By Furry Times News Staff
Barrigada Heights resident Edward Cho thought his family would never see Zola again.
The three-year-old female Shih Tzu had been missing for almost a year after she ran away while doing her regular “bathroom” routine in the yard.
“Zola is very smart. We let her walk around the patio while doing her 'business' and she would always come back,” said Cho, who lives on South Sabana Road. “For some reason, she didn’t come back that day.”
Cho and his family looked relentlessly for Zola, knocking on every neighbor’s door in Barrigada Heights.
“After several months, we kinda gave up,” Cho said. “We were hoping she didn’t get hit by a car or attacked by big dogs. We were hoping she had been picked up by somebody who is taking good care of her in a nice home.”
Zola was a gift from Cho’s coworker and has been a member of the household. Like a typical Shih Tzu, she is friendly and playful, Cho said.
Two weeks ago, Cho decided to try one more time and resumed his search for Zola by reposting a “missing dog” announcement on social media. "I don't know what made me decide to do that but I did," he said.
As fate would have it, a resident posted a message on the Barrigada Heights Neighborhood Watch WhatsApp group on April 11, alerting neighbors about a Shih Tzu, who looked “lost and scared,” roaming around the premises of St. Dominic’s Senior Care Home and the radio towers located in the village.
Neighbors rushed to rescue the scraggly Shih Tzu, gave her a bath and trimmed her untidy fur. Her photo has been reposted and reshared on social media until it found a link to Cho’s own “missing dog” announcement the following day
“Somebody forwarded the picture to me,” Cho said.
To make sure it was indeed his missing Shih Tzu, Cho checked if the dog had Zola's distinct marks: crooked teeth and pink skin around her eyelids.
It was Zola.
“She was happy as soon as she saw my daughter, Hannah," Cho said.
Zola has since been reunited with her South Sabana family.
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