A Longview woman is breathing a sigh of relief after using TikTok to reunite with her puppy, which was missing for three days.
Desiree Turner, 22, said TikTok and local support helped find her white Labrador-golden retriever mix named Jynx.
Turner, who recently moved from California, told The Daily News her puppy had not yet been vaccinated or microchipped when she went missing from her fenced yard around 12:30 p.m., Sept. 1, at her home in the 3100 block of Delaware Street, near Washington Way’s Miller’s Market.
“I checked everywhere, all the streets (around) my house, checked all the streets in Kelso,” Turner said.
According to a report she filed with the Longview Police the next day, Turner suspected a teenage neighbor.
She told The Daily News the teen had asked people in the neighborhood for food to feed Jynx.
The police report also states that others saw the neighbor with a “yellow lab puppy” soon after Jynx was reported missing.
An officer’s report about the incident says Turner’s yard was fenced and included a gate secured with a latch that had a string for access from the driveway. There was also an opening between a wooden panel and the chain-link fence, which could have been large enough for a small dog to squeeze through.
Law enforcement did not pursue charges because there were no witnesses to the dog being physically taken from the yard, and might have escaped, the report states.
Turner said the idea of using social media came from her first interaction with the police, and later confirmed in the incident report. The officer recommended Turner reach out to the local Humane Society and use social media to inquire about Jynx.
Turner’s first TikTok about her missing 12-week-old dog quickly began gaining traction, with other videos following suit.
The first comments came in from Hawaii, then Chicago, and then all of a sudden “it blew up in Washington (state),” Turner said.
In the first hour, 800 people saw her post, and within a day, views rose from 30,000 to 60,000. Turner said her post got about 87,000 views, and commenters claimed they knew the suspect and the person seen with them, even sending images.
“People in the comments were like, ‘let me find her,’ ‘let me search for her,’” Turner said.
On Sept. 3, the third day after Jynx went missing, a relative of the suspected neighbor reached out to Turner after seeing a video on TikTok, saying the dog had recently been at his home. The police report says the dog was returned soon after.
After the reunion, Turner said Jynx had scratches on her nose, painted nails and matted fur.
But, she said, her pup is now back home, playing around and returning to normal.
