Community Rallies To Help With Epic Effort To Find Missing Dog

LOS ANGELES, CA — After six months of tireless searching for a lost dog, most people would lose hope and give up, but Gabriella Sidhu is doing the opposite. She is throwing a big community party Saturday at the Hansen Dam Recreation Area complete with free food, doggie toys ad pet photography. All she asks, in return, is that people take flyers and help spread the word about her missing rescue dog, Mushie.

Saturday's Frenchie Meet-Up is open to anyone, and the creative effort is the latest in Sidhu's tireless campaign to bring Mushie back home. Ever since a professional dog-sitter in North Hollywood lost Mushie, a black French bulldog, last September, Sidhu and her partner have done everything to find their missing dog.

They hired a bloodhound to track her, they spent two weeks sleeping in their car and missing work to stay in the neighborhood where Mushie disappeared in search of leads. They offered a $5,000 reward and then raised it to $7,500 thanks to the kindness of a stranger who donated to her cause.

They've gone door to door, chased leads and put up flyers from Chatsworth to Sylmar and Burbank. They've emailed hundreds of vet, rescues, schools, churches, and synagogues for help finding Mushie.

They hold 10-foot banners over the freeway for hours at a time to keep Mushie's little face on people's minds and, hopefully, in their hearts.

They also band together with owners of other missing dogs and help each other with the search. It's given them reason to hope.

Over the last six months, Sidhu grew close with Yasmine Haezart, whose French Bulldog Havoc was stolen more than two years ago. Together they put up flyers, hosted meetups and used social media to spread the word about their missing pups.

Then Haezart got the call. Havoc had escaped his captors and someone found him and took him to the Apple Valley Animal Shelter. Haezart was reunited with Havoc, and her happy ending gives Sidhu hope that she will hold Mushie again one day soon.

“All the stars aligned, and he made it home,” said Sidhu.

Sidhu wonders if the person who has Mushie now even knows Mushie's story and how loved the little dog truly is.

“We worry that the people that have her are just outside the area we are flyering,” Sidhu said. “I think maybe it's possible that someone in that area picked her up and gave her to someone, maybe a co-worker. I wonder if she is with someone who doesn't even know she was the found in the way she was found.”

Sidhu said anyone who returns Mushie will get the $7,500 reward with no consequences.

“All we want is for Mushie to come home,” she said. “It's been six months, and it's never too late to do the right thing.”

Sidhu had Mushie for just a year and a half before she disappeared.

Among the many things that Sidhu taught Mushie — how to live indoors, how to sleep in a dog bed, how to play with toys — was how to trust people.

Mushie was emaciated. She had been used for breeding and kept outdoors for the first five years of her life before she was dumped in Palmdale because she could no longer have puppies. That's when Sidhu, a 24-year-old federal worker in El Sereno, and her partner adopted Mushie.

“Her spay was so intensive. After so many c-sections, it lasted 8 hours. We brought her home, and she was super traumatized,” recalled Sidhu. “She had never had any toys or a bed before. She had only been outside, but despite everything she's been through, she was the sweetest, most well-behaved dog.”

When the dog sitter lost Mushie in September, Sidhu was heartbroken.

Along the way, however, the kindness of strangers, has helped keep hope alive. One total stranger in the San Fernando Valley offered $2,500 to increase the reward.

“My initial instinct was that is too good to be true, but they were so genuine and so kind,” said Sidhu.

Others have donated as time and services. On Saturday, 3 Sisters Coffee is donating coffee and creamer, a local groomer is donating a gift certificate and Dogs Made Famous Pet Photography will shoot pictures for free. Saturday's Frenchie meetup is from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Hansen Dam Recreation Are, and everyone is welcome, Sidhu said.

“The reason we are hosting this event this Saturday is it's now been 6 months,” said Sidhu. “And we just want the community to know we are not losing steam.”