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Navy sailor's plea for help finding his dog sparks debate when rescue family refuses to give him up

Who has the "right" to keep Archie: His original owner, or the people who cared for him for months?

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The Internet helped a man find his missing dog. But the family who rescued him didn't want to give him up.

Finding good, reliable dog sitting is difficult under normal circumstances. Who can you really trust to take care of your dog? Will they be safe? Will they be scared while you're gone? When you're a soldier in the US military deployed for months at a time, dog-care can turn into an actual nightmare very quickly.

No one knows this better than Paulo Silva, a US Navy soldier who was recently deployed on an aircraft carrier in the Middle East for eight months. While he was away, Silva trusted a relative to watch his five-year-old Golden Retriever and certified bestie, Archie.

When Silva returned home, excited to reunite with his best friend, he was shocked to find the dog gone.

dogs, golden retriever, puppy, soldier, us navy, social media, facebook, viral, heartwarming, love, familyArchie, a 5-year-old golden retriever, became the unwitting subject of a social media custody battle. Photo by Mitchell Luo on Unsplash

“A family member that was well-trusted felt they had no choice but to give away my dog,” Silva told the Asbury Park Press. “At no point was I told about it (before returning home) and I had asked time and time again about him." The relative told Silva that Archie was having trouble settling in, but the decision still came as a massive shock. Worse, Silva's relative couldn't or wouldn't provide him the contact information of the family he'd given Archie to. In interviews, Silva hasn't said much about the reasoning behind these cruel decisions. All he knew was he was scared and left scrambling.

Silva posted a desperate plea to Facebook for anyone with information to contact him. Then social media did what it always seems to do in stories like this one: it delivered.

The post went mega-viral, being shared all across different social and professional networks in the area, and before too long, Silva received tips about where he could find his dog. Not too long after that, Silva and Archie were joyously reunited.

What a perfect happy ending for this feel-good social media story, right? Well, not quite.

It's easy to root for the storybook ending, but there's another family at the other end of the story. For them, it's anything but a fairy tale.


When the tipster first reached out to Silva with Archie's whereabouts, there was one problem: the people who had taken Archie in didn't want to give him up and wouldn't respond to messages.

He had been adopted, apparently freely, by a young woman and her boyfriend when Silva's relative decided to find Archie a new home. In their minds, Archie belonged to them, fair and square, and after months of love and snuggles and care, they had bonded deeply with him. They were sorry for the situation Silva found himself in, but they weren't going to simply "roll over."

Silva then wrote an open letter to Archie's new family, pleading his case.

"This dog isn’t just a pet to me. He is my heart, my companion, and a piece of my soul that helped carry me through some of the hardest times in my life. We’ve been through everything together—before my deployment, during training, and through the toughest emotional battles. That kind of bond is irreplaceable," he wrote.

"I love this dog more than words can express—more than life itself. First, I want to say that I appreciate that you’ve cared for my dog. I have no doubt that you’re good people and that you’ve offered a safe and loving home. But I need you to know that this wasn’t supposed to happen. I was never asked, never informed, and never had the chance to speak up or say goodbye. I left for duty trusting that my dog would be waiting for me when I came home. I’m reaching out publicly not out of anger, but out of heartbreak. I am respectfully asking you to please consider returning my dog to me. I know this isn’t an easy request, and I understand that emotions may be involved on both sides—but I am pleading with you, not just as a veteran, but as someone who lost something deeply precious to them without any choice or voice in the matter."

According to the Asbury Press, Silva was considering legal action if the couple didn't return Archie.

Eventually, the woman and her boyfriend who had adopted Archie decided to return him to Silva. They were heartbroken about the decision.

Even worse, beyond just losing the dog they loved, Jamie Goldstein and her boyfriend were cast as villains in the now-viral story. They began receiving hate messages and public pressure to turn over the dog. While some people threw their support behind the couple's right to keep Archie, many more sent nasty messages and threats.

After they decided to send Archie back to his original home, Goldstein shared an emotional letter of her own on social media.


