Stylist Douglas Nitcher, whose dog Archer disappeared after slipping out of Dunwoody’s Balance Salon and Boutique at Park Place on Jan. 28 and was thought to have fallen into the wrong hands, was ready to go on with his life after a month of searching in vain for his beloved pet.
“I had finally decided that I couldn’t be sad all the time and I needed to live in gratitude,” Nitcher said. “Gratitude for the community and the work, which was the only thing that was getting me through this.”
Then Nitcher got the phone call for which he had been desperately hoping – exactly one month later, within minutes of when Archer went missing – from a woman named Madison saying she had found his dog in Gresham Park, more than 20 miles away from the salon.
“At first, the voice mail sounded like every other scammer that I was getting on a daily basis – that my dog had been found,” he said. “I was in the middle of a color treatment for one of my clients who had been very invested in Archer’s disappearance. So I went on with the service, but then I got another voicemail, this time from an emergency vet who said that they had scanned the chip of a dog that was found, and it came back to my number.”
“I immediately left my client, who was in tears, in good hands, and drove to the young lady’s house, and went into her backyard, where she was keeping Archer,” he said. “I saw him through the slats in the fence and started talking to him softly, and then he bolted to me.”
Madison Laughridge, who often finds stray animals, said she saw Archer at a gas station in Decatur around 6 p.m. on Feb. 27 “digging and playing in a mud puddle.”
“It was clear that he belonged to someone because when I went into the gas station, he followed me and then went around greeting everyone,” she said.
Laughridge took the dog home, posted his picture on a couple of lost pet websites, and decided to take him to a veterinarian the next day to see if he had an identification chip.
“He was so sweet, resting his head on my arm while we were driving to the vet,” she said. “But he was also so very tired.”
The rest was history, as Nitcher sped down I-285 to Gresham Park for the reunion he never thought he would experience.
Nitcher said Archer, though a little underweight, dirty, and hesitant, was in pretty good shape considering his month-long journey into parts unknown.
“He’s a little thinner, kind of suspicious, and a little standoffish,” Nitcher said. “He was wearing a different collar, but it was obvious he had been fed regularly. It’s hard to know exactly what he went through during that month.”
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• ‘Angels and demons:’ stylist sees good and bad after dog’s disappearance
Archer, who had been the salon’s ambassador since he was eight weeks old, was more than a pleasant distraction at Balance Salon – he was a member of the team.
“He greeted everyone at the door and sat next to people at the shampoo station,” Nitcher said. “He was like an emotional support animal who the clients were very invested in.”
After Archer slipped out the salon’s door on Jan. 28, while customers were entering and exiting the business, Nitcher got a front-row seat to the juxtaposition of good and evil as he tried to find his beloved pet.
“I feel like it’s an exercise of angels and demons,” he said during the aftermath of Archer’s disappearance. “So many people are helping to find the dog, but at the same time, the number of scam calls I am getting is shaking me to the core.”
Scammers regularly tried to solicit money for the dog’s return
One of the most traumatic calls came at 5 a.m. on Feb. 5, when a would-be scammer told Nitcher he had the dog, that he was injured and required immediate, life-saving surgery.
The person sent Nitcher an obviously doctored photo of a dog on an operating table with two medical personnel hovering over him with scalpels, and told the stylist that he needed authorization to perform the surgery, but only after Nitcher gave him permission – and $2,700.
The kindness of strangers
At the same time, the outpouring of community support – from friends, clients, and strangers – was as overwhelming as the trauma inflicted by scammers.
“The people of Dunwoody are good and kind,” he said. “It’s overwhelming.”
One of those people was a Dunwoody Police Public Safety Ambassador named Paul Chastain, whom Nitcher said checked on him regularly, especially during the early days after the dog’s disappearance, when the stylist was sleeping at the salon in hopes that Archer would return on his own accord.
“I can’t tell you how much I appreciated the love and support from him, our clients, and the community,” Nitcher said. “It takes a village, and I’m pretty damn happy with mine.”
Nitcher said the salon’s ambassador will be back on duty on March 3, albeit with an extra layer of security.
And although Laughridge refused any monetary reward for the dog’s return, Nitcher said he hopes she takes him up on his offer for a day of pampering at the salon.
“Anything she wants,” he said. “She’s proof that there are angels in the world.”