(SMYRNA, TN)  You recall last Tuesday's (8/24/2021) story of the barking dog at Mona Boat Ramp's water's edge? Officials searched Percy Priest lake in that area, but nothing was found. 

Rutherford County PAWS (Pet Adoption Welfare Service) was called to the scene to attend to the animal. The animal control officer used a microchip scanner to determine that the dog, a Husky, was microchipped.

The officer was then able to input the chip identification number into the system and found a name for the owner. Unfortunately, the information in the system had not been updated, and the initial owner had used a pet rescue to rehome the animal.

The current owner’s name was unavailable, but PAWS was able to get with the previous owner to find out more information.

PAWS spoke to the woman believed to be the current owner, but she notified them that she also sought to rehome the dog, named Kobalt and also known as “Boo Boo”, and he was currently being fostered. She advised that Kobalt’s foster family was a truck driver and his wife, and that the dog often traveled with him.

“We are now operating under the assumption that Kobalt somehow got separated from the truck driver and ended up on the banks of the Stones River,” said PAWS Director Michael Gregory. “Our personnel are attempting to connect all the dots so that he can be reunited with his fosters and ultimately adopted permanently into a caring and loving home.”

Kobalt, approximately seven-years-old, is currently at PAWS and doing well. “He is happy, playful, and healthy,” Gregory stated.

If you have any information leading to the reunification of Kobalt with his foster family, please contact Rutherford County PAWS at (615)-898-7740 or email paws@rutherfordcountytn.gov.

PAWS also wants to remind pet owners or rescues to continually and consistently update data connected to microchips. “When information is not updated in the system, it makes finding the current owner a lot more difficult, and sometimes, impossible,” Gregory mentioned.

For more information about microchipping, please visit: http://paws.rutherfordcountytn.gov/microchipping.html.