Posted on 06/28/2008 7:44:41 AM PDT by girlangler
Deputies Find Missing 3-Year-Old Protected By Family's Pet Dogs
Published: 1:43 AM, 06/28/2008
Deeply Grateful Mom Is Quickly Reunited
With Son, Thanks To Officers, Neighbors
By BILL JONES
Staff Writer
The mother of a three-year-old boy who was found safe Friday morning after wandering away from his northern Greene County home called The Greeneville Sun Friday afternoon to express heartfelt thanks for the fast response of neighbors and sheriff's deputies when she discovered her son was missing.
Kristen (Mrs. Jimmy) Thach, of Roaring Fork Road, told the Sun late Friday afternoon that her son, David, 3, "just took off" from their residence that morning.
"I was in my house, and he just took off," she said. "I went to use the restroom, and when I came back, he was gone."
Frantic, she immediately called 911 and was quickly connected with the Greene County Sheriff's Department.
Within only a few minutes -- so fast that "I was really amazed," she said -- at least five Sheriff's Department cars reached her home on Roaring Fork Road and began combing the area for the three-year-old.
She said she believes as many as six deputies took part in the search.
Meanwhile, she explained, she had also hurried to neighbors' homes to ask if they had seen David. No one had seen him, "but they just took it upon themselves to come out and start looking for him."
"This whole road was looking for him!" she said gratefully.
A short time later, the child was found unharmed by a sheriff's deputy about a half-mile from the Thach home.
Protected By Dogs
The little boy was unharmed and was accompanied -- and aggressively protected -- by the family's two pet dogs, especially a purebred pit bulldog named "Baby." Also accompanying David was the family's Jack Russell terrier, "Sassy."
Kristen Thach said that, when her little boy was discovered, a deputy came to get her and told her that David had been found but that the pit bull would not let anyone near him.
By the time she reached the scene, though, she continued, Deputy Jimmy Morgan had David in his arms and was bringing him to her. She never learned how Morgan had managed to get past the pit bull, she said.
Thach repeatedly expressed her deepest thanks to both the deputies and her neighbors.
"They did such a great job!" she said, "And without them, we probably wouldn't have found him."
Heard Barking Dogs
A Greene County Sheriff's Department dispatcher told the Sun that the boy was reported missing from his home in the 2800 block of Roaring Fork Road at 10:26 a.m., but was found a short time later by Deputy Sheriff Morgan.
"I was just lucky enough to find him," Morgan said Friday, noting that Sgt. Glenna Estepp and Deputy Michael Jones also were searching for the missing boy, along with several neighbors of the missing youth.
During a telephone interview about noon, Deputy Morgan said officers had been told that the boy might be with his pet dogs and that he had been missing for about 30 minutes.
While searching a creek bank near the boy's home, Morgan said, he heard dogs barking in the distance, returned to his patrol car, and drove in the direction of the barking dogs.
Shortly thereafter, he located the three-year-old.
'He Had A Little Adventure'
When David was discovered, the officer said, the boy was "looking at some cows" in a pasture.
"He said he had been down to the water," Morgan said, noting that the boy was apparently talking about a small creek near where he was found.
Radio transmissions between Greene County 911 and Greene County-Greeneville Emergency Medical Services indicated that Mrs. Thach requested that he be "checked out" by EMS personnel due to possible dehydration and exposure to the sun.
However, Deputy Morgan said the boy did not require transportation to a hospital.
"He just had a little adventure," Morgan said.
-- Editor John M. Jones Jr. also contributed to this article.
For your doggie ping lists.
GOOD doggie ping!
All I can say is I am glad she had the right guys there.
I’ve heard stories like this where a)the mother was reported to DCF for a checkout and b)the dogs were shot.
There are plenty of wonderful cops, but one experience with a bad one or some ridiculous law can scar you forever. (Been there, done that)
Amazing that this is a story. A sign of the times, I guess.
I’m betting that practically every parent has had a small child “wander off” at least once. No matter how vigilant you are, kids are mighty quick.
In almost every case, notwithstanding a parent’s worst fears and quickened pulse rate, the child is just fine.
Probably so. My brother once asked Mom if he could go turkey hunting. She said yes and they found him a mile away.
That wasn't as bad as the time he asked if he could chop down the little oak trees next door. (Poison Oak!!!)
heehee
I have three boys. I made the mistake of letting them watch wholesome Little House on the Prairie. I went to do a load of laundry and found them chopping a tree down in our backyard! They said that Pa Ingalls had built his home so they could build one too. They were 7, 5, and 3 at the time. Mind you, they had to climb on each other’s shoulders to get to the ax in the garage.
