Woman at Work Looks Up, Sees Missing Family Member in Middle of Walmart
Everyone ends up at Walmart sooner or later. But in Abby’s case, it was a little different.
The mixed-breed dog had been missing for three weeks before she materialized at the Walmart in Dothan, Alabama — the store where her owner works.
As owner June Rountree told The Washington Post, she had been looking for Abby ever since the night of Nov. 8, when she found that the dog was not in the yard even though her collar and leash were still attached to a ground stake.
Weeks of looking came up empty. Then on Nov. 28, as Rountree was working the cash register at Walmart, she became aware of a commotion. a dog had wandered in and was confounding the attempts of anyone to catch it.
“I said, ‘It can’t be,’” Rountree said.
“I was like, ‘What in the world is happening?'” said Danielle Robinette, a customer service associate at the store who followed the dog as it came near Rountree’s register.
“I called her name and she came to me,” Rountree said. “I bent over and hugged her. I completely lost it then. I couldn’t speak. I was in complete shock and just couldn’t believe it.”
“She looked up with tears streaming down her face, and said: ‘This is Abby. She’s been missing for three weeks,’” Robinette said. “I was just floored.”
“I can’t express the feeling,” Rountree said. “All these people were there around the dog and I couldn’t even talk to them.”
Robinette made the reunion famous after sharing it on Facebook.
“Ok y’all so I work at Walmart at the service desk and today the most amazing thing happened! I looked up and seen this black dog go running by she was looking at everyone like she was looking for someone I first thought she was dumped and she was looking for her people! Well she was!! She ran right up too Mrs June one of the cashiers she was so happy and started crying saying she had been missing for 3 weeks!! Her name is Abby! I tell you what Abby is one smart girl she came to her mommies work to find her!! I’m so glad she found you Mrs June!! Such a wonderful story I just had to share with everyone,” she said in her post.
She still has no idea where her dog was for three weeks.
“She wasn’t skin and bones,” Rountree said. “I want to thank whoever she came upon that gave her something to eat.”
She had imagined that Abby might show up at her home.
“Never in a million years did I think she would show up at Walmart,” Rountree said, saying the only time Abby was near the store was when she was walked in the woods behind it or in the store’s parking lot. “How she knew I worked there, I do not know.”
She was even able to joke about something that was no laughing matter until Abby showed up.
“We kid at work that she must have known the weather was going to turn and wanted to find her way back so she could have her warm bed,” Rountree said.
“It really is just unbelievable,” she said. “It’s like a dream. You can’t make this stuff up.”
Today’s (12/10) Drew Barrymore Show will feature an interview with June Rountree of Dothan. June’s rescue dog Abby found her at the Dothan Walmart where she works, 3 weeks after going missing. The Drew Barrymore Show airs weekdays at 2 PM CT on WRGX. pic.twitter.com/0UwwsiMm30
— Mariah Self (@mariahaself) December 10, 2020
Clive Wynne, director of the Canine Science Collaboratory at Arizona State University, said it is possible the dog knew she had been to the Walmart before.
“I suspect that the dog was roaming around somewhere at random until it stumbled upon a familiar location,” Wynne told The Post. “I think it is perfectly plausible and very likely that this dog was distressed and upset and trying to find home.
“A dog’s navigation isn’t perfect, but it does recognize certain important, large landmarks.”
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