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A family truly has a lot to be thankful for during Christmas after reuniting with their missing dog, with special thanks to the family’s neighbor finding the pooch.
NBC Connecticut shared that the dog, an energetic Golden Retriever named Bronco was only a few months old.
On the afternoon of December 23, Bronco made his paw-rents, Justin and Anna Tralli, worried sick after he was outside and got spooked by some trash cans.
“He just took off and there was no stopping him. He wouldn’t come back to any of our commands,” Justin Tralli told NBC.
Tralli recounts the experience saying that the pooch sprinted down High Street from their Higganum home before they lost sight of him as he went into the woods.
He added that after initially looking for the pooch, he posted on social media about Bronco, and that’s when locals began helping, including the Trallis’ next door neighbor Tom Tomphson.
Thompson said, “I went this way. They went that way, calling the dog and we stayed out there until right around 5 o’clock when we couldn’t see anything anymore.”
Tralli, who was worried about the cold and possible coyote danger in the woods, searched for the pooch by himself in the middle of the night.
The worried owner explains, “I actually found some of his tracks, so I started following those up one of the trails and when I lost his tracks, I actually stopped and built a little fire on the woods just hoping maybe he would come to me.”
But there were no signs of Bronco until the morning of Christmas Eve. However, tables have turned when Thompson was picking up firewood and noticed something by the wood pile.
“I kind of look forward, ‘Is that who I think? Bronco, is that you?’ And I wasn’t sure from the distance,” Thompson explained.
Thompson then realized that it was indeed Bronco and began calling him. When he got hold of the energetic pooch, he immediately called the Trallis, who were obviously overjoyed.
“That image will forever be etched in my brain of Tom holding Bronco. I thought I was hallucinating,” Anna Tralli said.
Now that Bronco is back home and didn’t miss Christmas with the family, the Trallis said they’re grateful to their community, especially Thompson, for all the help they did.
The family also said they’re taking steps to keep Bronco from running away again. “We’re going to be getting him a GPS collar and a very substantial electric fence,” Justin Tralli said.
