FRANKLIN, Tenn. (WZTV) — Every now and then you hear one of those unbelievable stories where a dog goes missing and is found years later.
It happened in Franklin and as you can imagine, it’s quite a story.
Winston, the King Charles Cavalier, gets a lot of attention from the Burchfields when he goes outside to do his business at his home in Franklin.
He is being watched closely – and all because of the events three years ago.
“I was just sitting out here on our porch doing a ladies’ Bible study on Zoom when I saw Winston at the door looking like he wanted to come out, but we were almost done, so I was just like, just wait, Winston,” says dog owner Wanda Burchfield. “It was just a little bit and it wasn’t long before we were done, and I came in and didn’t get him out right away, but after about five minutes I was like, ‘Oh, Winston, where’s Winston?'”
Winston got out and started running and running.
“A few days after he disappeared, we started seeing him, seeing him in the Nipper’s Corner Brentwood area,” says Wanda. “And we wondered, ‘How on earth did he get all the way from here to there?’ But the people who had seen him were so sure.”
The Burchfields sprang into action, distributing flyers and joining Facebook groups for missing dogs.
They had a drone pilot search the area. They even hired a bloodhound from Alabama to track down Winston. But none of that worked, and even the sightings stopped.
“After that, it was quiet,” says Victoria Burchfield. “And I think after a couple of weeks of silence, I thought, ‘Damn, this really sucks,’ because we definitely had momentum for a second. Then it just completely fizzled out.”
Summer became autumn, autumn became winter. And then the months became three years.
“At one point I was just like, I’m just praying that he’s safe,” Wanda said. “You know, that he’s OK, that he’s not out there as a stray now or that he’s not getting a tattoo. I’m just praying that he’s OK and that he’s OK because he’s the sweetest baby in the world, you know, and you love him.”
When hope was running thin, a call came out of the blue. A King Cavalier rescue center in East Nashville took in a dog that had run away eight times from the owner who had taken in Winston.
The Burchfields raced to East Nashville.
“That’s Winston,” says the father of the family. “It’s him, really. And he came wagging his tail, very slowly, and looked at us as if to say: ‘Hey guys, where have you been???'”
Where were you, Winston??? A lot of gaps have disappeared in those three years, but who cares? I was so grateful for this unexpected reunion.
“I think it’s true when they say a dog is man’s best friend. He always finds his way back home – and that’s exactly what he did.”
The Burchfields had Winston chipped immediately. They’re pretty sure someone took him in for a while, which explains the eight runaways, before he was handed over to Cavalier Rescue USA, who reached out to the Burchfields and saved the day.
