A tiny terrier that wandered into the parking lot of Suwannee Valley Electric Cooperative in Florida on a rainy afternoon captured co-op members’ hearts as they came together on social media to help the lost “power pup” find her way home.
The white and tan pooch quickly became a social media darling thanks to Christy Tuckey, the 19,000-member co-op’s animal-loving communications and public relations specialist, who has three rescue dogs and two rescue cats of her own.
After luring the dog inside the co-op’s Live Oak headquarters with leftovers from a chicken sandwich, Tuckey quickly went to work giving the runaway a bath and a makeover and posing her with lineworkers’ hardhats and bucket trucks. Tuckey posted the photos on Facebook using #PowerPup and asked members “Can you find my family?”
The dog had no collar, microchip or identification tag, so there was no easy way to locate her owner.
“Fortunately, the post just started to take off,” Tuckey said. “People saw it and shared it and, before I knew it, I had a whole community invested in our power pup.”
That initial post was shared about 300 times. Tuckey followed up by posting a video of the dog scampering down the co-op’s hallway as Tuckey held a makeshift leash that she fashioned from her laptop strap. It also showed the little terrier curled up in a basket on Tuckey’s desk, snoring loudly.
“She was just really enjoying her adventure with us,” Tuckey said. “And members kept asking for updates.”
It was a Friday afternoon when the pup appeared at the co-op and, by closing time, it became clear that co-op employees would have to take care of her over the weekend, Tuckey said. Her supervisor, Jon Little, took the cute canine home with him, carrying her to his car in Tuckey’s basket.
“By Sunday evening, we received a message from the owner through Facebook,” she said. “It turns out the pup’s name is Daisy, and she lives a couple of miles from the co-op. The owner said she had no idea how Daisy found her way to us.”
The co-op arranged for Daisy and her owner to reunite at the local animal shelter.
“We were able to post on social media that, thanks to the community’s help, we had found Daisy’s family,” Tuckey said, adding that the cumulative reach of all the posts was more than 34,000. “It was the happy ending that we were all hoping for.”
It also inspired a new community service project for Suwannee Valley Electric Cooperative.
Since finding Daisy in February, the co-op has been partnering with the Suwannee County Animal Shelter for a “power pups and pals” adoption program. The co-op is once again using its social media network, posting photos of adoptable dogs posing with lineworkers. So far, the co-op has helped find homes for all eight of the dogs it has featured, Tuckey said.
“Like most shelters, our local shelter has too many animals and not enough room or enough funding,” Tuckey said. “This is a great way for us to be able to help them out. And we have Daisy to thank for giving us the idea.”
Erin Kelly is a staff writer for NRECA.