AGAWAM – Agawam resident, Melissa Stairs, describes her dog Chezney aka “Chez,” a 14-year-old golden retriever, who is both blind and deaf, as “one of her kids.”

“He’s 14, we’ve had him since he’s been a baby. I got him for my son’s first birthday,” she said. “He’s like one of the family, he’s my baby, he’s one of my kids.”

So when her husband found that Chez had got out the early morning hours of Oct. 7, her family was devastated.

Stairs said the gate had been accidently left open the night before by her children playing in their yard, and no one realized when Chez was put out for the night. She told Reminder Publishing while he had gotten loose before, this was the first time he’d escaped from the yard “since he’s been in this condition.”

For the next two days Stairs and her children stayed home from work and school to look for their beloved family pet. They began their search at Robinson State Park, one of Chez’s favorite places, according to Stairs. However, they weren’t the only ones looking for Chez. Dozens of people from around town also turned up to look for the lost pup over the course of the three days he was missing.

 Stairs said the town-wide search began after she posted a photo of Chez on Facebook asking community members to keep an eye out for him. “It blew up from there, people started sharing it,” she said. “People were offering to help. It’s amazing how many people came out to help, it was unreal.”

She said there were several times when she was out looking for Chez that she was stopped by members of the community asking her if she’d seen the golden retriever. In one instance Stairs said a woman who asked to look for Chez with her bought a whole rotisserie chicken in hopes of luring him home.

Stairs said resident, Stephen Roth, of Aerial Images brought his drone to search the area and city councilor, Dino Mercadante, even brought up the search for Chez at the city council meeting.

After several days of searching, Chez was found on Oct. 10 by Jon Benerakis by the river’s edge in Robinson State Park. From there, Chez was taken out of the park and to a vet on a stretcher. Stairs said when she got the call that Chez had been found she was in disbelief. “I broke down,” she said.

Fortunately, Stairs said, Chez only suffered a fever from the ordeal. The vet looked him over, gave him an IV with fluids and some antibiotics, then he was on his way home.

Stairs said she’s incredibly grateful for everyone’s support and help during the difficult few days her family endured without Chez.

"I can’t even begin to thank them enough, I’m so grateful for everbodys’ efforts and the way everybody was willing to help and come out and search with us,” she said. “We’re very very grateful, my whole family, my kids. It wasn’t the way his story is supposed to end. We know our time is limited, but it wasn’t going to end that way.”