A dog's story: From one loving home to another and back again

Celeste Myers and her 6-year-old daughter Nadia didn't usually walk their dog Sadie in Capaha Park on Tuesday afternoons, but March 11 was the first nice day after the ice storms that devastated the area.

Scott Johnson had already crossed the park that afternoon en route to his monthly B-12 injection at Southeast Missouri Hospital. On the way he looked at the people who were walking their dogs, a habit he'd developed since his dog Kali went missing last October. None of those dogs looked like Kali. Leaving the hospital, the university business professor noticed a dog far off in the park that at least was the right size and color. Then he saw the dog do something familiar, a swooping move when relieving herself. Johnson began running, sidestepping cars as he crossed Broadway, shouting "Kali."

Sadie was Kali, the dog Johnson adopted from an Arizona humane society nearly 11 years ago, the dog his neighbors, colleagues, students, friends and members of the Alpha Kappa Psi Professional Business Fraternity had tried unsuccessfully to find for five months. One student even created a Facebook page for Kali.

Johnson was visiting England when Kali went missing, so his mother flew to Missouri from California to spearhead the search until his return. Kali's picture went up everywhere downtown, where Johnson lives. His mail carrier put up posters and helped search for her. His hair stylist, the brewmaster at Buckner's, the former and current owners of the Bellevue B&B and the young girls who live next door helped him search for Kali.

Dogs have played important roles in the 47-year-old Johnson's life since he was a boy. He grew up in a Fresno, Calif., household that always had two or three dogs. When his fiancee called off their engagement, she blamed his dog Sam. Another relationship ended because his dogs and her dogs didn't get along.

Sam died a year ago after 13 years with Johnson. He still grieves.

Johnson ran up to Celeste and Nadia clutching the picture of Kali he still carried in his wallet.

Celeste had first seen Sadie running loose in the park during a fire truck rally last October. Firefighters told her a beige car had slowed down, someone opened a door and pushed the dog out. Celeste returned to the park four times that day, and Sadie was always there, so Celeste took her to their home near the park. Sadie settled right in with their seven cats.

Celeste, an artist, and her husband, Todd Naeter, knew Sadie had been well cared for and supposed she was dumped because her owner couldn't care for her any longer. The couple put flyers around the park and ran an ad in the Southeast Missourian. "After a month we gave up hope," Celeste said.

Nadia is a shy kindergartener at Franklin School. Sadie's calmness has helped with Nadia's socialization, Celeste said. "She's like Nadia in some ways. Nothing really affects her."

On Halloween Nadia dressed the terrier mix as a fairy ballerina. On her birthday the only gift Nadia wanted was to take Sadie to Petco and to get a hamster.

In the park that March day, Celeste immediately knew their Sadie was Johnson's Kali and didn't hesitate to give her back to him. "I was grateful he had the opportunity to find out what happened to his dog," she said.

Johnson never saw the ad in the newspaper or any of the flyers because he concentrated his search downtown. He apologized over and over for taking the dog away from the family. Celeste reassured him they were excited for him. Of course, she started crying when they left the park. Nadia spent one night being upset that Sadie was gone and then accepted that Sadie belonged with Scott.

Losing Kali devastated Johnson. "When I first lost her I felt like I was the one who was hurt," he said. It made him decide the time had come to leave Cape Girardeau behind. The day before finding her he had accepted a teaching job at the University of Greenwich in London.

After finding Kali he realized he would have to ship his beloved 12-year-old dog overseas in the cargo hold of a jet after the required six months of vaccinations and testing. Or he could ask his mother or his sister to take her in, though they already have multiple dogs of their own.

Instead he decided that the most loving thing he could do for Kali would be to give her back to the family who rescued her. Johnson asked Todd, the regional account manager for Southeast Missouri Hospital, if the family wanted to take Kali back when he leaves for London on Tuesday. Todd said yes.

He'd better have said yes, Celeste exclaimed.

The dog now is called Kali Sadie. Johnson doesn't expect ever to see her again once he leaves for London. He thinks it would be too difficult for her to be reunited with him briefly on his returns to the United States for visits. It cheers him that giving up Kali is helping Nadia, too.

"Everything was meant to be the way it happened," Celeste said.