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How Facebook helped Richmond couple find their nearly blind bulldog who’d been missing for days

Posted at 11:48 PM, Apr 26, 2015
and last updated 2015-04-27 06:47:36-04

RICHMOND, Va. – The owners of an elderly, nearly blind English bulldog are thanking the public for helping find their missing pup after she was allegedly dognapped. The weekend was a nightmare for Richmond's Deborah and Charlie Barnes after they said their 10-year-old bulldog Penny was snatched from the their front yard on Rawlings Street in Fulton Hill. Charlie said he thought when the thieves realized Penny was blind and spayed, they dumped her.

Deborah and Charlie Barnes along with Penny.

“Apparently the thieves realized she was too old to make any money off of, so they dumped her on S. Laburnum and Darbytown Road,” Charlie said.

Once the couple realized their beloved pup had been stolen, they began posting on social media on pages like “Search for Sassy.”

Facebook post for Penny on "Search for Sassy" Facebook page.

“We posted on Facebook...and Penny, our old English bulldog, has gone viral… Because of this we have been able to track Penny's movements via sightings,” Charlie said.

In fact, within hours more than 100,000 people had shared the story on Facbeook and people from around the world were offering giving advice.

"We get somebody from Indiana saying, ‘Oh, I know somebody that lives in Varina,’” Barnes said.

Ultimately, a couple from Chesterfield, who the Barnes had never met, became their heroes.

"They were lying in bed looking at their iPad on Facebook [and] saw Penny’s picture. And the husband told his wife, 'Get your shoes on,  we're driving out there,'” Charlie said.

The couple found Penny around 1 a.m. Sunday near a Food Lion in Varina. The pup’s paws were injured from three days of being homeless. And Penny was so traumatized and terrified from the ordeal that she did not immediately recognize her owners until Charlie sang their special song.

“We were in the middle of this muddy field in the mist and the rain just hugging her,” Charlie said.

But the apparent theft isn't what makes this story unique, it’s the people helping people aspect that helped reunite a lost and muddied friend back home.

"We are wrong about people, people are basically good,” Charlie said.

Penny and her Dad

It’s how the couple found Penny that is a lesson for every dog owner.

The Barnes said what happened to them offers other pet owners an important lesson. The couple said that dog owners should have a picture of their pet that they can quickly post online.

And as these owners not only care for Penny, but also search for who might have done this, their story is a warning to watch your four-legged friends.

Penny’s owners said that there is a very good reason why they think Penny was abducted and not a runaway. Animal control officials told the couple that Penny’s condition would have made it nearly impossible for her to travel on her own to where she was found.

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