Your business makes a gigantic mistake. How will you handle it?

Option A: You could own it.

Option B: You could deny it, lie, and blame the victim.

Seven years ago this month was an example of a business that chose Option B. Unfortunately, it was my family who bore the brunt.

It was August of 2015. We were headed out on a family vacation, and in preparation, boarded our dogs at a local pet hotel. We arrived in California. It was a few days in, and everyone was looking forward to a visit to Disneyland.

As we were walking into the “happiest place on Earth” for the first time, the phone rang. It was the boarding facility, calling to inform us that they had lost our boy Digger. (#finddigger)

The facility told us a story of what had happened. They claimed Digger went crazy, bit a handler, then turned in one motion, jumped an 8-foot fence, landing safely on the other side, then took off never to be seen again.

We couldn’t believe it…he was the sweetest, most docile dog. But either way, the search was on!

Within a few hours, something was off about the boarding facility. They didn’t seem to be into the search. We were 2,000 miles away, and updates were few and far between. We called, and they told us “he’s probably hiding and sleeping right now, so we’re all going to stop looking for a while.” What!?

We got fired up. We organized our own search crew from the other side of the continent. Sparing no expense for a lost and assumed in-distress family member, my wife managed to charter a helicopter and talked a neighbor into going up with the pilot to search the area from above. Yes…seriously.

We often joked, “Digger is our favorite!” The kids were in tears. He was our boy. We couldn’t think about anything else. We made the decision to immediately fly home.

WGN Chicago TV Report

I put on my marketing hat. Posts. Facebook page. Website. Signs. Lost dog sites. You name it. And within 24 hours, the story and search became Chicago-wide news. WGN TV news even came to our home and started investigating themselves. The facility’s owner called to yell at me about getting the media involved. I asked him, “do you want to find Digger? Then, the more eyes looking, the better.” Things stayed semi-positive, until…

…it became clear that the story of “Digger the biting ninja” was completely fabricated. Digger didn’t bite anyone. Nobody in the facility actually saw him escape. The truth was prevailing.

The first billboard, on IL-53 just outside of Chicago

Things got ugly… quickly. We would put signs up, and in the morning, the signs would be gone. We had a strong guess as to where they were going. My wife, in badass response fashion, rented a digital billboard on a major Chicago expressway. Try to take that one down!

With literally hundreds of local residents searching, the phone ringing off the hook, and the website and Facebook page stood up adding a couple of thousand followers, the truth prevailed once again. One of the searchers noticed someone taking down a sign. It was one of the boarding facility’s owners. She turned on her phone and approached, managing to record a video of the conversation which went a little viral.

Soon, everyone wanted to know what really happened, including us! It was the headline in the local paper, featured on more local news, but still no Digger.

Top story, The Daily Herald, August of 2015

Yes, it’s been seven years. We did file a lawsuit which resulted in a settlement, but the goal was getting our boy back.

Digger and my daughter…the sweetest dog ever.

We still haven’t found him.

Yesterday morning on a local community group page on Facebook, someone posted a question:

“Thoughts on Baxter and Beasley doggy daycare?”

It’s SEVEN YEARS LATER. The responses? Crushing them over Digger. Almost every single one of them.

Transparency wins.

And lies are never forgotten…

#finddigger