Lake County >> When Randy Griffin and Linda Huffman came to Lake County from Yreka to clean out a storage shed, they never expected to get caught in the Valley Fire. They definitely didn’t think they would be separated from their dog, a chocolate Papillon named Levi, for a week and a half.
The night of the Valley Fire, Griffin and Huffman purchased some ice cream, drove up to their friend’s house in Loch Lomond and let their two dogs, Lucy and Levi, out to play. When the rapidly spreading fire forced them out of the area, they packed up everything so quickly, they didn’t realize Levi wasn’t in the car. They tried to turn around, but the danger of the fire was too much. They couldn’t get back to their dog.
As the area remained cordoned off, Griffin grew desperate. “I even thought about hiking up in there,” he said. “We weren’t going to go home without our dog.”
While most people consider their pets a part of the family, Griffin’s attachment to Levi extends beyond the ordinary. Four years ago, after Griffin was diagnosed with macular degeneration, he fell into a depression. One day his parents stopped in for a visit and brought Levi with them, who then belonged Griffin’s mother. Griffin spent the majority of his time in his bedroom during their stay. That is until Levi’s insistent scratches at his door pulled him out of his room. Griffin uncharacteristically left the house with Levi in tow and took the dog for a walk.
“He’s been with me ever since,” Griffin said. Levi might be described as a therapy dog of sorts.
So those days without him, when the couple had no idea about the fate of their dog, were difficult for Huffman and especially Griffin. When Loch Lomond was reopened to residents, Griffin and Huffman were able to get back into the area with friends. They searched all day, combing the area meticulously, but Levi was nowhere to be found.
Griffin and Huffman spent the next week and a half camping and searching for their dog. “We didn’t know what to do. We looked, we called everybody we could think of, we went on the radio,” Huffman said. “We didn’t want to leave without him. We just didn’t want to leave.”
Little did they know that their small dog had wandered five miles north and wound up on the porch of Jeanie Tavares, who lives just off Red Hills Road with her husband and her own two dogs. A couple of days after being evacuated, Tavares returned to her home to sleep in her own bed. Her dogs were barking and going wild all night, but Tavares assumed a coyote or raccoon had taken up residence outside and she kept her pets indoors. The next morning, her husband looked outside to find a deep brown Papillon hanging out on their front porch. “He opened the door and he [Levi] came in like he lived there,” Tavares recalled.
She gave the dog chicken and he scarfed it down as if he were starved.
“That’s what we were afraid of, that he was either going to starve to death or die of lack of water or something,” said Huffman.
It would take a few days — and a lot of miscommunication — before Griffin, Huffman and Levi were reunited. Tavares looked for Levi’s owners and when she didn’t have any luck, she took the dog to the SPCA in Kelseyville to see if he was microchipped (he wasn’t, but Huffman said he will be soon). But Levi is a small dog and she was reluctant to leave him with so many bigger animals. “I felt that if it was left at the pound, that would have done more damage to the dog, with all the other dogs barking and all the noise and he seemed very happy at my house,” Tavares explained.
The SPCA took a photo of Levi and posted it on their Facebook page. Griffin’s daughter saw the photo. Griffin and Huffman sped over to the SPCA, but Levi was already gone. To make matters worse, the Facebook posting had the incorrect contact information for Tavares.
After about two days with Levi, Tavares began to wonder if anyone was going to claim the pup. She’d fallen in love with him and thought to herself, “If the owners don’t show up I might have a new dog.”
That was another thing Griffin and Huffman were worried about, that someone would find Levi and just decide to keep him. “We got to a point where we didn’t know what to do,” said Huffman. “There were some days where it just felt like he was gone.”
It wasn’t until Casse Waldman Forczek of Kelseyville heard Griffin and Huffman on the local radio station, KPFZ. She was moved by their pleas for information regarding their missing dog. She called Griffin to console him in hopes of relieving some of his anxiety. “He sounded so hopeless and I could really sense that and I said, ‘Randy, your dog is not lost. He’s missing, but he’s in his right place,’” Waldman Forczek said. “’There’s a place for everyone and everything. Even if you think your animal is lost, I think your animal is not lost.’”
Griffin said the words gave him some piece of mind.
But Waldman Forczek still wanted to help. She reached out to the SPCA herself and with some luck, found Pamela Robinson, a foster animal caretaker who knew Tavares. Finally, after a week and a half and with the help of a couple Lake County residents, Griffin and Huffman were reunited with their dog.
After spending time with Levi, Tavares didn’t want to let the dog go to just anyone. She needed to be sure Levi did indeed belong to Griffin and Huffman. She asked them to prove he was theirs. Fortunately, Levi knew a trick. Griffin said to his dog, “Would you rather be married or dead?” and Levi immediately fell over. It was enough for Tavares.
“And then when he [Griffin] picked him up, he started crying,” Tavares recalled. “I just knew that was their dog.”
Now back with Griffin, Huffman and Lucy, Levi is doing well, though he’s grown wary of cars. His story is one of countless examples of the kindness of strangers, especially in times of crisis. Without the coordinated efforts of Tavares, Waldman Forczek and Robinson, none of whom knew Griffin or Huffman just a week ago, Levi may never have been reunited with his owners.
“Our hearts and thoughts are out with the people that lost their animals and their homes,” Griffin said. “It’s a good community and when things got bad everyone did come together. We met some very nice people.”
Jennifer Gruenke can be reached at 900-2019.
