This News Was Rather Heartwarming

I'm on Twitter. I'll admit it. I don't "tweet" much, but I do follow some interesting people. Since I'm a NASCAR fan, that includes some of that venue's personalities. Probably the two drivers that are the most fun are Kenny Wallace and Michael Waltrip. If you've ever watched their work as television racing color announcers, you'll know just what I'm talkin' 'bout.

Mikey is quite devoted to his daughter Macy - he mentions her often. Up until a couple months ago, he mentioned Darla - their dog - frequently. Most of the NASCAR tweeters talk about their pets as well - Juan Pablo Montoya talks about his R/C hobby a lot, for instance. It's a lot of fun just to "listen" to what they have to say.

Note: - another notable tweeter is Charles G. Hill of Dustbury fame, featured on the blog links on the sidebar.

So, for those of you on Twitter - I've just bored you to tears - you've already justified your presence on the medium and don't need a refresher course from me. This little prelude was written for those who aren't on Twitter so y'all would have a clue what the attraction would be.

The reason why Michael wasn't talking about Darla was because she disappeared two months ago. He and Macy were heartbroken. But, they had Andy of Dogs by Andy - their local dog trainer - on the job.

Michael Waltrip's Missing Dog Found after 2 Months

Darla, a Belgian Malinois belonging to Michael Waltrip was let out of her house on July 11, 2009 and didn't return. After countless hours of searching and utilizing the services of FindToto.com and deploying a search dog from Missing Pet Recovery Services, Inc. but it was all for not because the dog had been stolen.

Two months later, on Tuesday (09/15/2009), we received a text message about Darla, asking if I was still looking for Darla and how much was her reward was really worth. I replied to the text message stating we were still looking for Darla and told him the price of the reward. Immediately, he responded to my reply, saying he could take me to the dog, stating that his uncle had stolen the dog in Morresville. He said they saw Darla running from Michael’s property and removed her collar and then drove to Charlotte with her.

Not knowing what to expect, we prepared for the worst so John, Brett and I headed to Charlotte to meet with the informant. He was reluctant at first but we took him in the car with us amd showed us where his uncle lived. It turns out the man was broke and really needed the money.

After banging on the door and then kicking at loudly, we still got no response. I could see Darla in the backyard. As I proceeded to the gate where Darla was being held, a man with a taco appeared behind me and asked what I was doing in his backyard. I quickly informed him that he had stolen my friend’s dog and I was here to get it back.

Michael was in Italy at the time, hopefully testing a new Ferrari for me! We did managed to get the dog back without incident. Darla and Marcy were happily reunited just 30 minutes later.

We want to thank all the well wishers and volunteers and let them know this story had a happy ending.

Michael tweeted from Italy about this, and posted this pic:

All this info was also posted to Michael's Facebook page as well, but it was on Twitter first. This story just struck me as pretty touching - and it's one that I doubt the NASCAR media or much of any other media is gonna cover.