Written by Vicky Welman-Gerber
Professional photography by Jacqui L. Photography
This is a story of hope, a story that shows you that networking matters, lost and found pages matter, that vets sharing lost and found animal notices matters, and that against all odds, it’s worth not giving up HOPE!
For Juanita Mans and her husband, Charl, their story of hope ended in joy after a seven-year, one-month and one-day non-stop, high-and-low search for their precious boy, Rocky.
Here’s the remarkable story of how Rocky was found, rescued and reunited with his family.
After Rocky went missing, Jaunita and Charles searched tirelessly for their boy; they followed up on every “found” dog post that looked even remotely like their Rocky that I sent and would go and look at the dog in the hope it was their Rocky. This family put up posters everywhere, popped flyers in postboxes throughout their neighbourhood, and networked Rocky’s lost status extensively.
HOPE SPRINGS ETERNAL
On the 28th of October 2021, just after 8h00, I was scrolling through Lost & Found Animals in the South of Johannesburg pages for animals that had been lost and found from our ward. I’d moved to Kimberley in June 2020 and had left all Johannesburg South Facebook groups and pages but not been able to find someone to run the Glenvista & New South – Lost and Found Pets page. When I have free time, I go on all the pages to make sure we’ve shared lost and found animals from our ward.
I saw Rita Gasser of Kibler Park Veterinary Clinic’s post about a found dog and shared it to our page. I thought the dog looked familiar, so I went onto Furry Godmother’s Facebook page and looked up the posts about Rocky.
My heart stopped when I compared dog photos, but I worried I would get Juanita’s hopes up yet again. Nevertheless, I decided to send the post to Vicki Potts Nicholson, who runs Furry Godmother’s Facebook page, and to Juanita. They both agreed that it did indeed look like Rocky, and Juanita said they’d go to Kibler Park Vet first thing the next morning.
I inboxed Rita to let her know and then suffered a long night of wondering if this was it… could it possibly be the end of a seven-year search for Charl and Juanita’s beloved Rocky? I hoped this would be the case.
The next morning, I received a WhatsApp message from Juanita: “Ons dink ons het hom. Hy herken ons nie. Ons het hom nou by ons.” All my emotions came out! Speaking to Juanita, all I could do was cry. I cried for them, for Rocky, for the people who had him (he clearly had been well looked after), and for all the other furparents and pets out there searching, waiting, praying.
Lizelle Botha, Rocky’s saviour, shares…
On the afternoon of the 28th of October 2021, I collected my daughter, Zeena, from school. As we passed the South Downs golf course, between Kenneth Gardens and Paul Roads, Zeena spotted a little brown Daxie-type dog in the road. Fortunately, a Jeep approaching from the opposite side had also seen him and waited for him to cross this busy road.
My daughter said: “Mom, he looks so bewildered, not like the usual Kibler dogs that go for a stroll and then wander back home.” Over the years, we’ve tried many times to stop and rescue some dogs there, as this is our route to and from school, but have learned after a few bites and chases that most of the dogs we try to pick up there will run right back into their yards and bark at you, quite upset that you dared to help them.
But something about this little dog was different, and my daughter was instantly drawn to rescue him.
As I stopped, Zeena leapt out. Initially, the dog was a little frightened and tried to run, but then he sat down on the road’s white line. Zeena gently picked him up, and once in the car, he sat calmly on her lap. I said we had to take him to Dr Dave [our local vet] as this dog was obviously used to travelling in a car and was very well cared for.
We handed him over at the vet, knowing he was safe, and anxiously waited for news that his owners would fetch him. Never in my wildest dreams did I expect this story to unfold this way. We’re extremely happy that we could play a part in reuniting Rocky with his people and are just so happy he’s finally home.
Juanita, Rocky’s elated mom, shares…
The miracle that we’d been praying for happened, and Rocky is now home after seven years, one month and one day of searching for him. We’re so grateful and blessed to have him home.
Rocky came into our lives as an unwanted puppy; we immediately fell in love with him and took him in, not knowing at the time that he’d change our lives forever!
This clever little puppy was a source of constant amazement. He made us laugh and filled our lives with so much joy. Wherever we went, Rocky went too. He absolutely adores his “Daddy” (my husband, Charl), and the two of them have a bond like no other.
Charl and Rocky loved going on long walks together. Rocky is a clever and obedient dog, and even as a puppy he listened well and stayed close to his Daddy, so he never needed a leash.
