When her mistress does sport, “Tia” lies in the entrance area of the fitness studio on Balanstraße and doesn’t move from the spot. “She has never run away,” assures her owner Florine Lutz, “she is the most obedient dog you can imagine.”
Last Tuesday evening, the three-year-old Labrador-Münsterländer mix was there again, this time with a friend of Lutz’s who was in Dublin herself on business. And suddenly Tia was gone. All running through the streets, all shouting and whistling, addressing passers-by has been unsuccessful.
The dog handler and other guests of the fitness studio comb the streets of Haidhausen until three in the morning. Tia has disappeared without a trace. An hour later, her desperate owner reported the missing person to the police in Dublin. And she goes on social media that same evening with her cry for help. Ask under the hashtag “Bringtiahome” to keep an eye out for the brown bitch, to tell friends, acquaintances, colleagues about it. Offers a 1000 euro reward – “and I would have increased that if necessary”.
It was immediately clear to her, she says, that only a large media public could help her: “One person cannot walk all of Munich. But many people can keep their eyes open, tell others, post it.” By the next noon, her post had been shared 30,000 times, she reports.
The police were lovely patient even though they just cried on the phone
Florine Lutz is not only in contact with the police – who, she thinks, was charming, “although I kept crying snot and water on the phone”. The fire brigade, Munich taxi drivers and the Tasso organization, where chipped dogs are registered, also inform them. She calls vets if a brown Labrador mix shows up at any office.
Florine Lutz is already sure on Wednesday that Tia didn’t just get lost and can’t find her way home, but that someone took her away, stole her. She intensifies her efforts. Posts “Missing Dog” flyers on her Instagram account with a photo of Tia, with stone-meltingly faithful dog eyes on a blue blanket. Friends, acquaintances, but also complete strangers print out the notes and pin them to trees, lamp posts and power distribution boxes in the city. Someone who also heard about the story via social media sets off in Haidhausen with his search dog.
Florine Lutz does not sleep for two more nights. In the company, she works in sales for a large corporation, she logs off because of an emergency. The boss is very understanding. “It was the worst days I can imagine” – the sentence almost breaks out of her. The fear creeps up in her that Tia could have been caught by an animal catcher, end up in a test laboratory. Lutz updates her account every few hours, every hour she checks the classified ads on Ebay to see if anyone is offering a Labrador bitch for sale.
Finally, Florine Lutz writes to well-known influencers, asking them to share their story – the search for Tia is getting bigger and bigger. “I’m completely overwhelmed by the force it got,” says the 34-year-old. She has received hundreds of requests from strangers asking how they can help her. “I’m incredibly grateful.”
Tia (left) and Toni: a dog friendship that has proven itself.
(Photo: private)
And then it’s not the web of social media that’s catching Tia again. Thursday afternoon, shortly before 2 p.m., Florine Lutz’ plane from Dublin has just landed in Munich: Her friend Alina is going for a walk in Haidhausen with Tia’s best dog friend “Toni”, keeping her eyes open. But it is Toni who – just three minutes away from the fitness studio on Balanstrasse – suddenly spots a brown bitch and enthusiastically rushes towards her.
The girlfriend confronts the man holding the animal on a leash. He claims it’s his dog. But then he breaks the leash and runs away. For Florine Lutz, this is clear evidence that he didn’t just walk a bitch that he ran into in the hope of bumping into the owner. She has now filed a complaint against the unknown.
Lutz’ girlfriend Alina doesn’t want the promised reward. But Toni should be rewarded, and not just with a thick, tastier bone. “She’ll get whatever she needs from me for the rest of her life,” says Florine Lutz, overjoyed and laughing. And Toni will be able to do something in the future that the 34-year-old, despite all her love for dogs, really can’t stand: “She can lick my face as often as she wants.”