Tommy Fowler holds Petey, his 16-year-old chihuahua who was stolen and then abandoned near Jimmy Lewis Lake near Bluewell.
PRINCETON, W.Va. — Petey the Chihuahua was having a hard time, perhaps the toughest of his 16 dog years. He had been stolen from his McDowell County home and dumped in Mercer County. His luck changed a little when a state Department of Natural Resources officer saw him and contacted the Mercer County Animal Shelter. Petey was soon in safe, but strange, surroundings. He laid on a bed behind the shelter’s front desk and waited for what would come next.
Wednesday morning brought a happy change in Petey’s fortunes. A familiar man came to the shelter with a copy of Wednesday’s Bluefield Daily Telegraph. Petey’s picture was on the front page.
The shelter had dubbed the elderly little dog Methuselah, but the personnel soon learned he was Petey. His owner, Tommy Fowler of Gary, had his own photographs of Petey, but the dog’s reaction when his owner arrived eliminated any possible doubts…