Pooch prefers home Levant peke-a-poo back on the dash after testing international good will among dog lovers

Muffin is a dash hound. The 5-year-old Peke-a-poo usually rides around town on the dashboard of her owner’s truck. Sixteen days ago, however, Muffin accidentally embarked on an international adventure.

Harvard and Elise Adams of Levant often travel with their small, apricot-colored Pekingese-poodle mix and Sunday, Feb. 25, was no exception.

The couple drove north on Route 9 to take their 8-year-old granddaughter, Taylor Dore, home after she had spent school vacation with them. She lives in Pembroke with the Adamses’ daughter, so they met at a rest area in Wesley on the Airline.

“It was snowing hard when we met, and while we were transferring my granddaughter’s luggage to her mother’s car, Muffin exited our vehicle,” recalled Harvard Adams. “This is a very remote area, and it’s at least five miles to the nearest house in either direction.”

It wasn’t until they were in Brewer that the Adamses realized their “baby” was missing. Both the retired railroad engineer and his wife, who works as a librarian in Brewer, had thought the dog was sleeping in the back seat. They drove back to Wesley, but Muffin was nowhere to be found.

“We notified Canadian customs and the local game warden,” Adams said Monday. “We posted a lost-dog bulletin in the Airline Snackbar. The next day, we put an ad in the Bangor Daily News and called the Bangor Humane Society. But, really, we figured we’d never see her again. We were devastated.”

About the time the Adamses noticed Muffin’s absence, Allan and Kelley Floyd were driving north on Route 9 headed for their home in Quispamsis, New Brunswick, about 10 miles northeast of St. John. Allan Floyd is a registered nurse who works six days at St. Joseph Hospital in Bangor, then has eight days off.

“We found her running in the middle of Route 9 (toward Bangor), and that was a bad place for her to be,” Floyd said. “We called and called to her, but she wouldn’t come to us. Yet, as soon as my wife opened the van door, she jumped right in.”

When the couple returned home that Sunday afternoon, they took a digital picture of Muffin and sent it with an e-mail message to the Bangor Humane Society. Even though the dog appeared to be well cared for, Muffin wasn’t wearing any tags, so the Floyds had no idea if she was up to date on her shots. They took her to their vet, who gave Muffin a rabies shot.

Floyd admitted in a phone interview Monday that a lot of people might not have gone to all the trouble that he and his wife did to take care of a lost dog.

“We have two dogs and a cat,” he explained. “We know what it’s like to have them lost. We didn’t know if she (Muffin) had been abandoned or forgotten. My wife and I are pretty good animal lovers. It was snowing and getting colder. We just couldn’t leave her.”

While the Floyds welcomed Muffin into their home, their Pomeranian Jessie did not. “He had his nose up in the air and wouldn’t even talk to us while she was there,” Allan Floyd said.

Monday afternoon, Feb. 27, staff at the Bangor Humane Society called to tell the Adamses that their dog was safe, but in a different time zone, and in another country. A very relieved Harvard Adams said he’d go immediately to St. John to pick up Muffin, but Floyd offered to bring the pooch to Bangor when he returned to work on March 1.

The two agreed to meet in the parking lot of Captain Nick’s restaurant in Bangor, just five miles from the Adamses’ home. According to both men, Muffin was delighted to be reunited with her owner.

“As soon as she saw that truck, she flipped out,” recalled Floyd.

“I didn’t think she could jump so high,” said Adams. “She jumped right up into my arms. I’ve never been so attached to a dog. It was like losing a member of the family.”

Adams said he learned a valuable lesson from Muffin’s adventure and is considering having his name and phone number tattooed inside one of the dog’s ears. At the very least, he will make sure Muffin wears a name tag next to her new rabies tag from now on.

The Levant man added that the incident has restored his faith in international relations as well as human relations, especially between dog lovers.