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Boy, injured dog reunited after ordeal
http://www.marinij.com/Stories/0,1413,234~24407~2664586,00.h...
By Mika Edwards
A 12-year-old San Rafael boy and his faithful canine companion have been reunited nearly a month after the scared pooch disappeared on a Baja
California beach Christmas Day.
The dog was found near Ensenada starving, with a broken leg and being beaten by children with sticks. But Marley, a female boxer mix, is on the road
to recovery after surgery this week.
?We went down to Mexico to have a nice Christmas, and it turned out to be horrible,? said Madelon Montobbio of Novato, grandmother of Tyler Montobbio
? Marley?s companion.
Madelon and her husband, Mark, a San Rafael lawyer, had joined their daughter Julie Montobbio and grandson Tyler Montobbio of San Rafael at the Hotel
Coral and Marina in Ensenada, where Mark and Madelon keep a yacht.
In tow were Tyler?s 7-year-old dog, Marley, and Mark and Madelon?s 2-year-old German shepherd, Sadie.
The holiday took a turn for the worse on Christmas Day, when the family took their dogs out for exercise on Estero Beach, a 45-minute drive from where
they were staying.
While the dogs ran on the beach, several children in the area lighted fireworks in celebration of Christmas Day. The loud noises startled Marley, who
took off running down the beach.
?We couldn?t catch up to her, she was just running too fast,? Madelon Montobbio said. ?She is 40 pounds of pure muscle.?
The Montobbios made their way back to their vehicles, where they saw Marley had left scratch marks on their truck in an attempt to get in.
?I just couldn?t believe it. It was surreal,? Julie Montobbio said.
The Montobbios searched the area the rest of the day but returned to the marina after dark, empty-handed.
From then on, the focus of the Montobbios? vacation was finding Marley.
Although most of the family had to return home several days later, Mark and Madelon stayed behind searching until Jan. 1, but still there was no sign
of the dog.
Before returning to Marin, the Montobbios posted fliers throughout the area listing Marley?s vital statistics, a photo and offer of a $200 reward.
Included in the information was the phone number of Cynthia Romero, who worked at the hotel where the Montobbios were staying. Romero served as the
family?s contact.
As the weeks passed, the Montobbios lost faith they would ever see Marley again.
?My son and I both gave up hope,? Julie Montobbio said. ?My 12-year-old told me that I needed to stop crying ... he was comforting me and telling me
we had a good life with her.?
Just when it seemed impossible, the Montobbios? Christmas miracle arrived three weeks late. They received a phone call from Romero saying Marley had
been located, but was starving and limping on a broken leg.
?She had been hit by a car, had bites all over her from other dogs, she was really in bad shape,? Romero said yesterday.
She said a local factory worker had found the dog outside her home being beaten by a group of children with sticks. She chased the children away and
befriended Marley, who ran into the house and hopped on her couch.
The woman notified Romero because she had seen the Montobbios? flier. Romero presented the woman with the $200 reward.
?The woman was very poor, so she was very, very happy to get the reward,? Romero said. ?And that was one very, very lucky dog.?
Mark and Madelon Montobbio drove down to Ensenada this past weekend to retrieve Marley.
?I was really surprised; we were both surprised,? said Tyler, who attends the Timothy Murphy School in Marinwood. ?We were thinking, ?Wow, we get our
dog back.? She is our favorite animal.?
On Tuesday, a Petaluma veterinarian performed surgery on Marley?s broken leg, saving it from amputation.
Yesterday, she returned home to recuperate.
?She wouldn?t have lived past Saturday, because she couldn?t walk,? Madelon Montobbio said.
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Keri
Super Nomad
Posts: 1393
Registered: 10-31-2002
Location: La Mision, Baja Norte
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Mood: muy contento
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Great Story
Thank you for sharing some good news with us. It's nice to hear a story like this that has a good ending to it ,so many don't have. K
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