Saskatoon groomer ‘glad’ lost dog Bella returns home safe

The owner of a Saskatoon dog salon expressed he is grateful that a little dog Bella — who escaped his business last week — has been safely reunited with her family.

Jordan Draeger, part owner of the YXE Pet Parlour, said he and his staff participated in the extensive city search following leads to find the runaway pup.

“We’re just very relieved and glad that she was able to make it home healthy and safe,” he said.

YXE Pet Parlour employees spent hours looking for the missing pup. (Mia Holowaychuk/650 CKOM)

On Friday, employees were preparing Bella for check out, when she was let out the front door by a customer arriving for their appointment.

“It was just something that wasn’t anticipated,” Draeger said, noting this was the first time a situation like this had happened.

Tamara Fournier, Bella’s owner, says she spent the weekend walking through the deep snow and difficult conditions searching for Bella, her Pomeranian. (Andre Fournier/Facebook)

Draeger said four staff members started searching for Bella immediately and continued to monitor the pup’s whereabouts through social media and sightings from locals.

“We just stayed diligent,” he said. “We went from 5:30 in the morning until pretty well midnight that night, and it just stayed that way.”

Draeger said he also contacted a company that uses thermal imaging and drones to find Bella.

YXE Pet Parlour sign (Mia Holowaychuk/650 CKOM)

Additionally, Draeger explained he offered financial help to Bella’s owners to subsidize their wages as they continued their search.

“We just tried to help financially anywhere that we could, to try to find as many resources and allow for people to be able to keep searching,” he said.

To avoid similar incidents, Draeger said a gate has been installed behind the salon’s front door as another layer of security.

“Now we’ll have essentially three layers of security to make sure that nothing like this will happen again,” he said

YXE Pet Parlour now has an extra gate for security (Mia Holowaychuk/650 CKOM)

Draegar said the community has been extremely supportive during the search for Bella.