'They're Such Good People': Aly Raisman Praises Women Who Found Her Missing Dog, Climbed Fence To Grab Him
BOSTON (CBS) -- Olympic Gymnast and Massachusetts native Aly Raisman is heaping praise on the women who found her missing dog and then climbed a fence to grab him.
Carla Duran and Gayle Cataldo's dog spotted Mylo on Saturday hiding in the tall grass inside a fenced-off construction site near UMass Boston. After their dog went to greet Mylo, Catalda jumped over the fence to get him.
"The people who found him could not have been nicer and dog lovers. They're such good people," Raisman told WBZ-TV.
Mylo had been missing for six days after he got spooked by the fireworks display in the Seaport District and took off.
"It was really really hard because we didn't have any confirmed sightings," the gold medalist said. "I didn't know where he could be. I didn't know if Mylo was with someone, who didn't know it was my dog. I didn't know if he was roaming around by himself."
Curiously, neither Duran and Cataldo had seen Raisman's "Find Mylo" campaign on social media when they spotted the dog, and didn't realize it was Raisman's dog until she came to get him.
As Raisman explained, her parents had been staying with her throughout the week for support. But a short while after they left, her parents received the call they had all been waiting for.
"My parents went back home, and I had a friend come over just to hang out with me and take my mind off of everything. And within a few minutes of my parents getting home, my dad got a call from a young girl, and she said, 'I have your dog.' And usually when people say that, they have been kind of like scamming us, or they want a reward, or they like don't really have the dog," Raisman said.
"And so my dad was like, 'Ok, just FaceTime us to make sure it's really the dog.' And usually when that happens, people have been hanging up or they'll say, 'Oh yeah, I'll FaceTime you' or 'I'll send a photo' and they never do. So they started FaceTiming my parents, and my parents were shocked, and they were so excited. They answered the FaceTime, and there Mylo was. And my mom called me hyperventilating, hysterically crying."
Raisman then called Duran and stayed on the phone the whole time with her as she made the 15-minute drive to meet them. The embrace between Raisman and Mylo, as you could imagine, was a special one.
"He was jumping on me, and obviously so excited to see me. And I was so excited to see him. So I was just holding onto the leash really tight," she said.
And thanks to help from two strangers, the ordeal is finally over.
"I feel so relieved today. I feel so happy, it doesn't feel real."
Raisman says she's aware her celebrity status was helpful in mobilizing people to look for her dog, so she's pledging to use her platform in the future to help other find missing pets or loved ones near and dear to them.
