Dogged determination leads to pet's safe return

Melissa Graviett tried everything to find her dog when she lost him on a 2020 camping trip on Memorial Day weekend.

She put up fliers. She hiked through the hills of Grassy, Missouri, where Buddy was last seen. She even consulted a psychic to get a few leads. Nothing.

That is until a year and four days later when Melissa and her husband, Kevin, found Buddy at the same campground they lost him at.

"I was just shaking," Melissa said. "I waited for this day since May 22, 2020."

Buddy, a Catahula Leopard breed, escaped when Melissa and her family left their campsite at the Arrowhead Campground to go eat. A friend opened the door of the Graviett's camper, and Buddy bolted out.

Melissa and her family searched for months to find him.

"Me and my husband slept in the living room on our couch with the door open, porch and back porch lights on, just in hopes he would find his way home," Melissa said.

Buddy had been in Melissa's life since he was a puppy. He was like one of her children, she said.

Buddy was an inside dog and never had to live outside for too long. Melissa worried he wouldn't survive out in the woods among coyotes and snakes with no food.

They never found any sign, until a few weeks ago when Melissa's sister-in-law thought she saw Buddy at a campsite close to the Graviett's. Melissa hurried to the campsite to see for herself. She found some of what she thought was Buddy's white kinky hair stuck to a fence.

She and Kevin stayed at the campsite for three nights, putting food out and setting some of her clothing on the ground so he could smell her scent.

One morning, the couple drove home to go to work and saw Buddy sitting on the porch of someone else's camper. Melissa got out of the car and Buddy came within arm's length of her, but then ran away.

But Melissa never gave up hope, she said.

That night, she and Kevin put out a live animal trap with a pail full of hamburgers and hot dogs inside.

"Sure enough, the next morning, he's in the trap," Melissa said.

They loaded Buddy up into the back of their truck and took him to their home in Oran, Missouri. A crowd of family, including the Graviett's two grown children, waited to reunite with Buddy.

"He walked around the house, walked back into the kitchen and just laid down on the floor like, 'I'm home,'" Melissa said.

Buddy hadn't lost any weight, so Melissa said she believes someone must've been feeding him. He had hundreds of tick bites and a missing tooth, but other than that, Buddy is in perfect health, Melissa said.

"He remembered everybody," Melissa said. "My daughter taught him tricks when he was a puppy, and he remembered everything. It's like he never left."