A little extra care leads lost dog back to owners 11 months later

After 11 months, Newport Beach residents Nancy and Wayne Steward had given up on ever seeing their beloved dog Baxter again.

The soft-coated wheaten terrier had disappeared in August after chasing a cat at the couple’s Northern California walnut farm about 30 miles south of Sacramento. They found the cat but couldn’t find Baxter even after canvassing the area with fliers and checking every nearby vet over the next few weeks.

“We thought he was dead,” Nancy said.

But Baxter was alive and vacationing in Yosemite and Pismo Beach with a Sacramento-area family who’d found him and given up locating his original owner.

The Stewards, who raised Baxter since he was a puppy almost nine years ago, eventually moved on, adopting a rescued black Labrador retriever to fill the hole left in their home.

But late last month, after a good Samaritan made it his mission to find them, Nancy and Wayne got their dog back.

“I seemed to have a higher calling to see if there’s a way I could match the dog up with its real owner,” said Lee Dorfman, a Marin County man who was looking for a new dog of his own and instead managed to change the Stewards’ life with a few phone calls.

Dorfman originally saw Baxter — then going by the name Teddy — in a Craigslist ad. He and his wife were looking to adopt after the wheaten terrier they owned for 16 years died.

Dorfman called about the ad and learned Teddy’s owners were moving away and needed to find a new home for the dog they’d found loose on a highway months earlier. Based on the description, Wayne estimated the spot was about 40 miles away from where Baxter disappeared.

Dorfman said he wanted to take Teddy off their hands, but something didn’t seem right.

“It was too cute of a dog,” he said. “I couldn’t fathom that someone would not be looking for that dog.”

As they talked, Dorfman learned the family had tried to find Teddy’s owner by having a vet scan the dog’s microchip identifier, but it apparently only led back to the chip’s manufacturer.

Dorfman said he convinced the family to scan the chip again and send him the ID number that popped up.

He called the company’s toll-free line and within minutes, an operator had matched the ID to the Stewards. The manufacturer then gave the original owners a call.

“I was stunned, absolutely stunned,” Nancy said about learning Baxter was alive.

Wayne, who happened to be back at the walnut farm, picked him up that day.

Dorfman said he felt overwhelmed when he realized his persistence meant the Stewards would have their dog back.

“It feels good to help somebody out,” he said.

Back in their Newport Beach home Thursday, the Stewards said the story has made Baxter something of a neighborhood celebrity.

“A lot of people asked if his attitude has changed at all — no, same old dog,” Nancy said, although he does still respond to Teddy.

There is one new feature though.

Baxter now wears a new collar with the words “peace, love, rescue.” This one — unlike the one he wore on the walnut farm — includes an ID tag.