When a pet goes missing, owners frantically search every Lost & Found website, bombard social media with pleas for help, and post rewards in hopes their fur baby will find its way home. Stories with happy endings are always the best ones—but this tale has a twist.
Brayden Morton’s Shar-Pei Darla didn’t just disappear, she was dognapped outside his home in Cranston, British Colombia. Her abductors loaded her into a pickup truck and drove off.
Morton immediately posted word of the incident to social media. It was shared more than 30,000 times. A $5,000 reward offer followed.
Lots of tips poured in but when Morton got a call from a woman who sounded clearly distraught—he could hear her crying in the background—he knew he’d found the dognapper.
Instead of lashing out, he comforted and reassured the woman instead. They arranged to meet at the parking lot of a local mall. The woman, still in tears, gave Darla back to Morton and apologized. She hadn’t acted alone, but she was truly remorseful for her role in the crime.
Looking at her, Morton had an epiphany. He realized she was a drug user—she admitted the whole plot was a means to get money to buy drugs—and the reason Morton knew was that he’d once been an addict himself.
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Clean and sober since May of 2015, Morton’s personal journey back from addiction began at the Top of the World Ranch Treatment Center. After successfully completing the program there, Morton took a volunteer staff position.
Eventually, he went on to become an intervention counselor working in the field. (These days, he runs Find the Right Rehab, a company whose goal is to pair addicts with facilities that will afford them the best possible treatment outcomes.)
Morton had the reward money with him when he went to collect Darla, but rather than hand it over to the woman, Morton gave her what might turn out to be a life-changing choice instead: If she was willing to go into rehab treatment, he’d pay for it.
They’ve been talking it over since that day, and he’s waiting to hear back on what she’s decided. Even knowing from his own experience that an addict will quit only when he or she is truly ready, Morton remains hopeful she’ll take him up on the offer.
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But there’s more to the story. While Morton was searching for Darla, a tipster had given him information on another possible suspect. Morton was able to track the man down but learned he wasn’t involved in the dognapping. He was, however, down on his luck and had no place to live.
As an act of kindness, Morton paid for a week’s stay at a hotel. From there, thanks to social media, the good deed snowballed. Once they learned of his generosity, not only did Morton’s Facebook cronies pick up the tab for another week’s rent, they found the man a job.
For a tale that started out so badly, this one continues to unfold in unexpected and heartening directions. For Morton, being reunited with his beloved dog is truly a blessing, but it’s not the only one he’s taken away from the experience.
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The road to recovery is long and hard, and without a safety net, homelessness can happen to almost anyone, sober or not. Having the ability to connect with people who are still struggling as he once did and being able to make a difference in their lives has given Morton a unique perspective that’s made him truly thankful.
“I would say honestly, more than anything… it was exactly what I needed in my life at that point in time. Those people helped me immensely. [They] really warmed my heart and humbled me,” Morton told the Cranbrook Daily Townsman. “I’m just as grateful for those two relationships that I made in this whole ordeal and I’m happy that I was able to meet [them].”
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That’s such an amazing and inspiring story. It gives concrete evidence that mercy rather than judgment to both the woman and man may pay dividends to society later on. Kudos to Mr. Morton for his mercy and kudos to those who contributed for the suspect’s hotel stay and to those who helped him land a job. I certainly hope the woman enters treatment soon.
This is a wonderful example of paying it forward. We can all do earth shaking changes but enough of us did little ones the world would such a better place.