Owner seeks community's assistance in reclaiming her stubborn Morkie

By OLIVER GOOD

Staff writer

It’s been more than two weeks since the big booms and bangs of Independence Day spooked a teeny-weeny Morkie named Tuttles onto a canine odyssey.

“Tuttles absolutely does not like fireworks, thunderstorms, or any loud noises,” owner Danielle Savage said. “He usually just hides under my bed.”

The 10-pound crossbreed between a Yorkshire terrier and Maltese escaped while playing with Savage’s brother, his friends, and her dad’s dog outside of his dad’s Peabody home.

“He has never spent a night outside, and I just know he is deathly afraid,” she said. “I know he is still alive, but right now, coyotes are my biggest fear.”

Savage, a Wichita resident who grew up and graduated from the Peabody-Burns schools, contacted friends, the police, and animal control.

“Everyone around town knows how much Tuttles means to me,” she said. “He’s my world. I swear he has a sixth sense. He knows if I am in a bad mood or am having a bad day. He will always come and comfort me.”

She has drained multiple tanks of gas driving in and around Peabody, and to as far as Florence searching for him.

Numerous people have spotted the fuzzy, energetic Morkie trotting down alleyways, prancing through yards, padding along US-56, and sniffing around behind Peabody Sausage House.

Morkies are typically suspicious of strangers, which could explain why no one has had any luck capturing Tuttles.

“Many people have seen him and tried to catch him; a cop even chased him down the street, but Tuttles is so quick and so timid and scared that he doesn’t realize they are trying to help him,” Savage said. “I’m hoping he will eventually get exhausted and let someone catch him. It’s very possible he will only come to me.”

Her dad, Ray Savage, put some of her clothes on the side of his house.

“We’re hoping if he catches my scent he might come home,” she said.

Tuttle was last seen June 7 under the overpass on Peabody St.

Savage is offering a $100 reward to the person who returns her beloved dog to her safely.

Once she captures the elusive Morkie she would like him to be trained as a therapy dog.

“I’m a special education teacher; I teach emotionally disturbed children,” Savage said. “If Tuttles were a therapy dog he could help calm students’ anxiety, but first he would need to learn to stop barking. That’s his biggest problem.”

Savage is urging anyone who sees Tuttles to call her at (620) 353-8605 or her dad at (620) 382-4231.