Why can’t the luck rub off on Winston?

Winston’ – gone two years and the hurt lingers. Photo: Facebook.

Whenever she hears an uplifting story about a lost or stolen dog being found or returned to its rightful owner, a little bit of her dies.

Like the story of Bowie – the nine-month old Cavoodle who was dog-napped outside a hamburger joint in West Auckland three months ago and was last week returned to her mum and dad.

'It's amazing these people found their dog; we are thrilled for them,” says Wendy Keir. 'But you also feel a bit envious; a bit cheated and you ask yourself why you haven't found your dog yet.”

Wendy owned Winston, the border collie, who became famous in misfortune. Winston fell, jumped or was taken from the canopy of the family ute after a beach trip on February 20 two years ago.

Winston's plight created a massive public outpouring. A ‘we want our dog back' Facebook page was set up, a $2000 reward was posted, there were reported sightings; he even made it on national television.

'We still hold out hope,” says Wendy. 'Because we don't have reason not to.” And, she says, dogs don't just disappear without trace.

Two years after the black and white Footrot Flats-lookalike disappeared, Winston's Facebook page remains active. 'Some lovely people are still looking after the search – they do it as a hobby; they love doing it.”

Sightings still come in. But just as hopes soar, they are disappointed.

'A call just the other day – a lady going along Cambridge Road in Tauranga saw what she thought was a suspicious man with a big beautiful border collie. She said it didn't look right or feel right.” The sighting fizzled.

Yes, she is sure some people think she should be over Winston. Although they haven't said it.

'And in a way we have moved on. It's not taking up any of our time.”

They've moved on and away – they're now living in South Canterbury in a small town call Albury. 'Leaving without Winston was pretty gutting to be fair. We were hoping we would know what had happened before we left, even if we'd found his body. But nothing.”

Then Jess stepped into the breach. Jess is the new neighbour's border collie and Wendy joins her for walks. 'It's lovely, but it also feels wrong; we feel cheated. It's quite hard at times.”

Why not another border collie? 'We have two very young children and we also know how much attention a collie puppy needs. We invested 24-hour attention in Winston for the first two years of his life. If you don't want a stupid dog; you want the best dog, you have to invest time and effort. But we don't have time for that at the moment.”

The Winston saga is kind of at a point.

'Let's just say if he was with a loving family, that Winston had been on-sold and that family had no idea where he came from and the sadness that had been caused, well there's a part of me that would say if Winston loved it, we would leave him with that family. There's a little part of me that could do that.

'But there's a big part of me that would take him back and be completely and utterly selfish. If he wasn't in a better place, then I would do that.”

And, she guesses, that's kind of where Winston's story is at.

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