‘Tiny’ the dog reunited with Bartow family after somehow traveling to Clearwater Beach
Provided by Clearwater Police Department
CLEARWATER BEACH, Fla. - A Bartow woman made her first trip to Clearwater, but not for a beach day. Instead, her pup, Tiny, who went missing from her backyard in September was found hanging out on the sandy shores of Pinellas County.
At the age of 10, Tiny is just a whopping 4 pounds. After she disappeared from her Polk County home, it wouldn't be until the last week of December when Clearwater Police Officer Ryan Kenna spotted her near a lifeguard tower on the beach. He took her to Pinellas County Animal Control where her microchip confirmed she was far away from home.
"It’s great knowing that a family was reunited with their four-legged loved one," he said, according to the agency. "It was the perfect time of year just after Christmas and starting off the new year on a better page for the family."
Officer Ryan Kenna Provided by Clearwater Police Department
While she was missing for three months, her owner, Sophia Burgess, searched high and low for Tiny. The family put up signs throughout the neighborhood and Sophia pleaded online for Tiny's safe return.
Coincidentally, Sophia's daughter, 15-year-old Jaliyah, had a dream that eventually came true: Tiny came home.
Provided by Clearwater Police Department
On December 30, Sophia received the call from animal control, just before the facility was planning to close for the New Year's weekend.
"I had to hold it in all weekend," she told police, saying she didn't want to tell her children in case "there was some type of mix-up."
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But once she saw the little pooch, she recognized her immediately.
"They were so thankful and so excited," Jenna Wiese, who works in the animal control department, described to police. "You could feel the gratitude."
Sophia and her husband brought Tiny home, and said their children "cried like babies."
How she ended up 60 miles away from her family remains a mystery. According to Google Maps, it could take about 22 hours to walk from the city of Bartow to Clearwater Beach, but that doesn't take Tiny's little legs into account.
"I wish I had the answer to all of those questions," Sophia said to officers. "I’ve never even been to Clearwater."