Dothan Comes Together to Bring Blue Home

DOTHAN, Ala. (WDNews) — For six days, a family’s search for their missing Great Dane named Blue grew into something much bigger — a community-wide effort that brought people across Dothan and the Wiregrass together.

On Thursday, that search ended with the news everyone had been waiting for: Blue was home.

Blue, a black-and-white Harlequin Great Dane, went missing Sept. 3 after his family said he became frightened by drums while they were attending a concert at Porter Park near the Dothan Civic Center.

Blue’s owner, Elizabeth Ludlum Enfinger, began pleading for help on social media as the search spread across the community. Reported sightings came from areas including Headland Avenue and near the Houston County Sheriff’s Office.

Enfinger said Blue was not aggressive but was frightened and could have been hiding. She described him as having one blue eye and one green eye and said he was extremely food motivated.

But Blue wasn’t simply a family pet with an empty food bowl waiting at home.

According to Enfinger, her family had cared for Blue since he was just 4 weeks old. They bottle-fed him after his mother became unable to feed him.

Blue later faced serious medical problems. Enfinger said he underwent multiple surgeries after complications from a gastropexy procedure when he was 9 months old. He eventually received treatment at Auburn, where part of his colon was removed.

The experience left Blue needing special food and care.

“He is attached to me and has to be terrified,” Enfinger wrote while he was missing. “He has his own bedroom with a couch and a TV and has never slept outside.”

As the days passed, Dothan rallied around the family.

Enfinger publicly thanked the Dothan Police Department and Dothan Fire Department for helping with the search, saying they were “searching as if it were their child.”

Thousands of people also saw or shared information about Blue on social media, helping keep his picture circulating throughout the area.

The search also took a disturbing turn.

Screenshots shared by Enfinger show someone contacting her and claiming Blue was inside their home and safe. The person agreed to meet her before asking whether she would pay $70 for their trouble.

Enfinger refused and demanded a photograph proving the person actually had Blue.

“Show me my dog or stop texting me,” she responded.

The person then sent a message claiming to have Blue and saying Enfinger’s actions were “gonna get the dog hurt.”

There is no evidence in the messages that the person actually had Blue, and the exchange appeared to be an attempt to take advantage of the family’s search.

But the community continued looking.

Attorney Benjamin Irwin joined the effort and offered a $2,000 reward for Blue’s safe return.

Irwin said the search showed what can happen when people who may otherwise have little in common come together for one purpose.

“We had a ton of people from all walks of life, from all income brackets, of all levels of the Wiregrass helping,” Irwin told Wiregrass Daily News. “And to me those moments are very nice and wonderful because we forget day to day about all the other stuff and we just get focused on all the things that separate us.”

For Irwin, the search became about more than finding one missing dog.

“In moments like this, it’s like you’re walking beside somebody you never met before, and you may not have even ever decided to walk beside them,” Irwin said. “But today there’s just one thing, and you’re just talking about Blue, and something like that can help bring our community closer together. And I like trying to do that.”

Irwin said he believes people are inherently good, but also acknowledged that a sizable reward could encourage more people to keep their eyes open.

“I think people are inherently good, and then, you know, a lot of times money does move the needle,” Irwin said. “And so I just wanted to make sure that, we could put as much out there as we could to try to help everybody have a reason, just to try to help bring Blue back home to the family.”

The effort continued Thursday with help from Joshua H. Behringer and Wiregrass Thermal Drone Solutions, according to Irwin.

Then came the announcement the community had been hoping to hear.

Blue had been found.

Irwin announced that Blue and Enfinger had been reunited and said he was headed to pay the $2,000 reward to the man who found him.

After six days of searching, sharing pictures, following possible sightings and hoping Blue would make it home, the Great Dane was finally back with his family.

Irwin said no one person deserves the credit.

“I’m so glad it was able to be happening. But it’s everybody,” Irwin said. “I mean, it takes so many people to

do things like this, and just proud to be a small little part of it.”

According to Irwin, Blue was found by Andrew Birge, a disabled veteran who lives on Headland Avenue. Birge had seen the posts about Blue and knew the community was searching for him.

Irwin said Birge had prayed the night before for some financial help. By Thursday, Blue had made his way into the woods behind Birge’s home.

Blue apparently helped himself to one of Birge’s chickens before Birge walked outside and discovered the dog so many people across Dothan had been searching for.

Birge later met with Irwin at Cherry & Irwin Law, where Irwin presented him with the $2,000 reward.

Irwin said hundreds of people had spent days sharing posts, driving roads, walking through wooded areas, checking cameras and talking with neighbors in hopes of finding Blue.

“For the last few days, a whole lot of people got a reminder that there are still really good people all around us,” Irwin wrote.

For Blue’s family and the community that refused to stop looking, the search was finally over.

Bonus Photos: Blue when he was found and one of the text messages exchanged.

Andrew Birge receiving his reward from Attorney Benjamin Irwin