Liam Britten had his own dog die after it ran from the house and was hit by a car.
Image Credit: SUBMITTED / Liam Britten
February 28, 2020 - 1:30 PM
Two 10-year-old boys in Kamloops saw a missing dog poster and decided to do what they could to help out.
Liam Britten and his friend saw a poster of missing German Shepherd Memphis and decided to go looking for him in their Westsyde neighbourhood. Britten says he felt compelled to help because his own dog died after getting out, and he didn’t want it to happen to anyone else.
“We didn’t know the door was open,” Britten says. “Our dog got out, we tried to lure him in for a little bit and he ran out on the road because he saw something and he got hit by a speeding car.”
After searching their neighbourhood and the nearby dyke, the boys switched tactics.
“We couldn’t find him and we were down at the dyke and we were seeing lots of cool rocks, so we thought to start a fundraiser selling rocks and it worked out,” Britten says. “We grabbed my wagon and we made a poster and we put Memphis on the poster with it. We were just at the corner store, we were just standing there waving our sign around.”
The boys made $30 dollars selling quartz rocks they found by the river and wanted to donate their funds to the finders fee for Memphis.
Colby Erickson, who has been searching for his dog Memphis for over a month, says he didn’t expect the call from two young boys.
“The young kids contacted me the other day, they wanted to know where I lived so they could drop off the money they raised for Memphis’ finders fee... I went and I met them, two very nice kids,” Erickson says. “I guess they saw the posters and just wanted to help.”
Erickson had an award of $1,000 already set for the return of his dog and says he wasn’t looking for any donations. The two boys aren’t the only people helping Erickson in the search, as he says neighbours have searched for Memphis regularly on foot, by car and some using a drone.
“He’s a very people-friendly dog and if someone is down by the river, he’ll go say hi,” Erickson says. “He means the world to me. There’s a huge hole now… my dogs are very, very important to me.”
Credit: FACEBOOK / Colby Erickson
Britten's parents are aware of the pair's fundraising, and gave the go-ahead for him to be featured in this article.
To contact a reporter for this story, email Jenna Wheeler or call (250) 819-6089 or email the editor. You can also submit photos, videos or news tips to the newsroom and be entered to win a monthly prize draw.
We welcome your comments and opinions on our stories but play nice. We won't censor or delete comments unless they contain off-topic statements or links, unnecessary vulgarity, false facts, spam or obviously fake profiles. If you have any concerns about what you see in comments, email the editor in the link above.
News from © iNFOnews, 2020