Dog that fled after wreck recovered

By Jean Cole
jean@athensnews-courier.com

June 26, 2009 10:50 pm

— Baby the pit bull wiggled and whined when he was reunited with master Cody Wallace after nine days lost.
“I was never so happy to see anyone in my life,” said 17-year-old Wallace, whose red-nosed pit bull terrier named Baby fled the scene after Wallace wrecked his truck June 17 off Fort Hampton Road.
“I just loaded him up with dog biscuits and weenies and baloney,” Wallace said. “I must have given him about a half a box of dog treats.”
Tillman Mill Road resident Billy Adams telephoned Wallace Friday morning to tell him he had a dog on his front porch that matched the lost dog in the photograph and story in Thursday’s edition of The News Courier.
Wallace told The News Courier by telephone how the two were reunited Friday, pausing frequently to praise his best buddy, who was sitting beside him.
“He’s a good boy ... he was lost,” Wallace told Baby.
Adams told Wallace the dog on his porch had the same markings and the same red collar mentioned in the story. Wallace did not recall Baby having a collar on the night of the wreck. However, Wallace’s mother, Melissa Lovell, told The News Courier she thought the dog was wearing the red collar.
“I didn’t think it was him and I wasn’t going to go, then I decided I better get up and go,” said Wallace, who broke his leg and had been confined to a wheelchair but is now “hopping around.”
Wallace and his girlfriend, Kayla Guess, drove up to the man’s house, got out and saw a dog lying on the porch.
“My girlfriend called his name and he raised his head up to see if it was really me,” Wallace said. “Then, when I called his name, he ran to the car and started whining. I’ve never been so happy in my life.”
Baby was found about 1 1/2 miles from the site of the wreck. Wallace figures Baby tried to find his way home to Sewell Road but got mixed up.
“It probably seemed familiar to him,” he said.
He described his feelings Friday for the support he received to locate the dog.
“I appreciate Mr. Adams and all the help from people who called and the people who helped me find him,” Wallace said.