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Community rallies to find blind Vernon man’s missing custom dog harness

The community rallied together to locate the specialized harness
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A special harness used on a seeing eye dog has gone missing. It boasts a custom-made sign reading ‘DO NOT PET’. (Facebook)

A blind Vernon man had his customized harness he uses for his seeing eye dog returned after losing it on Thursday.

Vivian Unser, a friend of Roland Crouteau’s, said the misplaced item has been found and returned and Crouteau and his dog Dodger are happy and grateful to have it back.

The black leather harness was lost when Crouteau was climbing into a truck following a lunch with friends at Rosalinda’s. The blind man didn’t realize the harness slipped out of the truck before he closed the door.

After retracing his steps and finding nothing, his friend Unser turned to the Vernon & Area Community Forum on Facebook to see if anyone has seen it.

Unser said it was heartwarming to see the response from the public.

“People have been so kind in offering to help fund the new harness which touches my heart and my friend’s,” she said.

Crouteau got the harness last spring in Oakville, Ont., while he was being paired with Dodger. There, the new match underwent three weeks of training.

READ MORE: Blind Vernon man loses special dog harness

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