Dandenong North residents Peter and Cathy Iliadis were happily reunited with Rusty after he survived four days of rain and the threat of crossing busy roads.By Shaun Inguanzo
IT WASN’T only Rusty the dog who was lost when he strayed from his Dandenong North home.
It was his family – Peter and Cathy Iliadis – whose lives crumbled apart for the four days their beloved pooch disappeared.
The Iliadis’ were so desperate to find their furry family member that within two days following his escape they had stuck 400 lost dog posters around Dandenong North, visited every local pound, called more local vets than they could count, and door-knocked their entire neighbourhood.
Rusty escaped on Friday 24 August through a gap beneath the backyard fence.
But freak circumstances reunited the three-and-a-half-year-old cairn terrier with his family.
Mrs Iliadis was the first to realise Rusty had escaped when she arrived home from work that rainy afternoon. “I just started crying, and I roamed the surrounding streets and got drenched. I phoned Peter at work and he was in disbelief. He said he thought Rusty was just hiding,” Mrs Iliadis said.
After their lengthy search on the Saturday and Sunday, the couple said they had difficulty sleeping and had to cope with prank calls from people responding cold-heartedly to the posters.
Mr Iliadis said he could not work on the Monday without hunting one last time for Rusty, and after receiving a tip from an anonymous lady, he ventured to EastLink works near Gladstone Road.
“I was asking everyone if they had seen Rusty, even school kids walking by,” he said.
“Then I saw an old man on one corner and asked him three times whether he had seen Rusty.
“He said he hadn’t, but then for some reason I showed him a picture of Rusty on my mobile phone and he said he had seen him.”
Mr Iliadis scoured the area once more in his truck but after failing to find Rusty he drove into previously unchartered territory.
In a delirious state, Mr Iliadis confessed he could not remember where he was when he spotted Rusty, but believes it was Mulgrave.
“Rusty recognises the sound of the truck and he ran out from the roadside when he heard me coming. I hopped out and just shouted ‘my boy! my boy!’ then he ran to me, and wouldn’t stop shaking,” he said.
Mrs Iliadis said she left work early and her manager closed her Dandenong Plaza lolly shop so they could both return to the Iliadis’ house to see Rusty.
Mr Iliadis hailed the reunion ‘a miracle’ and said other than dehydration and a cut near one of his legs, Rusty was in good health.
Rusty received a vet check, a wash, and a new jacket for his troubles – and he doesn’t seem to mind the attention.
