RIVERTON — Dogs are humankind’s best friends, our first and oldest companions and teammates. When a dog goes missing, communities often pull together to try to find
them – but some dogs never make it home. Usually, once a dog has been missing
for more than a few weeks, they aren’t coming back.
But for one Canadian woman and her puppy, that unlikely reunion is coming soon, thanks in large part to the people of Riverton.
On September 25, 2023, Ottawa resident Alaina Tripp came home from work to find her air conditioning unit ripped out of the wall, her home broken into, and her beloved puppy Teddy missing.
Teddy, then only a few months old, would remain missing for almost a full year before he was eventually found – 2,000 miles away in Central Wyoming.
During a routine traffic stop last Saturday, Riverton Police Officer Don Nethicumara noticed a small white miniature poodle sitting on Paul Sheehan’s lap. A search of the vehicle reportedly produced a bag of methamphetamine. Nethicumara cited Sheehan for possession of meth – and soon learned that the person he’d pulled over for running a red light had a non-extraditable warrant out of Canada for allegedly stealing a dog named Teddy.
Eventually, the pint-sized pup was seized from Sheehan and Tripp was notified.
“I’m completely astonished how one traffic stop in one small town … He [Sheehan] ran one red light and Officer Don stopped him, and it was the beginning and end of a wonderful story,” Tripp remarked.

With the PAWS animal shelter closed due to the fair, Teddy has spent the past few days roaming the halls of the Riverton Police Department. Awaiting his long journey home, Teddy has reportedly stayed busy chasing a ball through the halls of the RPD station.
Tripp is eager to hug Teddy in person, but the process of bringing a dog across international lines isn’t easy – especially when his owner isn’t traveling with him. Bringing Teddy home will cost about $1,500, Tripp said.
Her friend Pamela Meadows volunteered to help figure out the financial side of things and set up a GoFundMe page for Teddy. Donations have been pouring in from various organizations and individuals in Riverton and Ottawa alike. As of Friday morning, more than $1,700 has been raised.
When five-month-old Teddy went missing, Tripp was distraught. Her previous dog had recently passed away after a long health battle and now, she’d lost her second dog in less than half a year.
Meadows helped her put up missing posters and made posts on the Ottawa and Valley Lost Pets Network Facebook page about Teddy’s disappearance, asking for any help they could get. Meanwhile, Sheehan was making his way south toward the Canada-U.S. border.
During the break-in, nearby cameras caught Sheehan entering Tripp’s home, so police knew exactly who to look for.
Just before Canadian Thanksgiving in October, Tripp got the bad news: Sheehan had crossed the border with Teddy, and Canadian police don’t usually cross borders to retrieve dogs. “Everyone said I was unlikely to find Teddy,” she said. “At that point we assumed he was gone for good,” Meadows commented. “Alaina was deeply grieved. She asked me if she’d ever see Teddy again, and I had to tell her that I didn’t think we would.”
Then, this past Saturday, Tripp’s phone started ringing – and ringing and ringing. She thought it was work trying to call her in on her day off, so at first she ignored the calls. When she did answer, it wasn’t her supervisor on the other end, but a Riverton police officer – and Teddy’s excited yelp in the background.
“I was so shocked,” Tripp recalled.
In the months since the dognapping, several people who had seen missing posters and posts had submitted reports that Teddy was dead.
The phone call from Riverton assured Tripp that Teddy’s sweet bouncing presence is alive and well. When Meadows learned that Teddy was found in Wyoming, she reached out to Tripp right away.
“‘He’s so far away – how are we going to get Teddy home, Ela?’ she asked me. I told her she wasn’t alone and we’d figure it out,” Meadows said.
After days of logistical planning, Teddy had his paws on a ticket for a flight home this week, just two days after Tripp is scheduled to undergo surgery.
The GoFundMe is still gathering money to help Tripp pay for initial vet exams and food costs. Once Teddy’s needs are met, any leftover donations will be passed along to the charitable organizations that helped send Teddy back to Canada.
To donate, visit https:// www.gofundme.com/f/ support-teddys-miraculous-return.
“A particular thanks to Officer Don [Nethicumara],” said Tripp. “The world needs to know that there are still good people in it, and Riverton seems to be a town full of such good people.”