>>I’m betting that practically every parent has had a small child “wander off” at least once<<
Even if it’s an aisle over at the store. You bet.
Worst feeling in the world.....
Well we invited all the neighborhood kids over one day after school and took turns trying to dig a whole to China in the backyard. I think we got about 10 feet deep. I remember it being well over the digger’s heads.
Dad was furious!!
Bravo!
“The little boy was unharmed and was accompanied — and aggressively protected — by the family’s two pet dogs, especially a purebred pit bulldog named “Baby.” Also accompanying David was the family’s Jack Russell terrier, “Sassy.”
A Pit Bull and a Mini Pit Bull. He was well protected.
Thanks for the ping girlangler! When I was about this fellow's age my Mom had me secured out front of the house with some sort of harness that connected to my pants. She took her eyes off me for a moment and when she looked again the pants were there but I was gone. I was on my way to see my Dad where he worked about a mile away. Couldn't understand why a big fuss was made about it.
Aren’t you keeping some kind of list of dogs vs. cats? Chalk one point up for the dogs.
Technology today lets a parent put a GPS tracker in a kids shoes, a watch, their jackets etc as well as on their puppies collars !
Lost doggies, car, valuable or lost little kid ...........technology is yer friend !
Isn't that the truth?
Our little daughter saw the world as her Big Back Yard (the name of a kids' magazine)...
She was an early walker (8 1/2 months) and 'escaped' one afternoon, to our horror.
Found her sitting comfy at the neighbor's house, munching a cookie. Our kindly old neighbor just smiled and said, "Missing something?"
I'd left the front door unlocked ~ she must've pushed it open somehow. Never again! Worst feeling in the world.
this link works. http://greenevillesun.com/story/296040
Man phones his brother's house.
Little girl's whispering voice: "Hello?"
Man: "Hi, Cindy. It's Uncle Bob. Is your Daddy home?"
Little girl's whispering voice: "Yes, but he's very busy right now.
Man: "What about your Mommy. Is she home?"
Little girl's whispering voice: "She's very busy too."
Man: "Are there any grown-ups there I can talk to? I have to leave a message for your Daddy"
Little girl's whispering voice: "The Policemen are here but they are very busy too.
Man: "Police? There are Policemen there?
Little girl's whispering voice: "Yes. They brought Police doggies and hellocoppers too.
Man: "You mean helicopters? What's going on?!?"
Little girl's whispering voice: "They are trying very hard to find someone."
Man: "Oh my goodness!! Who are they looking for?!?
Little girl's whispering voice: "They're looking for me."
What a great story! Good dogs!
At least they didn’t use your nice expensive kitchen knife like mine did.
A wandering child now is probably a little 40 odd years ago, the 2 1/2 just went out of sight in it seemed a split second. I went around the neighborhood and neighbors on another street saw us looking. They had seen him and just took him away from the street and waited for someone to appear to be looking. Nowadays — I would have been on the phone to the police without hesitation.
Those dogs, in this story, deserve a big treat!!
I’m not, but thanks for the ping.
Ping!
And now for this important DOGGIEPING Announcement!
I've lost my list! I did a deep clean of my computer and I guess inadvertently deleted the folder I kept the ping list in.
If you were previously on my ping list and would still like to be on the list now, please let me know... I am re-building the list from scratch!
I’m sure the Pit Bull lured the child away so he could eat him at his leisure. <sarc
STAY AWAY BAD GUYS!!!
Maybe it was you, Civ? Are you keeping a dogs-vs-cats ping list?
Can't speak to the Jack Russell, no experience.
Can certainly speak to the Pit Bull. Best dogs I've ever had the pleasure of being a huge part of my life. Many complaints from friends about excessive licking and that "steel rod" of a tail. But extremely protective, of the family, yard, house, etc. Especially when I left for extended periods, they took over the house. No training, pure instinct. And they were both sizeable dogs as far as Pit's go.
Both long gone now...sigh.
Recent events have raised the possibility of me and the bad 'ol Pit getting together again. Neighbor's house, 2 doors down, broken into during the middle of the night. Everyone was home and asleep. The intruders put chairs in front of all bedroom doors upstairs, I guess to alert them when someone tripped over it while they took everything from the 1st floor. Just plain scary.
