Lost dog mysteriously surfaces at NYC adoption event, overjoying original owners

NEW YORK – Five months after losing their beloved, playful pit bull, a Queens family decided it was time to get another dog.

They hadn’t given up hope that Mocha would turn up one day, but they agreed it was time to move on.

“We were in the city and we heard about this event and as we were driving we were like, ‘let’s go check it out,’ ” said the lost dog owner, a husband and father who didn’t want to be named.

“We had enough time and we decided to take a ride over there, and take a look, not expecting to find Mocha. Just take a look to see if we could find a puppy. And as soon as we walked in, she was right there.”

It was straight out of a Hallmark movie: Family loses dog. Family searches for dog. Family goes to look for another dog at adoption event in completely different part of the city. Family finds long lost dog. The end. Tears. Hugs. Endless wagging tail.

Roll credits.

The good news was that no one had adopted Mocha before his real owners got to the Paws in the Park adoption event in Manhattan’s Union Square Park on Sunday, even though she was the odds-on favorite to land a new permanent home.

Mocha arrived at Animal Care Centers of NYC’s Brooklyn site about a month ago. She was found tied to a post near the American Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and subsequently brought to the Brooklyn site by the NYPD.

During her stay, volunteers and staff always noted that her temperament was that of a true family dog.

“We named her Sandy and she quickly became a staff and volunteer favorite,” said Jay Damashek, an Animal Cares Center volunteer.

Meanwhile, the Queens family was still lamenting the loss. Back in January, they went on vacation for a week and left Mocha with a dog sitter, the owner said. They didn’t see the sitter – or the dog – again.

The devious dog sitter seemed to always have an excuse for failing to hand over the hound.

“I realized the guy was playing games. He wasn’t answering my calls, he wasn’t answering my wife’s calls.

“What am I going to do? I don’t know what to do. To report it to the police – I doubt police investigate incidents like that.”

The dog owner and his wife have three children, a 6-year-old girl and boys 11 and 10.

“They kept asking me every day, ‘When are we gonna go get her?’ ” he said. I didn’t know what to tell them. On Friday my second son asked me, he says, ‘Dad can we go to the guy’s house and get Mocha back?’ This was on Friday and the event happened on Sunday. We never lost hope that we were going to find her.”

His wife spotted her first.

“My wife says ‘Hey, that looks like Mocha,’ ” he said. “I turn around, I take a glance and I said, ‘That is Mocha.’ I called her name out and she started jumping, perked her ears up to her name and that was it. That was the end of it. She answered to her name.”

They didn’t even look at any other dogs. They found the one they wanted to take home but first, they had to prove it was theirs.

He showed pictures of his pet and persuaded organizers to give Mocha to her rightful owners with a signed release.

He said the family is looking forward to a summer of spoiling the dog.

“Her favorite food is raw meat,” he said. “She doesn’t like the kibble. She likes the raw meat.”

“She’s overprotective,” he added. “She obviously protects the family, protects the yard. She nibbles a lot. If you go to pet her, her number one thing is, she’ll lay on her back. If you don’t pet her belly, she’ll start nibbling you. Pet the belly, not the neck, not the face, only the belly. She’s a very active dog. Loves swimming. Loves the water.”

He said the ordeal remains a mystery.

“She looked exhausted. She lost a lot of weight,” the owner said. “I was hoping she was okay, that’s all I was hoping. She’s not dead. Being that this is a pitbull, they’re known to either use them for bait or fighting. I noticed that she wasn’t used in any of that. She didn’t have any scars or anything like that. That’s definitely a relief.

“I still hope that she ran away from the sitter, somebody then found her and tied her to the pole. That’s what I’m hoping happened.”