Harrowing journey ends well for Yreka man and his papillon

Editor’s note: The following was submitted by Casse Waldman-Forczek, a volunteer news reporter for KPFZ, Lake County Community Radio.

On Saturday, Sept. 12, Randy Griffin and his wife Linda were visiting Lake County from Yreka to do some business, and visit with his daughter, Jessica, at Loch Lomand.

They were camping in Loch Lomand when the infamous Valley Fire broke out and loudspeakers ordered them to evacuate. Hurredly, they loaded everything into the van while heavy smoke began to fill the air. By the time they got to Middletown, they were shocked to realize that of their two dogs, Lucy and Levi, only Lucy was in the van.

They turned around in Middletown to go back for Levi, but were turned back by the sheriff’s blockade due to extreme fire danger.

Despite being low on funds, they were compelled to stay and continue their search for Levi. They had no intentions to return home to Yreka without him.

Because Randy, his owner, is partially blind, Levi had been trained as a guide dog; but more importantly, Mr. Griffith, Griffin, due to the medical trauma of being diagnosed with an eye disease, had been clinically depressed.

In fact, he stated that he had not come out of his room for three months, except when absolutely necessary. One day, Levi, a chocolate Papillon mini-spaniel who belonged to Randy’s mother, happened to be visiting and for unknown reasons proceeded to scratch at Randy’s door. That turned out to be a life-changing  moment, as the two of them became inseparable partners.

After Levi was separated from the family during the evacuation, the family spent several frustrating days camping and searching ofr him. Fortunately, the evacuation was lifted, giving them an opportunity to search in person for Levi’s whereabouts.

By that time, they were concerned whether he had food or water, whether he had managed to avoid traffic or other dogs, or that he had possibly been burned in the Valley Fire – California’s third largest in its recorded history.

Jeanie Tavares and her husband, Bob, had been evacuated from their home, located approximately 6 miles from Loch Lomand, and returned the next night to find Levi surrounded by trash he had strewn about the porch.

The couple invited the hungry dog into their home, unsure of who he belonged to.

Jeanie took Levi in her car and drove up and down the neighborhood trying to find the owner, leaving her phone number at many places.

Unable to locate an owner, she then took him to a local animal shelter to see if he was microchipped. Even though he was not, the shelter took his photo and posted it to Facebook.

Before long, Randy’s daughter, Jessica, found the photo and contacted the shelter.

Shelter staff told Jessica that Jeanie had offered to care for Levi in the interim, and provided contact information. Unfortunately, the number on file had been disconnected.

The family then turned to local radio station KPFZ, which had been serving as a source of information and assistance for those impacted by the Valley Fire.

Randy called the station each hour to ask over the airwaves if anyone had seen his dog, and he was eventually overheard by KPFZ associate Casse Forczek of Kelseyville, who offered to help in the search for Levi.

Forczek followed the trail to the local animal shelter, where she found that a volunteer was a friend of Jeanie’s and knew her correct contact information.  

Soon after, a reunion was arranged, but Jeanie wanted to be certain that Randy was Levi’s actual owner.

He offered to have the dog perform a trick to prove that the two were companions.

Randy asked, “Would you rather be married or dead?” and the chocolate colored papillon promptly rolled over and played dead.

Jeanie was most touched as Randy was crying when he picked up his dear companion, knowing that he was most fortunate indeed.

This story has been truncated for print. It will be posted in its entirety on KPFZ's website.