Explained in detail within a thread on Reddit, a Texas woman named Piper Below was able to locate her lost dog (Jack) with the help of Reddit members, both within and outside of Houston. Recounting the events that led up to Jack’s disappearance, Below and a friend had been walking Jack on December 1 when the dog got free and zipped through a fence. Sadly, Jack ran into the road and was struck by a large white truck. Likely dazed, Jack started running again and darted away too quickly for Below to catch up.
Below had originally taken Jack in after finding the dog walking in the middle of the street during early September. In an interview with HLN, Below said “He had skin infections, eye infections, he was filthy, malnourished, you name it. He seemed sweet for a dog that didn’t seem coherent. I have never owned a dog before, but I did my best to nurse him back to health.” After getting Jack treated at the vet, Below had fallen in love with the animal and decided to keep the dog.
After Jack disappeared, Below tried posting a picture of Jack on the DogPictures and Houston subreddits with a plea to help find her dog. Similar to distributing pictures of a lost animal in a neighborhood, that type of Reddit post helps expose the situation to tens of thousands of Reddit members, including many Houston residents, that subscribe to the subreddits as well as the thousands of Houston residents that read these types of posts without registering for an account.
After posting, Below received hundreds of responses offering sympathy as well as tips to help find the dog. Within 24 hours, one Reddit user named Hominine spotted Jack in a parking lot of a nearby grocery store, but wasn’t able to catch up to the dog.
Another Reddit user, MycroStanza, put Below in touch with a man that manages a large list of people involved in animal rescue. After Below contacted that man, a Houston woman on the list spotted Jack and called Below immediately. Below rushed to the location to find Jack as well as Hominine, who was out looking for the dog as well.
After a tearful reunion with Jack, Below was able to take the dog home, get him hydrated and make a vet appointment. According to the vet, Jack luckily only had a few bruises and scrapes. While at the doctor, Below asked the vet to implant a microchip on Jack in order to avoid this situation in the future. This technology uses radio-frequency identification to store data about a pet’s owner, ideal if someone finds a lost dog.
After finding Jack thanks to the help of the Reddit community, Below posted “REDDIT HE’S FOUND!!!! AND YOU DID IT!!!!! I have to leave to take him to the vet but he seems like maybe he’s ok. I COULD KISS YOU ALL!” Also praising Reddit in the HLN interview, Below said “It curates the entire Internet for you. And thanks to it, I found my dog.“
