By Amber Gerard
RANKIN COUNTY, MS (WLBT) - You’ve heard about the special bond some people have with their pets.
When it comes to a man and his service dog, well... that bond can be a life-line.
A local veteran thought his life-line was gone when his service dog went missing Sunday.
But thanks to social media and a WLBT news truck...life is good again.
When John Patterson’s service dog Tucker didn’t come home Sunday, he says the reality that he might not see his friend again was very scary.
“He provides comfort. He can sense when I’m upset. He can sense when I’m depressed and he’ll come up to me and he’ll make me pet him. He’ll distract me,” said John.
Hollie Patterson is John’s wife. “Without him, John has not slept,” she said.
Tucker came into John’s life five years ago after he was diagnosed with PTSD.
Hollie said Tucker is her husband’s everything.
“It’s his companion," she said. “I mean, Tucker is with him 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. If he sees that John is not having a good moment, he does his job and he takes care of John.”
The Patterson’s posted pictures on Facebook and called shelters, they even used a drone...but there was still no sign of Tucker.
“That’s what scares me to death, is that we’re not going to find him and I don’t know how that’s going to affect John,” Hollie continued.
But just as quickly as Tucker disappeared, something truly magnificent happened...and it was all captured on video.
During the Patterson’s interview with WLBT, a truck pulled in the driveway. Two women stepped out and said, “I think we have your dog.”
They did. Tucker was back.
“OMG” Tucker!" screamed Hollie when she first spotted him. “He’s back!”
Apparently, he had stayed the night at another family’s home two streets over.
“It’s not unusual for a dog to roam around up there, and usually they go back home,” said one of the woman who brought Tucker home.
After seeing the Facebook postings and our news truck in the neighborhood, she says she put two and two together.
Now, John Patterson and his best friend Tucker are together again.
John said he will be sleeping very well tonight.
As for Tucker, well, with his face and personality...he will be just fine.
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