Missing dog found after more than 2 weeks away from Massachusetts home
A dog is back home with his owner after he was found in a Massachusetts town, 16 days after he went missing.
Stephanie Mansfield was reunited with her 7-year-old soft-coated wheaten terrier, Henry, on Monday after he had been on the run since Aug. 19.
"You don't always get happy endings. I didn't think we were going to," Mansfield said. "I wasn't going to give up, but at this point, 16 days?"
Desperate for help, Mansfield said she contacted , which posted fliers of Henry. Those fliers caught the attention of Duxbury resident Kevin Bownes.
Bownes said that he had recently heard the sound of barking coming from behind his home and decided to check out the area where it was coming from Sunday night.
"Luckily for Henry the dog, he kept on barking," Bownes said. "He was in an area of tall reeds, a swampy area, and he was surrounded by a canal."
Bownes found Henry stuck in some deep mud. The dog was skinny, but otherwise OK. Bownes guided Mansfield to the area Monday morning before rescuing Henry from the muck.
"She was crying. I was crying. And she was so relieved," Bownes said.
"His barking used to drive me crazy and now, if he didn't bark, we would never have found him," Mansfield said. "His barking did save his life."
Most people would not tread through a forest and a bog in the middle of the night to inspect some barking, but Bownes said he had a vested interest. Two years ago, Missing Dogs Massachusetts helped Bownes find his dog, Harper.
"Knowing what we went through, I was glad to pay it forward to another family," Bownes said.
"Kevin's our hero," Mansfield said. "It kind of reaffirms your faith, you know?"