A Grieving 9-Year-Old Lost Her Dad — Then the Community Brought Her Beloved Dog Home
Any parent can imagine it: a child already shattered by the loss of a father, now facing the possibility that her beloved dog — the one Dad picked out just for her — might be gone too. In Roselle Park, New Jersey, a community made sure that didn’t happen.
Javon, a 40-year-old father, had bought a Cockapoo named Major as a birthday gift for his 9-year-old daughter. It was the kind of deeply personal gesture parents understand — a dad choosing a companion for his little girl, something to make her light up.
Before traveling abroad, Javon left Major with a pet sitter, Grace Reyes. The plan was simple: Reyes would care for Major, and the dog would be picked up on Friday, March 20.
But Javon died unexpectedly while on vacation. He never came home.
A Family Searching Through Grief
What followed was a heartbreaking gap that many families might not think to plan for. Javon’s loved ones didn’t have Reyes’ contact information. They didn’t know where Major was. In the fog of sudden loss, they were left searching for a dog that meant the world to a grieving child.
The family launched a search campaign, turning to social media to spread the word. Javon’s best friend David described the weight of it all to ABC7 / Eyewitness News on March 24.
“We were dealing with the loss of a brother, a father, and a friend,” David said. “So, I think dealing with that and then also the loss of potentially our dog Major, I think that’s just really going to, you know, put us in a different space. But if we are able to find out more, just make things just a little, a little better than it is right now.”
For a family already carrying so much, finding Major wasn’t just about a pet. It was about holding on to what Javon had given his daughter.
A Pet Sitter’s Heart Drops
On her end, Reyes had no idea what had happened. She only knew that communication had suddenly gone silent.
“[Major] was supposed to be picked up on Friday and so the messages stopped going through on Thursday and I started getting worried,” Reyes said.
Reyes began searching social media on her own, trying to find the family. Then, on March 24, her aunt spotted a viral post about the missing dog.
“Isn’t this the dog that you take care of all the time, Major?” her aunt asked.
“My heart dropped finding out what happened, finding out that his family was worried sick about wondering where Major was,” Reyes told ABC7.
An Officer’s Promise
Once contact was made, Major was brought to the Roselle Park Police Department. Officer Vincent Picarelli took the lead in coordinating the reunion.
“Thanks to Eyewitness News and other friends and family that blasted this all over social media, they were able to locate where Major actually was,” Picarelli said.
Police Chief Dominick Frino made no effort to hide how personally the story hit him.
“I’m a father of two daughters and this just broke my heart when I heard this story,” Frino said.
“We have Officer Picarelli and I told him yesterday we have to this young puppy for this 9-year-old daughter,” Frino said. “He told me ‘Chief, don’t worry about it’ and he said ‘I’ll have this dog for you by the end of the day.’”
He kept that promise. On Wednesday, March 25, the 9-year-old girl was reunited with Major — the birthday gift her father had chosen for her, now safely home.
For any parent who has ever watched a child clutch a stuffed animal or curl up with a family pet after a hard day, the significance needs no explanation. Sometimes the smallest comforts carry the biggest weight. A community in Roselle Park understood that and made sure one little girl didn’t lose anything more.
This article was created by content specialists using various tools, including AI.
