PORT ANGELES — Port Angeles firefighters Pat Rose and Dave Chastain traveled to the Gulf Coast in September as part of the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s efforts in hurricane-effected areas.
Rose was sent to Biloxi, Miss., which was directly in the path of Hurricane Katrina.
The devastation was far worse than what everyone saw on television from New Orleans, he said.
It included as much as $300 billion in property damage, 1 million people displaced, more than 1,300 dead and 6,600 people unaccounted for.
But everyone wants to talk about the dog.
Dog adopted firefighter
Missy, named for the state where she was found, is an 8-month-old toy fox terrier who adopted Rose while he was working on hurricane relief efforts.
She returned with Rose to his home outside of Sequim, where he lives with his wife, Kaye, and son, Daniel, a second-grader.
Missy now shares a home and large yard with Rose’s two other dogs — a pug named Pugsy and a black Labrador named Brio.
“She found me,” Rose said.
“She walked up to me and put her foot on my foot. I looked down and there she was.”
A woman in the neighborhood offered the dog to Rose after no one had claimed her for three weeks.
Rose said a veterinarian scanned Missy for a microchip and none was found.
He also posted Missy on a couple of Web sites set up for lost and found pets from the hurricanes, but received no replies.
“We looked hard for her owner,” Rose said.
“It’s hard to take something if you think it belongs to someone else.”