What should have been a day of celebration turned into heartbreak as a new bride lost a beloved pet on the day she exchanged vows with her groom in Newmarket.
Grace Li continues to search for her 11-year-old miniature husky, V, who has been missing since Oct. 14, when the couple were married at Madison Greenhouse Event Venue. They had hired a sitter to keep watch of V, but unfortunately, the pet escaped, she said.
Li initially offered a $5,000 reward but has now raised it to $15,000 as the months drag on without her "best friend."
“It was the worst feeling I ever felt in my entire life,” said Li, with a sad tone in her voice. “V is my best friend. She is family. It felt like one of my family members went missing. I was a mess, to be honest. I was crying. The only thing on my mind at the time was how are we going to be able to find her."
V is an Alaskan Klee Kai, weighing about 10 pounds. She has grey and white fur and was last seen near Lake Wilcox Park in the Oak Ridges community of Richmond Hill, but she could be anywhere, Li said.
“Thankfully, I had a lot of friends and family who were supporting me in the beginning, but to be honest, it has been a bit of a torture not knowing where she is, or if she is safe, or how she is doing,” said Li.
Her cousin, Yvonne Fu, was with Grace to comfort her. She said it was hard to see someone so strong break down like that, lost in misery.
“It was just a terrible feeling of fear and worry for V out there on her own, probably so scared and cold and lost,” said Fu. “The immediate next thought was that we needed to go search for her and just how distraught Grace would be to find out that her best friend had gone missing."
The pup had a tag with Li’s contact information on it, is microchipped and has an Apple AirTag tracking device. The gadget, however, stopped pinging on Douglas Road in Richmond Hill.
“We haven’t been able to get a new location,” said Li.
The caretaker was supposed to keep V safe, Li said.
At around 10 p.m. that night, the dog sitter opened the door for a brief minute, which was more than enough time for V and another dog, Ember, to run away. The dog sitter was able to get a hold of Ember, but V ran off into the night.
“It’s been really hard,” said Fu. “Each day is a little easier, but even for me having our little fur niece missing tore me apart for months. I couldn’t sleep, didn’t want to eat, and was constantly searching up dog information, thinking about it, stressing about it. I can’t even imagine if I was so distraught by the amount of pain Grace must be going through.”
Li knows that time has passed and understands the odds of her pup returning home are slim, but she wants to at least have some closure to what happened that night.
“We’ve been trying to be realistic,” said Li. “We have searched everywhere for any sign of her passing away, maybe hit by a car, a predator attack, or anything like that. We haven’t been able to find anything. It is almost like she disappeared and vanished in thin air.”
She hopes if somebody finds her, they will take her in. Li has received tips from people but wasn’t able to receive photos.
If you have seen V or know her whereabouts, you can contact and send a picture to Li at 647-339-9044. You can also send her an email to [email protected]. Li said she would honour the monetary reward for her lost pup.
“We are very sincere with our promise,” said Li. “There will be no questions asked. All tips will remain confidential, and the reward will be honoured with her safe return. We are so heartbroken. All we want is for her to come home. We miss her more with every passing day.”