My wife told me, "We need a dog again!" She felt safe with the Pit's in the house and so did I. We both know that what happened to the neighbor would have never happened in this house with the two 4 legged security devices we used to have. Never.
I'm so glad that young David had the 'escort' that he had.
Good dog's know what to do when.
/rant off
My son, 3 years old at the time, was going to walk into the back yard, which was fenced, to find my husband. I was in the front yard. I watched him go into the back yard thinking my husband was there. I went inside to get a drink of water and saw my husband alone in the kitchen. I asked,”where is the kid?” He said, “With you right?”.
Panic set in as I couldn’t find him in the back yard. I started yelling at the top of my lungs. I almost called the police but decided to check with the neighbor first and when she opened the door, there he sat eating icecream and drinking coolaid. He had knocked on her door and asked if he could come in. She had the phone in her hand getting ready to call me.
Scariest 5 minutes of my life.
Jack Russell’s are small dogs that were bred to go into Fox dens and KILL the Fox. They are very muscular and absolutely ferocious and will attack anything when aroused. They are very loving and protective of their families.
When I let mine out he immediately makes a beeline for the fence to harass and bait the German Shepard and Rotty that live next door. I think he may have a screw loose somewhere but I love him.
Small children are wonderful!
is about right.
The two Pit's mentioned above were absolute dictator's when I left for a TDY.
The male, bit over 90 lbs, absolutely did not like it when the better-half sat down in "my" chair while I was gone.
She would sit down in the chair and the male would immediately sit down in front of her, looking directly at her, and do a low-level "woof". And he would keep doing that, every several minutes, until she got out of my chair. As soon as she vacated my chair, the dog was off to other things......
It's like he was saying, "Hey, that's my boy's chair and I don't think you need to be sitting there...."
I really think that God made a mistake with him, he should have been born a Lab of some sort. He loved the water. Had to pull him out of the pool more than once. Had to replace a solar cover more than once. You absolutely could not get in the pool when he was outside; for him, that was an open invite to take a dip - and he never hesitated.
I have a wood deck on approx 1/4 of the pool. Took no time for that critter to figure out that if he backed up to one end of the deck, lit the afterburners, he could get farther out into the pool when he launched.....
He's been gone for over 10 yrs now; to this day his toe nail marks in the wood decking, trying to achieve optimum launch velocity, are still visible.
I smile every time I see them.........
Dog's are so cool.......
That is funny!
And the very attitude one would expect from a real dog - absolutely fearless when it comes to the home turf!
I remember waking up early one morning when I was about five and noticing that my little brother, 2 1/2 was missing. I investigated and found him, wearing nothing but a tee shirt, butt nakkid from the waist down and digging in the icy morning cold in backyard with a kitchen spoon. I grabbed him by the arm and dragged him “kicking and screaming” back into the house, thinking to myself, isn’t this crazy [bastard] cold?
My parents never had a clue what happened.
You're right.....you don't.
Yes, I once lost mine in the mall—I was in a panic, I had already called my husband to come down and help me, and the boys had gone to the security guard and had me paged over the mall intercom! This was right about the time that Adam Walsh had been killed, and I was just terrified. I had 3 little boys, and they stayed together, but even so, you just don’t know.
Being a Mom is a hard job! It’s no wonder we get gray hair!
susie
You bet!
We lost a four year old at “Islands of Adventure”. They had a big crawl through playland in the Suess part. She just didn’t come out with her sister.
They were radioing to close the park when she peeped her head out. I was hysterical.
Grey hair! Ya got that right!
Nope, not me. Dogs and cats, living together, mass hysteria.
Once I thought I lost my youngest, we were the only ones home (the other boys had gone to school). I was doing something and I thought, “hmmm Shane’s been quite a long time” so I went looking for him. I couldn’t find him anywhere, I went outside (he was about 2 1/2 at the time—no way should he have been outside alone!) I even sent down the street a little way. Needless to say I was very afraid, because I was sure he had gotten out of the house and been abducted.
I called my husband and then the police, who both showed up at my door at the same time—about 2 minutes after I found that boy asleep UNDER his bed! It’s funny now, but at the time I was relieved but mortified!
susie
a... !GASP!...pitbull at that...and the deputy didnt shoot it either...great adventure all around, as it should be in a small town...
Yeah :-) I picked up on that. A happy ending all the same. :-)
LOL Smart little guys, aren’t they?
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