Man reunites with his dog thanks to the power of social media

On October 15, Onesimus, an 11-year-old service dog, was taken from Ale Emporium on Alisonville Road while her owner was washing the exterior of the emporium building.

Chris Hise is well known at the Emporium and is also known to bring his service dog, Onesimus, for regular visits. Onesimus often walked through the area to visit the onsite staff – all of whom know her very well and love to see her while Hise is at work.

On October 15, while Hise was washing the exterior of the restaurant building, Onesimus, aka “O”, decided now would be a good time to take a walk and see who’s available. was to say hello to . This is not unusual behavior for “O” and so Hise was not concerned when the dog ran away.

However, while the amiable service dog was on her travels, a concerned citizen came across her and thought she might be lost and looking for her owner. As a result, they had decided it was best to take Onesimus home and advertise her in the hopes of finding her owner.

Realizing that “O” was missing, Hise said he was absolutely devastated. “She cares for me more than I care for her,” he had said when explaining the close relationship he has with his service dog.

Taken by surprise and riddled with fear, Hise had become terrified to find out what had happened to his previous puppy. “I was preparing my heart. You don’t know what God is going to do, or what people are going to do with an animal in their hands,” Hise explained.

After witnessing the grief caused by Onesimus’s disappearance, Hise, his sister, Patricia Molden, sprang into action hoping to find “O” quickly and spare her brother even more grief. Molden had decided that the best approach would be to try to use the power of the internet and social media to find Onesimus as quickly as possible.

Molden quickly created flyers that were posted in the local community. She then photographed one of these flyers and posted the image to her social media account advocating for the social media community to help them find “O”.

“That was very difficult, because I was afraid that we would not get her back,” Molden said in an interview. “I didn’t know how he would deal with losing her because that’s his world.”

Ale Emporium employees helped make the mail go viral by sharing the flyer with their own pleas for help. Thankfully, the post’s popularity made sure it got to the right people. After the post was shared enough times, the citizen who brought Onesimus returned the pup a day and a half later.

Hise was completely speechless at the kindness and generosity of the community, as well as the level of empathy they had felt for his situation. “The servers here, their prayers, they gathered on social media — so many of them.” Hise had said in an interview with WTHR.

Hise even spoke of the people who took “O” in the first place, saying he hopes they’d seen Onesium as a blessing to them, in the short time they had her, as she did to him.

“That’s God’s dog. If these people have gotten some joy and love from this animal I’ve had for years, I’ll give it,” Hise said.