Social media helps reunite local woman with lost dog

MADISON COUNTY, Tenn. — For many people, your dog is like another family member, and that was certainly the case for Emily Wheeler.

“I love all my dogs, but she’s probably the smartest one I have,” Wheeler said.

But in late August, Mollie the Border Collie didn’t come home after being let out one night.

“I went into the woods looking for her. I went into the fields looking for her. That’s when my heart started to sink,” Wheeler said. “I knew something had happened.”

Disappeared without a trace.

Three weeks later, and only sightings of other people’s dogs were what Wheeler had left of Mollie.

“My heart shattered, because I thought I would never see her. The biggest problem was that I didn’t have any closure,” Wheeler said.

But because of a social media post, Emily was able to bring her beloved dog Mollie back home.

“My phone has blown up with Facebook, text messages, phone calls,” Wheeler said. “I was like, ‘What is going on?’ I open my phone and I see her picture. I just start crying my eyes out because it’s Mollie. All the posts on Facebook are all Mollie.”

Mollie looked like she had been in the woods the whole time she was gone — skinny, matted, and covered in dirt.

“She was a hot-hot mess,” Wheeler said.

But of course, Mollie was overjoyed to see her mom again, all thanks to the hundreds of strangers on social media who shared her post.

“If it was not for Facebook, I would never have found her. All the people on Facebook had shared her. They knew her. They knew I had been looking for her. They helped me find her. If it wasn’t for them, I wouldn’t have gotten my baby,” Wheeler said.

Mollie was dirty and needed a haircut, but otherwise fine from her three week hiatus.