the Jewish Community Center and the 7-11, and she talked to people who were out and about throughout the next several hours. In this canvassing, she heard many reports of Brandon running around this area over the last day!
After a few hours, and after she was soaking wet from hanging fliers and walking through the deep snow, Lynda was about to call it a day, and go home and get some dry clothes on. She decided to make one last drive through the church parking lot where she originally saw Brandon. Again, she saw Brandon running toward the fire house! By now, it was about 3:15 - 3:30, and Phil had left work (near Dulles Airport) and was to be arrivingt at any time. She called him, and he confirmed that he was on his way and would be there soon.
So Lynda waited until Phil arrived so that she could show him the three primary spots Brandon seem to be hanging around. She stayed in her van while Phil started walking around the three areas. I had shared with him that he could try softly talking to Brandon (not calling out his name!) but just talking to him like he normally would at home, before going on a walk, or going to bed, or giving him treats... something that Brandon seemed to understand when they talked to him.
For a few minutes, Phil did just this; he walked around talking out load to Brandon just as though he was right there. As Lynda watched Phil heading back towards the fire house, and her van, she saw that Brandon was walking right behind Phil -- practically on his heels. Lynda thought to herself, What the heck, now that Phil has his dog, why is he making him walk rather than carrying him . . . not realizing that Phil didn't see Brandon or know that he was right under his feet!!!
I guess Phil saw Lynda's face and arms up in the air, because he turned around and to his surprise, saw his long lost dog! He bent down and Brandon jumped up in his arms and was kissing and kissing him and he was still giving him kisses when I got there about 10 minutes later! This was a truly happy ending after ten very difficult days for Brandon's family.
Huge thanks for Brandon's recovery go out to: Lynda, of course; Sally, the firefighter who called FC Animal Control to report that a dog was hanging around the station for the last day; Animal Control who matched Sally's report with the family's report to FCAC of their lost dog, Brandon; and Nadene, who handled much of the communications with Sally (I was working and couldn't spend time on the phone) and provided information about what she should do if she saw him agin. Sally told Nadene that Brandon had been there for more than 24 hours and that she had put food out for him to eat! Sally agreed to help and then immediately got in touch with the rest of the fire fighters (including Billy) who set up a feeding station in the back lot of the station. Great team work!
