FARMINGTON HILLS, Mich. (WXYZ) — Sometimes it’s a simple gesture that can make all the difference. Thanks to the kindness of two teens in Farmington Hills, Michigan, Taylor Ross' dog Albert is now back home where he belongs.
Buddies Nolan Richards, 15, and Andrew Zanakin, 15, said they were warming up for baseball practice at a nearby park Wednesday afternoon when a dog caught their eye.
“This dog just came out of nowhere,” said Richards. “We just decided to take the time to go find its owner.”
But instead of searching around, Richards said the dog led them to where he needed to go once they were able to put a leash on him.
“He just pulled my buddy Andrew right to it, he kind of took us home,” said Richards.
The dog’s collar had his name on it, along with the owner’s, so when they saw that it matched the name on the house, they knew it was the one.
But no one was home. So the friends decided to wait and wait, sitting on the porch and petting the dog until they heard the owner come through on the Ring doorbell.
“They’re ringing my Ring doorbell, and we didn’t answer for like 45 minutes,” said Ross, who was at work at the time.
“I look down at my phone and see I have five missed Ring things and then there’s two guys sitting on my porch.”
She added, “They were so sweet, just sitting there for like an hour.”
Ross thanked the teens and instructed them on how they could get Albert back inside, but in the rush she forgot to get their contact information. After a social media call-out on a community page, Ross was able to locate them and she said she’s sending them a little reward.
“It restores faith in people,” said Ross.
Richards said they wanted to wait on the porch to make sure the dog would be returned safely to its owner.
“One of the big reasons we actually did it is because we’d want somebody else to do it for us. If one of my dogs got out, I’d expect somebody in our neighborhood to be nice enough to do that for us,” he said.
Zanakin added, “I enjoyed it, I had fun with Albert, it was nice to return the dog and Albert was a great dog to be with.”
This story originally reported by Alexandra Bahou on WXYZ.com.
