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Flea market ‘family’ pulls together to find flying dog

By ERIC C. RODENBERG
AntiqueWeek Correspondent

WATERFORD, Mich. — It’s a fairy tale kind of story – about a storm, a flying dog and, of course, the local pet psychic reuniting the lost animal with its owner.

On Saturday, April 25, Tinkerbell, the petite, six-pound Chihuahua puppy was swept off her paws when a powerful storm, with strong straight-line winds, ripped through the Dixieland Flea Market in Waterford, about 26 miles northwest of Detroit.

Owners Lavern and Dorothy Utley, both in their early 70s, had 8-month-old Tinkerbell tied to a cooler at the outside flea market. When the storm hit, the high winds broke the puppy’s leash and sent her soaring into the sky over the adjacent Dixie Highway.
“It was phenomenal, just like something out of The Wizard of Oz,” said Dixieland owner Joe Goldberg. “This is the only pet trick I’ve seen where the pet was more blown away than the audience. Rocky, the flying squirrel has nothing on Tinkerbell, Dixieland’s flying dog.”

Goldberg said the winds were in excess of 100 miles an hour, seemingly enough to blow the Chihuahua almost into the next county. “Funny thing, about three booths down, there’s the biggest Rottweiler I’ve ever seen … the wind didn’t budge him,” Goldberg said.

Immediately after the dog blew away, at least 40 of the outside vendors at Dixieland closed down their booths and began searching for the dog.

“These people didn’t care about their money boxes, they went straight to looking for the dog,” Goldberg said. “Flea market people are like family, there’s a bond, a camaraderie – we all help each other. We looked everywhere for that dog.”

As the weekend search for the dog went into Monday, Dorothy was on one of the Detroit radio stations pleading for help. The station called for the assistance of Lorrie the Pet Psychic from nearby Holly, Mich. The pet psychic and Dorothy talked on air.

The psychic said she was able to “tune in” on the dog, and had a “visual image” of Tinkerbell in a wooded area.

“I asked her if there was a grocery store across the road,” Lorrie the Pet Psychic said. “I said you need to re-check that area … is there a wooded area back there? … you got to keep looking up … she’s still alive and nothing is broken … you just have to look up to find her.”

After hearing that, Goldberg said he began looking up in the trees.
But, Lavern Utley had other ideas. He began looking up in the hills, across the street and behind the grocery.

“Vern went right where she (the psychic) said, and Tinkerbell come running toward him,” Dorothy says. “I know people had been over that area before, but she just came out of nowhere to Vern … I was standing there when he brought Tinkerbell back … he said, ‘look what I got.’ I couldn’t see at first, my eyesight’s not so good anymore, but when I saw her, me and this other lady just started jumping up and down.”

Several people were with Dorothy, with food and water, at the ready for Tinkerbell’s return.

No one knows how the tiny dog survived for two nights out in the cold Michigan woods. The dog was found more than a half-mile from the flea market.

“She’s an angel – a gift from God,” says 71-year-old Dorothy Utley of the puppy they have owned for the past six months. “She has brought so much joy into our lives … Lavern later told me he didn’t think we would ever find her alive.

All the love and help we’ve had for this dog would break your heart,” Dorothy said. “We had people bringing food and water … one woman heard about Tinkerbell while she was at the dentist office and just left to come out here … Tinkerbell, she, was hungry and tired … she’s got some sore spots … but she’ll be all cleaned up and ready to go back out to the flea market this weekend.”
Dixieland promoter Goldberg is already advertising; “come see the world’s only flying dog at Dixieland Flea Market.”

5/6/2009