Wall Police Help Beloved Basset Make 650-Mile Trip Home To Myrtle Beach

WALL, NJ — It's not uncommon for police officers to help out a resident in need, helping them change a tire or get transportation to get home.

Wall Township Patrolman Frank Kuhl has taken that to a whole new level, however, giving a ride to a basset hound named Bella. Not just around the corner. Not just a couple of towns away. Nope, Kuhl drove 650 miles to deliver Bella to family members in Myrtle Beach, SC.

Bella's travels began back in July, when she and her owner, a 34-year-old man from Myrtle Beach, had arrived in New Jersey where he had come looking for work.

Kuhl met Bella on July 15, when he responded to a call of someone needing assistance at the Allaire Corporate Center on Route 138, Detective Lt. Greg Carpino said.

The man needed medical attention, and his vehicle wasn't working, Carpino said.

"And he couldn't take the dog to the hospital, obviously," Kuhl said.

Kuhl told the man that the Monmouth County Humane Society would take Bella in temporarily until arrangements could be made to release her back to him, and Kuhl promised the man he would make sure Bella got back to his family, he said.

Bella was taken to the Monmouth County Humane Society, but under most circumstances an animal brought in can only be held for seven days, after which it would go up for adoption.

So Kuhl contacted Bella's other owner, the man's mother, in Myrtle Beach. But she told the officer she couldn't make the trip to New Jersey to get Bella, Kuhl said. She was distraught at not being able to get the dog, he said.

"Bella was a rescue from Colombia," Kuhl said, and the man and his mother had had her for a few years. It was clear they were very attached to her, he said.

That's when Kuhl took matters into his own hands to ensure Bella got home.

"I have two dogs at home," Kuhl said, "a German shepherd, Koda, he was a therapy dog, and a 9-year-old black Lab, Rutgers — he was a rescue. In my house my dogs are like my family."

"This pulled on my hearstrings. It was clear that Bella was loved and well taken care of," he said. "It was heartbreaking that these people wouldn't be able to get their dog back just because they were in a bad position."

So Kuhl enlisted the help of his family, including wife Denise, daughter Olivia and son Michael, and sought permission to temporarily foster Bella until he could make arrangements to get her home to Myrtle Beach.

Veronica Ehrenspeck, the humane society's general manager, helped facilitate the arrangements so Bella could stay with him and his family.

Once Bella came to stay, it went very smoothly, he said. All three dogs got along well, and bonded even during the short time.

"Koda's 12, and he has good days and bad days," Kuhl said. During Bella's visit, Koda had one of his bad days.

"It must have been the mother in Bella because she just went and laid down quietly beside him," Kuhl said, "and then Rutgers went over and laid by them both."

"It was sweet and sad all at the same time," he said.

Bella stayed with the Kuhls for 11 days, until Kuhl and Patrolman Michael Tancredi, who was on the original call with Kuhl and offered to help, could drive Bella down to Myrtle Beach.

On Aug. 4, Kuhl and Tancredi hit the road for the 1,300-mile round trip to get Bella home. They arrived in Myrtle Beach later that day and delivered Bella to her owner.

"She was ecstatic," Kuhl said. "She was so happy to have Bella back, and thanked us over and over."

Kuhl admits he and his family were a little sad to see her go.

"She was such a sweet dog," Kuhl said. His daughter had a hard time saying goodbye, Kuhl said, "because Bella had such bad separation anxiety that she slept with Olivia" during her stay. And Kuhl said Rutgers, too, "was definitely mopey, my wife said."

"It's amazing how much they (the dogs) care about each other," he said.

It was a long drive, but Kuhl said it was the only right answer to the situation, in his mind.

"It seemed like the right thing to do, the only thing to do," he said. "I wouldn't have been able to live with myself if her family hadn't gotten her back."

Wall Patrolman Frank Kuhl poses with Bella during a rest stop on the drive to Myrtle Beach, SC, last week. Photo by Wall Patrolman Michael Tancredi