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Lilly, a 3-year-old boxer, had gone missing Friday night amid fireworks at Bass Landing.
CELINA - In an unforgettable display of humanity, kindness and unwavering support from the community, a Pickerington family has been reunited with their 3-year-old pet boxer, Lilly.
Tom Dains and his family found themselves in a stressful situation in what was supposed to be a relaxing holiday weekend. Every Fourth of July, Dains, his wife, their two children - and this year one on the way - come up to Celina to stay with some friends on Bass Landing. This year wrinkled the tradition when Lilly, a brown boxer who has become part of the family, got startled by the fireworks and ran off.
"Friday night, we were sitting out, watching some fireworks and unbeknownst to us, one of our kids had let Lily outside," Dains said in an interview on Monday, "She rarely ever runs off and - she never strays far from us. Apparently, she got very scared from the fireworks and just bolted."
Thanks to a Facebook post on the Friends of Grand Lake page, Dains was able to broadcast his plea for help in looking for Lilly to a wider audience, and the dog was ultimately rescued after swimming in Grand Lake.
"We couldn't find her anywhere," he said. "We were out literally all night on Friday night into Saturday morning looking for her. (We) drove around again all day Saturday (and) all day Sunday. I probably talked to and gave my phone number to over 100 people."
A resident told him about the page and posted the news.
"We are desperately searching for our dog," the post reads. "Her name is Lilly, she's a brown Boxer, Red OSU collar, about 45-50 pounds. Went missing Friday night on bass landing, south side of grand lake. Last seen Saturday at around 9am going east on 219 just past Lakeside Bar and Grill."
On Monday morning, Dains, who joined the group to stay in the loop, made another post when he saw someone say they saw Lilly.
"Somebody from the marina right next door said that she (Lilly) had come up to him right there," he said. "She's very skittish and nervous around people she doesn't know and so she just bolted. Ultimately, it seemed like any time anybody saw her or got close, she would just run; she's very scared."
Within an hour, however, Jake Poling, another member of the page, made a separate post, stating he had found a dog on the lake, not knowing of the search effort.
"We found a dog in the water anyone know who's dog this is?" read the post, which included a picture of the dog on a paddleboard.
Dains said Poling was on the peak at Windy Point when he saw Lilly swimming out in the lake.
"They saw it and then, as I understand it, they alerted some nearby paddleboarders who went out and grabbed her. They just held her there on the paddleboard so she couldn't run away again until we got there. Thankfully, we were right by."
Local resident Jake Poling posted this photo of paddleboarders at Windy Point taking care of Lilly while she waited for her family to arrive.
Poling soon updated his Facebook post, saying he found Lilly off of Windy Point about 50 yards out in the water. Several paddleboarders were able to pull her to shore.
"Out of nowhere, my phone started blowing up, people calling and texting and sending me messages, (like), 'Oh my gosh, this is your dog. This is your dog. They found your dog,'" Dains said. "Within minutes, we were over there and pulled her out."
Now, Lilly is home safe with her family. Although she is tired, Dains said she has no injuries, which he described as a miracle.
"She hasn't had anything for a couple of days, so you can tell she's super hungry," he said. "Other than that, (there are) no injuries. She seems like she's in great shape, which is beyond a miracle. I know a lot of people will probably say this, but our dog is our world. She's a member of our family and it's been a really rough couple of days for our family."
Dains said he doesn't have the words to express his thanks to the community for rallying around him and his family to bring Lilly home safe.
"I'm not from the area," he said. "I will just say the kindness of so many hundreds and hundreds of strangers is unlike anything I've ever seen. Understanding that I'm talking to a reporter right now about my dog going missing is kind of crazy, but in a time where all we hear is so much negativity, it's easy to get bogged down (with) how much times can suck. It's nice to be reminded that there are still are a lot of really good people in this world. We have seen a lot of them here in Celina."
He said he was about to lose hope when the community showed up. He thanked people who were random strangers to him for showing him kindness.
"No kidding, I would drive around and stop at somebody's house and several people I talked to (said), 'Oh yeah, my wife heard about this from so-and-so and we're sharing it,'" he said. "Everybody on Bass Landing came out like an army the night she went missing. We were at the point of losing all hope - it's just a miracle from the people up here."
Dains said he is unsure how Lilly ended up in the lake as she is afraid of water. Regardless, the family is reunited at last. He said he and his family will stay for a few more days to allow Lilly to rest.
They planned to take her to a vet today.
