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OAK GROVE, OR (KPTV) — A missing service dog in the Oak Grove area has been found safe.
The Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office asked for the public’s help Saturday locating Xena, a long-haired German Shepherd.
At 10 p.m. Saturday, a man contacted deputies to say he and his roommates found Xena and took her in. Xena was turned over to deputies and reunited with her owner.
Xena had last been seen at 12:30 a.m. Friday
Xena’s owner Larry Capri had taken the dog to an open field next to the Oak Grove United Methodist Church at 14700 S.E. Rupert Drive.
Deputies said Capri walked his dog off-leash in the fenced area. Xena usually stays with him, but he isn’t sure what happened next.
“She had shot down the side street here that way and that was it, I didn’t see her after that,” Capri told FOX 12.
Capri said he always takes Xena out by the church, so she can release some energy. In this case, he believes something scared her and she took off running.
Capri walked around the neighborhood, but could not find Xena.
He said Xena means “more than anything” to him.
“This dog means my life,” he said.
Capri, 58, broke his neck in a car crash three years ago and he became partially blind and paralyzed after a stroke a year ago.
“It’s not a pet, this is a working animal. This dog has a job and that job is to protect me and get me to point A to point B,” he said.
Xena requires daily medication for a pancreatic disorder, but deputies said she appeared to be in good health.
After being found, Xena got a ride in the front seat of a patrol car to be reunited with her owner.
“It was hard to tell who was more excited, Larry or Xena,” according to the sheriff’s office. “What was obvious is they were both extremely happy to be reunited.”
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