Dog Missing After Owner's Death Found Safe - Fort Worth, TX

A missing Italian Greyhound who led officials to the place where his owner had drowned along with his two canine companions, was found Jan. 15 by builders and returned home.

"Fort Worth Fire Department divers pulled Gollum's owner, 34-year-old Andrea Benua, from the frigid water on Monday and she was later pronounced dead at a local hospital," said reporter Mitch Mitchell. (http://www.star-telegram.com/190/story/1897242.html). "Gollum was spotted by a man near Basswood Boulevard and Interstate 35W and he followed the dog to a gated community, where he ran under a fence and out of sight, said Kathy Carlile, Benua's sister-in-law."

The builders got Gollum, the dog, to Benua's house, opened a window, and deposited the dog inside, according to the article.

"This is Mike the builder and the dog is at your house," the message said, according to Carlile who was quoted in the story.

A reward for the safe return of the Greyhound had been made available by the Fort Worth Dog Park Association Jan. 13.

"The collective heart of the Fort Woof community broke upon news of the passing of Andrea Benua, a regular and strong supporter of Fort Woof (Dog Park)," wrote Jason C.N. Smith of the Association Wednesday. "Sadly Andrea drowned January 11 while trying to save her dogs, Artimus and Mallory who had fell into a frozen pond."

Smith had said that Gollum, Benua's other dog, had led authorities to the location of her incident but had not been seen since.

That is, until today.

In unrelated pet news, a Black English Labrador by the name of Zee disappeared for four years but was reunited with his owner in Florida.

"Louise Horn has shared her life with Labradors for 40 years and Maggie, her remaining Lab was failing at age 16," writes Susan Stanton of Pet Tales in the Shorelines section of the Florida Times-Union. "A few years ago Horn looked at Maggie lying at the bottom of her bed and asked, 'What am I going to do with a Lab?'"

Before she downsized and moved to a townhome in the West Beaches area, Horn had Maggie and two-year-old Zorro or Zee for short, said Stanton.

"She had lived in a house off San Pablo Road," the articles states. "When she came home form work one day in 2002, the gate was open and Zee was gone."

Therefore, she was somewhat stunned when the phone rang in 2006, just a few days after she asked what she was going to do without a Lab, Stanton wrote.

A woman in Cleveland had found Zee who still answered to his name.

Horn then made arrangements for the four-legged creature's return.

"An airline employee, after being told Zee's story, personally picked up the crate and stood next to it as it emerged on the luggage conveyor belt." Stanton said. "The mystery surrounding the four-year trek will remain locked in Zee's doggie memory, leaving all of us to wonder."