A Highlands Ranch family is keeping hope alive in their search
for a longtime member of the family: Bernie the beagle.
Bernie, the namesake for Bernie’s Hot Dog Co., a Highlands Ranch
business owned by Joe and Su Zemla, went missing July 30. The
Zemla’s cannot explain the disappearance, and although Bernie has
run off before, he was only gone for a few hours during the
day.
Joe Zemla adopted Bernie, now 15, when he was a puppy, and they
have been attached to each other ever since. Joe and Su Zemla joked
around for years about naming a hot dog company after their pal,
and opened Bernie’s Hot Dog Co. at Highlands Ranch Parkway and
Lucent Boulevard in late 2008.
The family has enlisted the help of neighbors on Shade Crest
Point in the Firelight subdivision off Wildcat Reserve Parkway, and
has put up posters of their beloved beagle in the hopes that
someone will recognize him. Joe Zemla also contacted the Denver
Dumb Friends League, Humane Society and the sheriff’s office’s
lost-and-found division, in addition to ordering 1,000 postcards
that will be sent via direct mail. His children, ages 6 and 9, are
especially heartbroken about Bernie’s disappearance.
Zemla’s son discovered that the dog was gone the morning of July
30. Their two dogs occasionally sleep outdoors during the summer,
and Bernie did not come in the previous night. But the gate leading
into the backyard was closed and there is no way Bernie could have
dug himself an escape route. The Zemla’s home backs to open space
and there is always the fear of predatory coyotes, but Joe Zemla
insists the family would have heard noises in the backyard.
A neighbor’s dog went missing two weeks ago and has not been
found. There is a possibility that Bernie was taken, but the family
is hoping he somehow escaped and was brought in by a family that is
unaware that the Zemlas are searching for him.
The walls at Bernie’s Hot Dog Co. feature photos of dogs at the
Denver Dumb Friends League waiting to be adopted, and several
customers know about the real dog for which the eatery was named.
Joe Zemla has tried to distract himself with work, but more people
than usual seem to be asking how Bernie is doing lately. It is
tough for Zemla to let them know he is gone.
At the time of his disappearance, Bernie was wearing his collar,
which includes the family’s address. Anyone with information about
the missing dog should send an e-mail to joe@bernieshotdogs.com.
