‘Everyone I talked to was looking for that dog’

An Illinois couple who lost and found their dog in Whitehorse yesterday were "overwhelmed" by the city's response to their plight.

An Illinois couple who lost and found their dog in Whitehorse yesterday were “overwhelmed” by the city’s response to their plight.

Lisa and Mark Campillo are on their way to Alaska, and stopped in Whitehorse for the night on Wednesday.

They left the truck parked in front of the 202 Hotel, where they were staying, while Georgie - their big black Labrador - spent the night in his kennel in the back of the truck.

When they came down to let him out on Thursday morning, Georgie was gone. There was no question the dog had been stolen or set loose; the high wooden tailgate on their vehicle had been removed and the kennel opened.

The couple reported their dog missing and the call went out across the city.

“They were so overwhelmed with the response,” RCMP spokesman Sgt. Mark Groves said today.

“The media got the message out, the police were out, the bylaw officers and other city workers were out. Everyone I talked to yesterday was looking for that dog.”

Groves himself was cruising the town in an unmarked car looking for Georgie and even the mail carriers had their eyes peeled.

But it was the staff at Coasters and the 202 Hotel who finally broke the case.

On Wednesday night, the bar’s doormen had chased off an individual who was lurking around the Illinois truck, Groves reported.

The hotel manager remembered hearing about it and called up the bouncers to see if they knew who the lurker was.

Soon, with the help of bar staff and regulars, they identified their suspect.

A few employees of the bar and hotel headed to where they thought the dog might be and called police to meet up with them.

By 2 p.m., George was reunited with his grateful owners.

“We’ve relied on dogs in this territory for over a hundred years,” Groves said of the city-wide response.

“So, seriously, don’t mess with our dogs.”