by Dennis Dalman
An astonishing coincidence led to the merriest Christmas for the owners of a little Yorkie-mix dog that was lost in St. Joseph for a week, and some are now calling him the “Miracle Christmas Dog.”
On the afternoon of Dec. 23, St. Joseph resident Mike Gisler was driving his mother, Jo, to get some items at Qwik Trip. As he drove on Jefferson Lane on the way to the store, he glanced over to a vacant house where he used to live 10 years ago. He noticed a small shaggy, brown-haired dog walking through the backyard, then sitting on a cement slab by the garage’s back door.
Gisler recalled seeing posted flyers in the city about a missing dog. Back home he told his wife, Sarah Walz, about the dog and described what the dog looked like. She checked online for the posting of a missing dog named Huevo.
“That sure looks like the dog I saw,” he told her.
He wrote down the number to call that was on the flyer. Then he drove back to observe the dog and called the number of the dog’s owner, Kalina Skillingstad of Clearwater. Overwhelmed by joy, she and two friends drove to St. Joseph. Kalina and husband Ryan have two children – Nataleigha and Emmet.
Meantime, worried his presence might scare the dog off, Gisler stayed in his car but inched a bit closer to observe the dog. It didn’t move.
“The dog was watching me, and I was watching him,” Gisler told the Newsleaders during an interview. “We had quite the staring contest.”
Later, Skillingstad arrived at the scene. Elated but fearful Huevo would get spooked and run off again, she grabbed a bag of doggie treats and crept on hands and knees up to her precious pet as Gisler, holding his breath, looked on from his car. Happy Huevo, tail wagging, then walked with a limp right over to her.
Skillingstad, holding Huevo, wept tears of joy as she walked back to and got into her car, she and Huevo sitting together happy as can be. Gisler walked over to the car. Tearfully, her voice quavering, she thanked Gisler repeatedly. With Christmas just two days away, Huevo’s return was the best possible Christmas gift for Skillingstad and her family.
“Merry Christmas!” Gisler said to her, waving goodbye as he walked back to his car.
Huevo is a Yorkie mix, 2 years old, eight pounds (seven pounds after his outdoors ordeal).
Gisler, a seasonal highway worker, was amazed by the sheer coincidence of just happening to spot the missing dog right next to the house he lived in long ago.
“That’s one lucky dog,” he said. “I’ve seen foxes roaming in that area.”
Huevo’s luck included enduring and surviving cold weather, wind, rain, hunger, traffic and doing without the medicine he needs for a medical condition. Skillingstad later learned Huevo had suffered a broken femur somehow during his days and nights of wandering lost. He had lost a pound from hunger. His broken femur was fixed at a veterinary clinic in Sioux Falls, S.D.
Jubilant outcome
Gisler’s discovery of Huevo was a jubilant outcome, a huge relief for so many in St. Joseph who searched high and low for the little lost dog.
Total strangers joined together to look throughout the city for Huevo. They posted more than 800 flyers around town; put up posters in yards; knocked on residents’ doors; placed “Find Huevo” postings on social media. They looked here, there and everywhere. Even drones were used in the search. A pet-finding organization called “The Retrievers” became involved.
One of the searchers, of course, was Skillingstad, who is a physician’s assistant. She had been in St. Joseph for 72 hours, searching, her heart aching, nerves jangling. So many awful scenarios tormented her mind. She thought someone may have found Huevo and kept him or gave him away as a Christmas gift. Finally, after her frantic search, she said that something told her to “give it to God.” On Saturday, Dec. 23, she drove home to Clearwater. She no more than opened the door to her home when her phone rang. It was from the man who’d found Huevo. After a week of grief, she was overwhelmed with relief and joy as she got back into her car and drove back to St. Joseph.
What happened?
Huevo’s week-long ordeal began Dec. 16 when Skillingstad left for a trip to Missouri. She had placed Huevo in the care of Megan Holderness, a St. Joseph woman.
But just minutes after Skillingstad left, Huevo became spooked by something and ran off. Holderness was devastated as she notified Skillingstad of what had happened. Then Holderness put forth a rallying cry and joined other St. Joseph residents in search of the little lost dog.
Huevo was found 1.5 miles from the Holderness home.
As Huevo heals, Skillingstad and her family could not be happier to have him back at home where he belongs – and just in time for Christmas.
On Dec. 27, Huevo underwent surgery at a veterinary hospital in Sioux Falls, S.D. for his broken femur. The procedure required insertion of a metal plate, nine pins-screws and a bone graft. The dog will require 8-12 weeks of recuperation, said Kalina Skillingstad in an interview Dec. 27 with the Newsleaders.
“Huevo’s surgery and post-hospital care are so expensive,” she said. “But we love him and are so happy to have him back home!”
Go-Fund-Me
A Go-Fund-Me has been set up to raise $5,000 for the emergency surgery needed to repair Huevo’s broken femur bone, a procedure that was done on Dec. 27. Megan Holderness, the dog-sitter, organized the Go-Fund-Me effort.
To donate, go to: https://www.gofundme.com/f/HuevoSurgeryFund.
This is Huevo, gussied up in his Christmas sweater.
If it were not for Mike Gisler and wife Sarah Walz (both in photo above), little lost dog Huevo would likely not have been found and saved just before Christmas. Also vital in helping find Huevo were 800 posters-flyers put up by volunteers all throughout St. Joseph.
Kalina Skillingstad
After his rescue, after his loving welcome home, Huevo sat on the lap of Nataleigha Skillingstad, the daughter of Ryan and Kalina Skillingstad of Clearwater.
Right after an emergency trip to a veterinary clinic, Huevo sleeps in the family car for the drive home.
This x-ray, from a veterinary hospital in Sioux Falls, S.D., shows the nine pins that were inserted during surgery to allow Huevo’s broken femur bone to heal.
Ryan Skillingstad holds Huevo after the dog’s rescue from a yard in St. Joseph.
