Lucy, the mixed Lab/Weimaraner lost in the Flathead Valley since Oct. 18, was reunited Sunday with her Great Falls family: Tim and Amy Braulick and canine pals Charlie and Sassy.

“Charlie and Lucy were right away playing tug-of-war with their Winnie the Pooh,” Tim Braulick said with a laugh. “It was like, ‘I’ve just been gone a day or so and I’m back.’”

A little more than a week ago, the couple contacted the Inter Lake asking for help finding their dog that had escaped during a trip to Kalispell nearly three months ago. 

The Braulicks had pursued every other avenue to recover their pet: checking with the county animal shelter, advertising, posting on Facebook and traveling back to the Flathead Valley five times to search for Lucy.

When sightings finally went silent in late November, they told each other that they “needed to leave it in God’s hands.” 

But Charlie was so depressed and the Braulick family also missed Lucy so much.

“She means a lot to all of us,” Tim said previously. “It’s been really hard. It’s one of those things — you get so attached to an animal.”

Losing Lucy was another blow to the couple coping with a mental health crisis with their 15-year-old daughter. The dog disappeared when Tim and Amy came to pick their daughter up from Pathways in Kalispell to transfer her to a long-term program at Shodair Children’s Hospital in Helena.

The Braulicks decided to make one last plea for help through the Inter lake.

“It was our last-ditch effort,” he said. “If that didn’t work, we were thinking, ‘OK, she’s gone to a better place or somebody adopted her in Kalispell and is taking care of her.’”

They didn’t have long to wait after the story appeared in Wednesday’s Inter Lake. 

Tim said he received between 20 and 25 calls that morning from people who had seen a dog meeting Lucy’s description wearing a blue harness with a red leash attached.

“People had spotted her and tried to catch her,” Tim said.

The most-promising call came from the Flathead County Animal Shelter. It turned out several people had earlier called animal control concerned about a loose dog in the area of Jensen Road in Columbia Falls.

“A trap was set, the dog was caught and delivered here Saturday, Jan. 5,” Cliff Bennett, director of the shelter, said in an email.

Karen Dalton, office administrator at the shelter, saw the Inter Lake article and recognized Lucy as the dog caught the previous weekend. 

“I really want to thank Karen,” Tim Braulick said.

A relative in Kalispell went to the shelter and was 99.9 percent sure the captured dog was Lucy. Photos were sent over the Internet but Tim’s service was down.  

He raced to his wife’s office to view the photo along with Amy and other family members.

“We all said, ‘That’s her,’” Tim said.

Because they had a family counseling session, the couple couldn’t come to Kalispell immediately to get Lucy. Instead, Tim’s cousin Connie Jones and her husband, Joe, picked up Lucy, then drove on Sunday to East Glacier to meet the Braulicks part way.

The Braulicks had no doubt that they had the right dog although she weighed just 85 pounds, down from 110. The shelter’s veterinarian had assured them that Lucy was in good health and advised them to introduce food slowly as she gets used to regular meals again.

Tim admitted that he and Amy spoiled their dogs with a few too many treats, causing Lucy to pack on too many pounds.

“My wife and I talked about that,” he said. “We’re glad we did spoil her a little too much. I think it helped her get by in those months that she was gone.”

Tim said Lucy immediately recognized them in East Glacier. 

“She always had this thing she would do when I came home from work or something. She likes to come between my legs,” he said. “Now that she’s lost a lot of weight, it’s easier for her to do. She just like wrapped around me.”

On the trip home, she cuddled with Tim or Amy, with her head resting in one or the other’s lap. Because they drove a small car, they had to leave their 8-year-old Lab Charlie and their 12-year-old cocker spaniel Sassy in Great Falls.

A joyful canine reunion took place at home. The less effusive elder Sassy welcomed Lucy home with a sniff while Charlie pranced around the house barking until Lucy challenged him to a game of tug-of-war with their Winnie the Pooh.

Finally, Lucy signaled that she knew her long adventure had ended and all was well in the new year.

“All of sudden, she jumped in our bed and laid down,” Tim said. “It was like she was home.”

 Reporter Candace Chase may be reached at 758-4436 or by email at cchase@dailyinterlake.com.