A Facebook group originally set up to locate a much-loved senior dog has evolved to help other pet owners find their missing pooches.
Frantic owners are turning to Remembering Gomez, which has about 1100 members, to spread the word about their lost dogs and seek help searching for them.
Late last week, two owners sought help through the group to try to locate their ageing dogs, who had wandered away in miserable weather.
For Gwen Gray, the use of the page to help reunite other dogs and owners is one of the legacies left by her old golden retriever, Gomez.
Gomez became a focus of public attention in October 2022 when he went missing in dense bushland behind the Buderim home Gwen shared with her son and daughter-in-law and grandchildren.
Gwen, new to the Sunshine Coast and not physically able to search herself, turned to social media for help to find her 15-year-old darling, who was deaf and arthritic.
A Facebook page, Searching for Gomez, was born and within three days had amassed more than 2000 followers, with many people were volunteering to search.
After six days Gomez was found, barely alive, but Gwen was able to say goodbye to her dear friend.
Six months lapsed before Gwen felt ready to change the name of the Facebook group to Remembering Gomez.
She had planned to be posting “about Gomez, and retrievers and things about old dogs” to the online community that formed during the search, but the group has evolved into more than that.
She and group co-administrator Sharene Kluck now offer suggestions to the owners of lost dogs and the opportunity to use the page to try to find their dogs or organise searches.
“I guess for me, I really wanted Gomez’s legacy to be honoured and people had given to me so I wanted to give back,” Gwen said.
“The other thing was, there was this big group of people who wanted to find dogs and who still want to find dogs.”
Gwen said not everyone on the page actually searched but a core group of eight to 10 volunteers, who had helped look for Gomez, repeatedly made themselves available to look for other old and vulnerable dogs who were lost.
“They go out of their way to search, missing work and everything,” she said.
The Facebook group has so far helped find 10 missing dogs alive and well, and three to four others who sadly did not make it.
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Gwen said the search for Gomez had been an overwhelming experience that had gifted her friendships, like that with Sharene, and taught her many things.
One of the things she learnt was that people were willing to help.
“If you ask people for help, they’ll help you,” she said.
“People were helping me do what I couldn’t do. I wouldn’t have thought people would. I didn’t know anyone here.
“Maybe it was something I was meant to learn at my age. In my 70s, I’m going to get used to asking for help.”
Gwen said she that while she made friends through the search for Gomez, other people, including searchers, had formed bonds that were still in place today.
“A really traumatic experience has turned out to have a positive outcome,” she said.
Gwen has written a book about the search for Gomez, which she is working on self-publishing.
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