Heartwarming

...on a another note during my morning newspaper routines I stumbled across this story:

On the first day of hurricane season, Jessie Pullins crouched next to a dog carrier in the baggage claim area at Louis Armstrong International Airport, holding a package of beef jerky in his hand.

"Hi there, JJ," he crooned. "Welcome home, boy. Welcome home. It's been a long road, but we did it."

It had been a very long road, one that stretched from Spain Street to California, included a lawsuit and a disappearing-dog trick, and spanned nearly four years.

And then, just like that, the big black dog walked out of the crate into Pullins' arms, and the wait was finally over. "When I think of the time I missed with JJ, I feel like crying, but I'm too happy to cry," Pullins said. "Because I got him. I finally got my dog back."

It was a combination of luck, compassion and the determination of several people that got JJ (short for Jessie Jr.) back where he belonged. "Most of the people who helped me, I never even met," Pullins said.

Among the smiling faces gathered around him and his beloved Lab-Akita mix were Janet Taylor of Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif., and Mindy Bryan of Covington, two women who had worked together since July 2006 to get JJ home to New Orleans, but had never seen each other before the reunion.

"I looked at this lady and Janet's voice came out," Bryan said. The women are part of the Katrina Animal Reunion Team, or KART, a handful of dedicated volunteers from around the country who are still trying to reunite Katrina pets with their owners.

For almost a year after the hurricane, Pullins had no idea where his dog was. When he evacuated to Baton Rouge with nine adults and 11 children in two vehicles, he left JJ with plenty of food and water in an elevated part of the house he rented . "It didn't flood in my house, but when I went back to get him, I wasn't allowed back in the city," he said.

When he did get back, JJ was gone. There was a flier on the door, but the writing had faded away. "I always knew in my heart he was still alive, but I had no idea how to find him," Pullins said.

What he learned much later was that JJ had been taken from the house by a rescue group and flown to California three weeks after the hurricane.

In August 2006, Pullins went by the house where he had lived before the storm and saw another flier on the door. This time he could read the words, and his heart filled with joy: JJ had been found in California.

"But then it was just one hurdle after another," he said. "I am just so thankful that so many people never gave up."

After Taylor, the KART member from California, spotted JJ on the TV show "The Dog Whisperer," she asked Bryan, her Louisiana contact, to leave a note on the house where Pullins had lived before the storm.

"As soon as Jessie called me, that's when we started trying to get the dog back," Taylor said. "I just wouldn't give up. I always believed the animals should go back to their original owners."

When Taylor contacted Cesar Millan, the Dog Whisperer, she was told JJ had been returned to the shelter he'd come from, and when she contacted the shelter, she was told he'd been adopted.

"I thought, 'So, now what do I do?'¤" she said. Even though there was no doubt the black dog with the big head and the white blaze on his chest was JJ, the sisters who had adopted him refused to give him back.

"The whole thing was so sad," Taylor said.

She contacted Stephen Dye, a California lawyer, and he called Pullins and asked to represent him pro bono in trying to get his dog back. "When I asked him why he wanted to do this for me, he told me, 'Because it's the right thing to do,'¤" Pullins said.

In a verbal agreement, the new owners agreed to return JJ on Sept. 10, 2008. Instead, one of the sisters moved and took the dog with her. "At that point I was devastated all over again," Pullins said.

But Dye persisted, and finally, nine months later, JJ is home and Pullins, a supervisor at the Marriott Hotel on Canal Street, is one happy man.

"I've got my best friend back," he said. "Here's the thing about JJ. When I have a bad day, he's right there to give me love and let me know everything's all right." And he has no resentment toward the women who adopted JJ and wanted to keep him. "I'm not mad at anyone," he said. "Everybody falls in love with JJ. He's a very lovable dog."

He even tries to understand the motivation of rescuers who didn't want Katrina pets to be returned to their owners.

"People were misinformed. They were told we abandoned our pets, and that's a very strong word," he said. "But what happened was something we never expected. I thought I'd be back the next day."

Now, JJ sleeps beside him in his Carrollton home, and Pullins has decided they need a new plan when they go somewhere in the car. "I had him in the back, but JJ's got to move up front because he thinks he's got a chauffeur," he said, laughing.

He feels blessed to have JJ home and grateful to the many people who helped him. And he urges everyone in south Louisiana to microchip their pets so they will never have to feel as sad and helpless as he felt.

And, no matter what coming hurricane seasons may bring, he'll be prepared. "When they say 'storm,' he's going," Pullins said. "I'll never leave JJ again."

As another hurricane season comes to us--I can only pray that we've all learned our lessons. And that NO loved ones get left behind. I pray that He will protect our coasts and that we don't ever have to experience another Katrina/Rita again.