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VPR's coverage of arts and culture in the region.

‘Catching Murphy’: The Wild, Wonderful Tale Of A Dog On The Lam

Wilson Ring says hello to Murphy the Dog after the pooch's odyssey of more than a year finally came to an end.
Lucy Ring
Wilson Ring says hello to Murphy the Dog after the pooch's odyssey of more than a year finally came to an end.

In early 2016, a collective sigh of relief could be heard from the town of Waterbury when Murphy the Dog was caught and returned to its owners. For a year and a half, the community pulled together in an effort to find this amazing golden retriever. His odyssey is now an e-book called Catching Murphy, written by long-time Associated Press reporter Wilson Ring.

Ring recently sat down with VPR's Bob Kinzel to explain how, instead of covering this story, he became a key part of it.

"Fate happens sometimes," Ring said.

"It was Dec. 7, 2014. I looked out the back window of my house in Waterbury and there is this golden retirever. And I knew there was a golden retriever missing. He had been on Front Porch Forum regularly. And I immediately knew that that was the dog I was seeing."

Murphy's odyssey began in June, 2014 when a car crash involving his owner, Krisin Campbell of Morristown, occurred in Stowe. When Campbell opened the car door, the dog took off.

"It's not unusual for dogs to go missing after a traumatic event," Ring noted. "But when they do go missing, usually after a few days they will, for whatever reason, want to come in from the cold and allow themselves to be caught."

Alas, not Murphy.

As the community of Waterbury pulled together to find the wandering pooch, numerous sightings were reported. "You could say he wasn't really lost because we knew, sort of, where he was," Ring said. "It's just, you couldn't catch him."

A trap was created and placed in Ring's back field and Murphy was caught. But he chewed his way through the wire of the trap and got out. Another time, the door to the trap froze open.

But in February 2016, Murphy was in the trap again. He was removed from it, and became a family pet once again.

Broadcast live on Friday, Sept. 14, 2018 at noon; rebroadcast at 7 p.m.

Ric was a producer for Vermont Edition and host of the VPR Cafe.
Bob Kinzel has been covering the Vermont Statehouse since 1981 — longer than any continuously serving member of the Legislature. With his wealth of institutional knowledge, he answers your questions on our series, "Ask Bob."
A graduate of NYU with a Master's Degree in journalism, Mitch has more than 20 years experience in radio news. He got his start as news director at NYU's college station, and moved on to a news director (and part-time DJ position) for commercial radio station WMVY on Martha's Vineyard. But public radio was where Mitch wanted to be and he eventually moved on to Boston where he worked for six years in a number of different capacities at member station WBUR...as a Senior Producer, Editor, and fill-in co-host of the nationally distributed Here and Now. Mitch has been a guest host of the national NPR sports program "Only A Game". He's also worked as an editor and producer for international news coverage with Monitor Radio in Boston.
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