SAN DIEGO — It was just another Wednesday afternoon at work for Linda Lynch and Caroline Brewer at their office near Murphy Canyon- when Lynch got a call from her co-worker.
"She said there was a dog running through the parking lot without a collar, and could I bring some food down that he might eat?" said Lynch. "So I opened a drawer and I saw a bag of Cheetos. I thought, what dog doesn't love Cheetos?"
And she was right, the women were able to coax the shy and scared chihuahua mix into having a few of the cheesy snacks. What she didn’t know, was this little guy has been on the run and had been evading the law like San Diego Humane Society Officer Blackburn for weeks.
"It actually started about two weeks ago, one of my colleagues got a call that there was a dog on the freeway on the 15 off of Friars road," said the officer.
After countless calls from businesses and concerned dog lovers, Blackburn and the humane society did what they could to wrangle the elusive pup around the 15 freeway with food traps and even the help of CHP, but still couldn’t take him in.
But with the help of Lynch and the bag of chips she kept in her desk, Officer Blackburn was able to bring the pup into the safety of the humane society. All he needed was a name: Cheeto for the irresistible snack and Murphy for the canyon where he was found.
"We've been given him hot dogs. He's going away from Cheetos. He likes other things now," said Blackburn. "He really is sweet. He doesn't want to be fearful. He doesn't want to be mean, but he definitely needs to trust someone."
Cheeto Murphy will be held at the humane society for four days for evaluation and to see if the original owner can claim him. But after that, the once elusive pup will go up for adoption. And there’s certainly interest from some that got a glimpse of him eating those fateful Cheetos.
"We have a couple of coworkers who are kind of thinking they might be interested," said Brewer "So if one of our co-workers could adopt him, that'd be a great full circle."
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