At this stage, we lived in a townhouse, and every day when we went to work, we dropped Rocky off at his Granny’s house (my mom and dad’s home); we never wanted him to be lonely while we were at work. They had a nice big yard where he loved playing, and Granny and Grandpa adored Rocky. At this stage, my parents had no dogs of their own, so they loved Rocky’s visits during the day. Later, we took in another little unwanted doggy, a miniature pinscher named Lilly, whom Rocky absolutely loved. This became our daily routine with Rocky and Lilly.
Everything was perfect until the 28th of September 2014 when we received a call to come home immediately as something terrible had happened. Arriving home, we were told that there’d been a break-in at my parent’s house. They’d been attacked and badly beaten.
While this was happening, and with so many people moving in and out of the house, for some reason Rocky took off, and that was the last time anyone saw him. This isn’t something Rocky would normally do; he’d never slip out of the gate alone. We were devastated!
Family members immediately jumped into their cars to drive around looking for him, while others went on foot to search, but Rocky was nowhere to be found.
From then on, we searched day and night, went past every vet, SPCA and animal welfare organisation, and we checked every open field… every single day. We put up posters everywhere, walked on foot, searched every part of our neighbourhood and the surrounding neighbourhoods, we placed flyers in every postbox, and we posted on every single Facebook group we could find. We walked day and night searching for him in the nearby fields and the nature reserve. I’ll never forget how my dad, with his sore and bruised body, joined the search; he refused to rest as Rocky needed to be found. Yet nothing – no one had seen Rocky!
In the beginning, we were confident that we’d find Rocky quickly. We even took leave from work to continue our search day and night, and family and friends helped us search non-stop. But there was no sight of Rocky… the pain was unbelievable – Rocky was simply gone.
Somehow, our flyer reached earth angel lady Vicki Potts Nicholson, who reached out to me and asked if she could have photos of Rocky so she could design a proper flyer for us. Our flyers didn’t have enough details, and Vicki said she was happy to assist by designing a fully detailed one.
Vicki made a beautiful flyer and posted it for us on her Facebook page, “FURRY GODMOTHERS – VOICES FOR THE VOICELESS (https://www.facebook.com/groups/619787904802586/)”. We never knew pages like this existed on Facebook; I call it Doggy Facebook. Vicki helped us to reach so many other people who assisted us in the search for Rocky. She never gave up and stood by us throughout these years. She’ll never know how much she means to us and how blessed we are to have met her.
After Vicki posted that flyer, we began receiving random calls from animal warriors from Durban, Cape Town, Pretoria, Bloemfontein and Johannesburg (literally from all over), advising us on where to post and search; they also shared Rocky’s flyer everywhere. Everyone was searching for Rocky and helping in any way they could. Those who stayed close by came searching with us, and those who were far away shared Rocky’s flyer and searched every Facebook page to see if anyone had found any dog that looked like Rocky. They would also share each look-alike with us.
So many amazing animal warriors (way too many to mention) reached out to us to help. Strangers to us, yet they were willing to help us in any way possible. We’re forever grateful to each of these people who helped us search throughout the years and never gave up hope. These people are true heroes; they offer their own time and money and spend every free moment searching for missing pets, rehoming unwanted pets, helping abused animals while everyone just carries on with their normal lives. They never ask for any reward or recognition – they do everything out of love for animals, just fighting for the voiceless. Real heroes!
Our hearts were broken, we needed closure, but we could never give up looking and hoping. Would anyone give up on their child? No, never! That’s how we felt about Rocky. We knew in our hearts that he was out there somewhere waiting for us to find him. If anything had happened to him, we would’ve found his little body somewhere, so we were sure that he was out there somewhere. Someone must have picked him up. My husband always believed he was close by, and we kept searching the area, standing outside people’s yards, calling out to him and hoping to hear his bark.
We continued to search for Rocky, following every lead we got and checking in person, no matter how far away the dog was found. Every week we checked every shelter, SPCA and Animal Anti-Cruelty League branch we could find. Many of these places got to know us through the years and they’d also call us if any dogs that looked like Rocky were brought into the organisation.
We continued sharing Rocky’s flyer on Facebook and anywhere we could with the help of these amazing animal warriors. It broke our hearts to see how many animals go missing, and even worse, missing with no one searching for them.
We reached out to some of the animal rescuers and started doing our little part throughout the years as well. We have a small group of ladies in our area who rescue animals, and we started going out with them to help rescue some animals.
