It’s a dog’s life now a days for Smiley, now called Kyley, the locally famous pound puppy who garnered media attention from far and wide for his involvement in an Island County Superior Court legal battle spanning four months and his subsequent dognapping.
Allicia Crockett, director of Rescue Pup, a dog rescue organization based in Mill Creek, said this week that Smiley’s new family includes a single woman and her 10-year-old golden retriever, Sadie.
“He’s doing fabulous,” Crockett said. “The family is great and he fits right in.”
Crockett would not release the name or city of “Kyley’s” new owner, citing privacy reasons.
The adoption followed a lengthy dispute between former volunteers, Bob Baker and Barbara Moran, who filed suit against the Whidbey Animals’ Improvement Foundation last November in an effort to save the dog from euthanasia.
WAIF officials countered that the dog became aggressive as a result of living in its shelter for too long and it was unsafe to adopt him out.
At the start of the lawsuit the dog, Smiley had lived at WAIF for almost two years.
After four months of litigation, Judge Vickie Churchill ruled against Baker and Moran, effectively allowing WAIF to euthanize the dog.
The doggie-drama turned into a mutt-mystery that weekend when dognappers clipped their way through WAIF’s chain link fence, into Smiley’s kennel and lured the doomed pooch out with sausage.
Nearly two months went by with no sign of Smiley when the Island County Sheriff’s Department received a tip that a dog matching Smiley’s description was seen at a South Whidbey’s Double Bluff beach park. The deputy found the dog, confirmed his identity and transferred the canine to a secret, off-island location while police investigated Smiley’s heist.
Following the investigation, WAIF transferred Smiley to Rescue Pup in late April, where he lived in a foster home, received training, a new name and was ultimately adopted to his new “family” this June.
Smiley, now called Kyley, will live out the rest of his days in a warm, loving home with his new mom and sister Sadie, said Crockett.
