What do you do when your 6‑year-old Cockapoo goes missing?
You rent a helicopter to help find the dog, of course.
At least that’s what Woodbridge resident Evan Ressler did this week, after his Cocker Spaniel-Poodle mix, Brody, ran away from home.
The move cost Ressler $310 an hour. He spent about two hours riding in the helicopter Thursday looking through woods and back yards in Ansonia and Seymour.
The pooch ran away Sunday night and was found Friday morning.
“At first everybody thought I was crazy to go up in the helicopter,” Ressler said Friday. “We would spend hours driving around on the road. But you can’t look into people’s back yards and into the woods that way.”
Ressler was in the helicopter on his way back to the same neighborhoods in the Valley Friday morning, when he received a call that the small white dog had been found on North Prospect Street Extension.
The Search
Ressler focused his search on the Valley this week after receiving reports Brody had been spotted in yards and the woods in the North Prospect Street and Old Ansonia Road neighborhoods. The area is on the border of Ansonia, Seymour and Woodbridge, about two miles away from Ressler’s home.
Ansonia’s Animal Control Officer Jean Roslonowski helped.
Roslonowski said she received some calls from Ansonia residents who spotted the dog near their homes.
But every time a person would try to get close to Brody, the skittish dog would run into the woods.
That’s when Ressler decided to take to the air.
He chartered a helicopter from Air Ocean in Wallingford. The helicopter took off and landed at Air Ocean’s facility in Wallingford — about a 10 minute flight to Ansonia.
Ressler said the expense was justified: He had planned to offer a $500 reward to find the dog.
But he figured the helicopter search would be more effective, since Brody is a shy dog — and a fast runner.
Good News
As Ressler was on his way to Ansonia via helicopter again Friday morning, he got a call from his ex-wife, Jaymie Nitkin.
Brody was found sitting on a rock in a back yard on North Prospect Street Extension.
He wasn’t spotted by the helicopter.
A homeowner who saw the dog and called Roslonowski, who brought Nitkin to the scene. The dog spotted Nitkin and — all’s well that end’s well.
Brody’s getting checked by a veterinarian and cleaned up by the groomers, Ressler said.
Roslonowski said she’s glad there was a happy ending.
“He was not going to give up,” Roslonowski said.