47°
Rico, moments after he was found (CLIFFVIEW PILOT photo)
“He has excellent taste in homes,” said Garcia, a real estate broker with Coldwell Banker, “just like his mother.”
A collar that Garcia embroidered for Rico did the trick, said the landscaper who found him and dialed the number stitched on it.
Ironically, Garcia and her daughter, Camryn, just missed him hours earlier.
The pair had been out hunting all morning when “we turned left on the street he was found on instead of right,” she said.
Texts, IMs, emails and calls have been coming in since the discovery just before 3 p.m., said Garcia of River Vale, who immediately took Rico to the Emerson Animal Hospital.
“He’s a little celebrity,” she said.
The 3 1/2-year-old pooch was rescued at 12 weeks old along with two siblings.
“They were all lucky to be adopted after being fostered for a few weeks,” Garcia said.
Since then, Rico has become well known among neighbors in the Valley, where he walks daily.
Garcia said she was playing with Rico off his leash and left him with a friend so she could pick up her daughter from a soccer match around 2 o’clock Sunday afternoon.
“Within 15 minutes of him realizing I was gone he took off down the street and was gone in an instant,” she said.
Vet tech with Rico
Rico was last seen heading north on Pascack Road in Hillsdale near Woodcliff Lake after he bolted on Sunday.
He was wearing the red collar with his name and phone number embroidered on it, as well as a chain choker collar.
The family offered a $1,000 reward for Rico’s safe return. They also posted flyers and took out an ad on Craig’s list.
UPS drivers who cover River Vale and surrounding areas have pitched in, as well, carrying flyers with them.
Click here to follow Daily Voice Pascack Valley and receive free news updates.
