Bedford family reunited with missing service dog

The owner of a service dog that alerts a Bedford woman to when her child is having seizures and medical problems is relieved that the dog has been reunited with the family after going missing Tuesday night.

"She's really good at watching him when I'm in the shower. She's constantly with him and she's just his little best friend," said owner Samantha Monaghan.

Her son, Luc LeBlanc, has a rare brain disorder.

Marley, a yellow Labrador retriever, went missing at about 5:30 p.m. from the family's home on Stockton Ridge when they were outside barbecuing.

The family's property is not fenced in. The family worried it may have run off because they are new to the area.

Late-night search effort

"We looked in the woods and we looked everywhere and we called for her and she didn't come, which is unlikely for her not to come when called," said Monaghan.

Police searched the area Tuesday night and even checked wooded areas using a thermal-imaging device, but were not successful.

Monaghan says she was up until 1:30 a.m. searching for Marley.

Cindy Timmons lives on Stockton Ridge and says her dog was barking Tuesday night, so she went to see what was going on. When she looked outside, Timmons spotted Marley across the street.

Timmons says Marley was looking "really curious" and sniffing a lot, so she felt the dog might be lost.

"I thought, 'Well, OK. She's too beautiful and too well looked after, so I thought we'd better bring her in the house,'" she said.

Timmons posted an ad on Kijiji, but there weren't any replies by the time she went to bed, so Marley spent the night with her.

"Up on to my bed she went, she had a good night's sleep," she said with a laugh.

Monagahan saw the ad this morning and replied to it, and police went to Timmons's home and retrieved Marley.

Monaghan praised the efforts of police for their dedication to finding Marley.

The officer who reunited Marley with the family is something of an animal whisperer, police noted in a tweet.