SWEET PICKLES: The Ditmas Park owners of Pickles the pooch found their mutt largely unharmed after he
spent three months on the street. Photo by Colin Mixson
far south as Marine Park, and
as far north as near Grand
Army Plaza, over the monthslong
ordeal, prompting the
Masellas and Wag employees
to canvas the borough with fl iers
about the lost dog, which
this newspaper’s staff spotted
in neighborhoods including
Bushwick, Sunset Park, and
Park Slope.
The rescuers zeroed in on
the area near Brooklyn College
after several people reported
seeing Pickles there
over the last month, and Masella
— along with animal-loving
pals Teddy Henns and Carmen
Brothers of Professional
Pet Trackers — recently set up
cameras and traps along the
old train line that helped them
fi nally corral the beast the
night of Nov. 26.
Of course, Pickles wasn’t
BY COLIN MIXSON
This lost pup is home — just in
time for the holidays!
The owners of a pooch that
went missing from his Ditmas
Park home in August reunited
with their pup last week, after
a desperate, three-month
search that took them across
the borough.
But Pickles, an Australiancattle
dog mix who previously
escaped certain death by canine
butchers in his native
Thailand, didn’t spend his
time on the lam alone — rescuers
found him in the company
of a female mutt that’s been
missing ever since she escaped
while on a walk with her foster
family in 2016, according
to the good boy’s mom.
“It’s very ‘Homeward
Bound,’ ” said Jasmin Cruz
Masella, comparing Pickles
and his pal Violet’s adventure
to the 1993 fl ick about two
lost dogs and a cat searching
for their family. “He actually
found a girlfriend, and she’s
been missing for two years!”
Rescuers on Nov. 26 recovered
the pup pair near the
defunct freight-train tracks
that run past Brooklyn College,
which the dogs shared
with other stray canines and
felines, all of whom took advantage
of the area’s seclusion
and seemingly unlimited supply
of tasty scraps, according
to Pickles’s dad, who said his
mutt actually gained weight
in the weeks since he ran off
during a stroll with a walker
from pet-sitting service Wag.
“It was like a big vacation
for him,” said Joe Masella.
“There were tons of people
feeding cats, tons of people
throwing out garbage — he
probably ate better than we
did most nights.”
Pickles, however, didn’t always
stay close to the tracks
during his time away. Locals
spotted the pup in locations as
alone by then, and his owners
took both him and Violet
— a Staffordshire-terrier-lab
mix — to a local vet upon discovering
the duo. There, doctors
scanned a microchip implanted
in the four-legged gal,
and discovered she was once
a guest at Windsor Terrace’s
Sean Casey Animal Rescue,
according to Masella, who
said Violet’s previous caretakers
searched for her for a year
before assuming she was gone
for good.
Pickles’s girlfriend is now
back at Casey’s shelter for socialization
training, but Masella
said his dog grew so fond
of his female companion during
their time together that he
and his wife are considering
adopting her to keep the lovebirds
together.
“She didn’t want to leave
his side,” the dog dad said.
“She actually dragged me
back to the vet when I tried to
walk her. If they’re best pals,
and did that well together for
that long, we’ll have to see.”
And the Masellas are awfully
glad to reach the end of
the ordeal — especially after
Pickles already defi ed death at
the hands of butchers who captured
home country in Asia, where
he was destined to become dog
meat until do-gooders with the
Soi Dog Foundation rescued
him and shipped him to safety
in Brooklyn, where the family
adopted him.
“We’re just absolutely
thankful, and couldn’t have
imagined all this coming together,”
“It’s really a Christmas miracle
INSIDE
A killer show!
Don’t miss your ‘Appointment with Death’
MBy Julianne McShane ake an appointment with the
Gallery Players!
The latest production from
Park Slope’s own theater company is a
twisty mystery tale full of compelling
characters who must grapple with questions
of love, freedom — and murder.
“Appointment with Death,” which runs
through Dec. 16, was adapted for the stage
— and given a different ending — by the
legendary author Agatha Christie, based
on her novel of the same name.
The story is set in Jerusalem in 1938,
where Mrs. Boynton (Noelle McGrath,
fantastic as a sadistic old battle-ax) has
dragged her brood of adult stepchildren
— nearly brainwashed Raymond
Death becomes her: Matriarch Mrs. Boynton
(Noelle McGrath) berates her son Raymond
(Ryan Wright) in the convoluted mystery, now
running at Gallery Players. Alice Teeple
(Ryan Wright); paranoid Ginevra (Rosa
Procaccino, wonderful as a woman convinced
the others are out to poison her);
and listless Lennox (David Jacobs) and his
wife, Nadine (Rhiannon McClintock) —
to take in the sights of the holy city.
There is plenty of drama in the group,
as elderly Mrs. Boynton barks orders at
her cowed family, but initially, Nadine is
the only member of the pack with enough
perspective to realize that the old woman
controls their lives.
But once this gang meets a disjointed
cast of characters staying at the same hotel
— including a cerebral pair of doctors, a
self-possessed British dame, and a feisty
Irish lad, among others — all of their lives
quickly become intertwined. Raymond
Deadly earnest: In the play “Appointment with
Death,” now running at the Gallery Players in
Park Slope, Ginevra Boynton (Rosa Procaccino)
discusses the mysterious murder with Colonel
Carbery (Taylor Hanes). Alice Teeple
falls for British doctor Sarah King (a
remarkable Kat Murphy), whom his mother
hates — and after a series of revelations,
both brothers become convinced that the
old woman must die.
But when Mrs. Boynton mysteriously
drops dead, suspicions abound — because
everyone seems to have a motive!
You’ll have to see the play to find out
whodunnit. Only one person did the deed
— but nearly all of the characters will, at
one point or another, have you on the edge
of your seat during this exceptional show.
“Appointment with Death” at Gallery
Players (199 14th St. between Fourth and
Fifth avenues in Park Slope, (718) 595–
0547, www.galleryplayers.com). Through
Dec. 16; Thu–Fri at 8 pm; Sat at 2 pm and
8 pm; Sun at 3 pm. $25 ($20 seniors and
kids under 12).
Your entertainment
guide Page 61
Police Blotter ..........................8
Party Line .............................22
Letters ....................................30
The Right View .................... 32
Gift Guide .............................. 35
Health ..................................... 49
Standing O ............................58
HOW TO REACH US
COURIER L 2 IFE, DEC. 7–13, 2018 M B G
him on the streets of his
said Cruz Masella.
for us.”
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DILL-IGHTFUL!
Lost dog, Pickles, rescued after three-month borowide search
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