Buddy The Dog Finally Returns Home

MASSAPEQUA, NY - After being lost for almost a month and receiving a ton of publicity, Buddy the dog has finally been found.

Last month, the family of the 1 1/2 year old Beagle Lab mix went on vacation to Florida. When they came back, the found that Buddy went missing while staying a dog-sitters home in Massapequa Park.

The devastated family created a Facebook page, Find Buddy which received over 2,000 "Likes" and appeared on almost every local news outlet to ask for help in finding the pup.

Finally, on Oct. 14 the family reported that Buddy had been found.

According to a post on the Find Buddy page, the family received a tip from a woman walker her dog who saw Buddy almost directly beneath a Find Buddy poster.

He was in the preserve at Lakeview Avenue and Pittsburgh Avenue in Seaford.

The family then took Buddy, who had lost 8 pounds, to the emergency vet in Plainview.

"He had a few ticks and burrs in his fur," the family wrote. "He had a cut on his knee and lots of cuts on his paws but he looked great and was so happy to see us."

The search for Buddy did have a few roadblocks.

Before he was found, Buddy's owner MaryEllen Humphrey was told by a Massapequa Park village official that she could not post signs on the telephone poles within the village.

"I explained that I did not personally put all these signs up and that they have been put up by many kind strangers who are sympathetic and caring," she wrote on the page. "I also further explained that I would remove them the minute Buddy was found."

However, a few days later Mayor Jeffrey Pravato that that while there is an ordinance about signs but they will allow them to stay up.

"He wasn't aware that the calls were made asking to take the signs down," Humphrey wrote on the page. "He walked with me all around Park Boulevard and asked all the store owners to put a sign in their windows."

Luckily, it was a happy ending - especially for Buddy who got 3 McDonald's double cheeseburgers after he was found and met the mayor.