MADISON — Jamie Cyrway and her three children weren’t going to let a 13-hour, seven-state drive in sporadic snow keep them from their dog, Dempsey.

And Dempsey wasn’t going to let a lengthy operation Friday morning and a broken leg keep him from his family.

When the Cyrway family of Severn, Md., pulled up at Madison Animal Hospital shortly before 6 p.m. Friday, Cyrway jumped from her car and ran to her dog.

And Dempsey – dragging his injured leg just hours after surgery extensive enough that the veterinarian feared the reunion would have to be put off – ran to his mom.

Cyrway, 34, and her kids sobbed as they hugged the year-old boxer.

When they took a breather, Dempsey headed for the door. He’d had enough and wanted to go home.

Dempsey, who was missing for nine days in North Anson before he was found Monday, will be on his way back to Maryland on Sunday.

When Dempsey arrived at the animal hospital earlier this week, he had a broken leg, most of his bones were showing and he was having seizures from being in temperatures that dipper below zero for more than a week.

Veterinarian Darren Richards said he had never seen a dog in such rough condition.

Friday morning, after Dempsey underwent three hours of surgery to extract a broken tooth and fix his broken leg, Richards thought the dog would be too stressed and exhausted to reunite with his family Friday night.

But Dempsey rebounded and Cyrway and her children, Ada, 2, Jaden, 8, and Tyrr, 12, drove straight to the hospital, which stayed open an hour after it was set to close.

Dempsey’s head perked up from his blanket as soon as he heard the car outside.

After Dempsey jumped a fence at Cyrway’s mother’s house on Madison Street in North Anson on Dec. 28, the family searched for three days before heading to their home 700 miles away, distraught that Dempsey wasn’t with them.

On Monday, he was found in an abandoned warehouse in North Anson, shivering, injured, emaciated and soaking wet, but alive.

The weather over the period included freezing rain, subzero temperatures and snow.

Cyrway wouldn’t give up. When the family returned home to Maryland, she called the Morning Sentinel to place an ad for a missing dog.

Dempsey will have a cast on his right hind leg for six weeks and require more X-rays to check the progress of how his bone is healing, but Richards said he is expected to fully recover.

He has shown no signs of frostbite but is very underweight, said Richards.

 

Rachel Ohm can be contacted at 612-2368 or at:

rohm@centralmaine.com

Copy the Story Link