WAILUA — For a dog, Kenny has been through quite a lot in his 10 years, including as many as four vehicle accidents. “That’s how he got his name,” said his human mom, Robyn Witt, who helped name him after
WAILUA — For a dog, Kenny has been through quite a lot in his 10 years, including as many as four vehicle accidents.
“That’s how he got his name,” said his human mom, Robyn Witt, who helped name him after a “South Park” character. “He’s been in several car accidents and he keeps coming back.”
In Kenny’s most recent episode, he was tossed from a truck bed on the morning of April 22 when the Toyota Tacoma pickup swerved on Olohena Road, struck the southwest end of a bridge and landed on its side in a stream just west of the Waipouli Road junction.
Witt’s ex-husband had been driving the truck, with their 2-year-old granddaughter, Trinity, in a child safety seat. They went to Wilcox Memorial Hospital with minor injuries, while Kenny and his companion, Dudley, ran off.
“The dogs took off up the hill as fast as they could,” Witt said.
“In an egregious breach of canine etiquette,” she said, the dogs separated. Dudley went left toward home. Kenny, a German shepherd/golden retriever mix, headed straight to the end of the road. From there, he disappeared for about three days.
Witt’s husband, Eric, said he found Dudley about 30 minutes after the accident. Some people were giving the animal water when he drove by. He then headed home with the dog, but didn’t see his other pet.
“Kenny wasn’t there, so we started the search,” Eric Witt said.
Back at the accident scene, people were drawn to the crash by Trinity’s crying. Her car seat was partially in the water, said her mother, Brittany Gurkin. A local boy Gurkin skates with kicked out the back window and helped the girl and her grandfather.
“I went in the stream with a truck with William,” Trinity recalled. “Then they got me out.”
Former accidents
Eric Witt adopted Kenny about 10 years ago in Seattle. The 7-month-old pup had already been in a car accident at that point, and had been bounced among seven households.
“He liked to chew and some people didn’t like the fact that he liked to chew — especially shoes,” Eric Witt said.
The dog and his owner also were in an accident together while heading to an obedience class in Tacoma, Wash.
“He was gone three days before I got him back that time,” Eric Witt said. “He’s a survivor.”
That time, a humane society reunited man and dog.
“We’re big fans of the humane society,” Witt interjected into her husband’s story.
The search
This time around, Witt at first believed that her dog had found a place to hole up and die. He has bad hips, and she believed he might have been injured.
Still, she and her family went to the Kaua‘i Humane Society to fill out a lost animal report, posted the info on Craigslist, called Kong Radio and emailed other people with connections on the island. They also put up 25 flyers within a 2-mile radius of the accident.
Then, on the morning of April 25, Witt got a call on a cell phone she no longer uses.
It was the humane society. Someone had found Kenny.
Andy Bushnell, who lives in the Wailua Homesteads, said the dog showed up at his daughter’s house that morning. She brought Kenny to his house while Bushnell was out on a walk with his and her pets.
After finding Kenny on his porch, Bushnell asked neighbors if they lost a dog, and eventually called the humane society. The organization sent out Humane Officer Jessica Venneman, who happens to be Bushnell’s former history student.
At his home, Venneman checked to see if Kenny had a microchip. She quickly found one, got his owner’s contact information and called Witt.
“The reason we promote the microchip is it can’t be lost or taken off,” Venneman later said. “A license is good but the microchip is forever.”
Venneman said Kenny and his family were happily reunited soon after and she issued them new licenses for the two dogs.
Witt said she’s very grateful to the humane society.
“If the humane society had not been called and if they hadn’t sent someone up there, he’d still be out there,” Witt said. “The humane society was definitely the hero on this one.”