We then received an invitation to an animal charity show, hosted by another earth angel, Vicky Welman-Gerber. We can’t begin to tell you how special this lady is and what she does for animals. She’d climb into the darkest hole filled with poop and spiders to rescue a dog that had fallen in. She takes in little broken bodies and heals them back to life. A true hero and angel, and we were blessed to have her by our side over the years searching for Rocky.
She continuously sent us posts of found dogs that looked like Rocky, and we’d always go and check in person. It broke her heart to send these posts and then get our feedback that it wasn’t Rocky.
A MIRACLE HAPPENS
On the 28th of October 2021, at around 20h00, Vicky saw a post of a found dog at Kibler Park Veterinary Clinic and immediately forwarded it to me. She messaged me and said it might be a long shot, but this looks like Rocky, right? I went into shock when I saw those photos… it was Rocky’s face! I then searched for the post on Rita Gasser’s Facebook page and asked her to please hold on to him and we’d come to the veterinary practice in the morning. She said we could be there at 7h30 the next morning. I was terrified that someone would claim him, and we’d then lose him forever. That night we couldn’t sleep; we counted the hours and the minutes!
Early the next morning we went to check, and Rita took us to see Rocky. I immediately knew it was him and I started to shake uncontrollably. I then began checking for Rocky’s unique markings… they were there! We were overwhelmed, as we’d done these same checks so many times and each time were disappointed; but this time, the markings confirmed that it really was him. My husband went into shock; he had no words, and he couldn’t even move. I held myself together trying to control the shakes and keep the tears from rolling. We asked Rita if we could take him home with us, and we provided all our contact details in case someone came forward to claim him.
Rocky didn’t recognise us at first – this broke my heart – but it took me some time to realise that he’d been taken good care of and it had been seven years since he’d last seen us. He’s now 13 years old. Whoever took Rocky in must have loved him, and he surely loved them too.
As we got into the car, Rocky did something that he always only did to me. For some unknown reason, if I sat down, Rocky would jump up and sit on my shoulder like a parrot. When he did this in the car, we couldn’t stop crying – we knew then that this was real and not a dream. We took Rocky to Granny and Grandpa’s house, and he was immediately excited; he recognised the house and instantly knew his Granny and Grandpa.
Granny called him and he ran to her. She said, “This is Rocky, it really IS Rocky.” It was such a beautiful moment to see Rocky reunited with his grandparents again. I messaged Vicky Welman-Gerber to tell her the good news. The ensuing phone calls involved both of us crying so much that we couldn’t speak. We were just overwhelmed and overjoyed that our miracle had finally happened – Rocky was back home. No words can describe how grateful we are to her for all that she’s done to help us.
We then took Rocky home and brought Lilly out to see him – she’s a little cheeky baby and not the friendliest when she meets new dogs, but when she saw Rocky, she immediately ran up to him and started crying and they did their little “smelling each other” dance. He was so happy to see her, and they both were jumping around like little pups once more.
A big thank you to Kibler Park Vet – Dr Erasmus and Rita – for the amazing work you do for the animals in our area and for taking Rocky in that day. Thanks also to every single person who helped us in our search for Rocky. And to another wonderful lady, Lizelle Botha, and her daughter, who were driving past and saw Rocky running down a busy street, thank you so much for stopping and taking him to the vet. If not for you, this miracle would never have happened.
Sadly, the people who took Rocky in all those years ago never came forward. We’re grateful to them for taking such good care of him and allowing him to be Rocky. He still has all his old habits, and we can see they took good care of him. We really would love for them to come forward so we can tie up the missing pieces of where they found him and where he’s been for the past seven years.
Rocky’s doing very well and is a happy old man. He’s still the active Rocky we knew all those years ago, just in an older body. Most importantly, our family is whole again! Rocky’s now finally back on his Daddy’s lap and on my shoulder, where he belongs.
At times, it still feels unreal to have him back in our lives and to see him do all the things he used to do, but it’s now starting to feel like he’d never been away!
If anyone picks up a dog on the street, please don’t assume it’s unwanted or has negligent owners. Please do the right thing and hand over to the nearest vet. It might spare a family all the pain that we went through. And if no one claims them, you can always follow up and adopt the doggy.
To those who are still searching – NEVER give up hope! Keep praying and keep searching. I hope your miracle happens soon.
