Dog owner in New York reunited with lost puppy just before snowstorm hit

Burt (right) seen here with his cousin Tucker. -- PHOTO: BRING BURT HOME/FACEBOOK
Burt (right) seen here with his cousin Tucker. -- PHOTO: BRING BURT HOME/FACEBOOK
Burt, a Whippet puppy. -- PHOTO: BRING BURT HOME/FACEBOOK
A picture of Lauren Piccolo with Burt posted last September. -- PHOTO: BRING BURT HOME/FACEBOOK
Lauren Piccolo hugging Burt. -- PHOTO: BRING BURT HOME/FACEBOOK
A picture of Burt posted last December, four months after he went missing. -- PHOTO: BRING BURT HOME/FACEBOOK
Lieutenant Dave Kelly from the New York City Fire Department (FDNY), who found Burt. -- PHOTO: NEW YORK CITY FIRE DEPARTMENT/FACEBOOK
Lauren Piccolo, reunited with Burt, her whippet, at her home in the Manhattan borough of New York on Jan 27, 2015. A dog owner in New York, the United States, has been reunited with her puppy after five agonising months. -- PHOTO: NYT

NEW YORK- A dog owner in New York, the United States, has been reunited with her puppy after five agonising months.

Owner Lauren Piccolo set up a Facebook page named "Bring Burt Home", on Aug 31 last year, which eventually did just that- lead the male dog home.

It was Lieutenant Dave Kelly from the New York City Fire Department (FDNY) who happened to spot Burt, a Whippet dog three weeks ago.

The Fire Department on Jan 26 wrote in a statement on its website that Lt. Kelly had seen the dog rummaging through garbage cans at night at the Fire Academy.

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When he heard about the forecasted snowstorm, Lt. Kelly said he began to worry. He said: "I figured it wasn't a good outlook for the dog. I didn't know what would happen to him."

"I'd try to feed him to try to capture him, but he would just run away," he added.

He set up a cage with food near where he had been feeding the dog and attached a rope to it. He sat in a van about 40 feet from the cage, and when the dog began to eat, Lt. Kelly pulled the rope and shut the cage.

He said he searched online for lost Whippet dogs in New York City, and came across a page talking about "Burt". The dog was lost from the family's apartment in Harlem when he was just nine months old.

Lt. Kelly said he was not sure if he had caught Burt, but notified the dog's owner, Lauren Piccolo, and arranged to meet. It was the right match.

In a statement, Ms Piccolo wrote: "I am tremendously grateful for the efforts of the FDNY to recover Burt," she said. "While Burt is a resilient dog, I don't think he would have survived such a fierce storm. The FDNY's efforts were incredible and timely!"

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