"He is the sweetest boy and everyone who has met him can attest to it. I love this dog with all my heart," she wrote. "Archie was never stolen, he was given to my boyfriend, we just loved him as our own. ... I can only imagine how Paulo felt when he came back from serving our country & didnt know where sweet Archie was. This feels like a mourning. I miss you so much already, I hope you are safe & getting all the love you deserve, baby Archie. We miss you so much."

Although the couple ultimately did the right thing, it's hard not to feel deeply for them and their loss. Their quick love for Archie was so apparent, and it's unfair that things unfolded the way they did.

As for Silva, he's incredibly grateful for the family that took Archie in and loved him for those many months.

"I do not see them as villains and you shouldn’t either," he wrote in another post. "I know their hearts were in the right place. Thank you both for loving Archie as your own. I will always be grateful for that. I will never stop showing you guys my love and support."

He even offered to arrange an "open door policy" so the couple could visit Archie any time they wanted.

While the story is full of debate and heartbreak, there is one clear winner: Archie. What a lucky pup to be so loved by two different families. If anything, the story speaks volumes about how quickly and powerfully pets can find a place in our hearts. It also ends with mutual kindness, both in the couple returning Archie and Silva handling the conflict with grace. It may not be your typical feel-good social media reunion, but it's got plenty of silver lining.

Images pulled from YouTube video.

Frank Mouqué uses virtual reality to explore a town he liberated in 1944.

From a chair in his nursing home, 91-year-old veteran Frank Mouqué virtually stood in the town square of Armentières, France — the town he helped liberate during WWII.

"We were bombed, shelled, sniped, fired at constantly," Mouque recalled of his time in the war. "There were quite a number of casualties. I lost a lot of my friends."


With a virtual reality headset strapped to his head, Mouqué was transported to the site of his most vivid memories: seeing in rich detail the town he first stepped foot in back in 1944 and hearing the voices of people who are free, in part, because of him.

It was weeks after D-Day and the allied troops were marching their way through France, Belgium, Holland, and Germany, freeing every city they could from Nazi occupation. One of those cities was Armentières, a tiny village in Northern France, just below the Belgian border.

After a hard fight, allied troops successfully liberated Armentières. What Mouqué remembers more than anything is the warm reception he and his company received from the people there. The families that took him in and the people who came out to thank him and his fellow soldiers are memories that have stayed with Mouqué for over 70 years.

In honor of Remembrance Day 2016, Twine, a U.K.-based network of innovators and creatives, decided to honor Mouqué with a one-of-a-kind virtual reality experience.

They, along with Mutiny Media travelled to modern day Armentières and made a video for Mouqué in which members of the town personally thanked him for his service.

Watch Frank's virtual experience here:

The film was shot using 360-degree video technology, so when Mouqué viewed it through a virtual reality visor, it was like he was really there — walking through the streets, hearing a chorus of children sing to him, and even receiving a medal from the mayor. Mouqué was also given the medal in real life, which he said he was honored to receive on behalf of everyone who was there.

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A virtual reality video of the mayor presenting Frank with a medal.

Image pulled from YouTube video.

"We saw the potential of virtual reality, but had not yet come across anyone using it for the benefit of veterans," Stuart Logan, CEO and co-founder of Twine explained via email.

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Frank watches the video of his medal presentation wearing a VR headset.

Image pulled from YouTube video.

Virtual reality is relatively new, meaning the boundaries of its ability to truly affect people are still being explored.

"I think this project shows just how powerful VR can be as a tool to transport people — physically and emotionally," Logan explained. "From the response of the people of Armentières when we first explained our idea — they immediately understood how poignant and important project this was going to be — all the way through to Frank’s incredible reaction to the experience, it’s been very moving."

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Frank shares about his VR experience.

Image pulled from YouTube video.

"My grandfather fought in the war, so it’s personally a very significant project for me," Logan said. "It was incredibly important to recognize [veterans] and how their actions created the world we enjoy today," Logan said.

Frank Mouqué probably thought he'd never see Armentières in person again.

With a little creativity, ingenuity, and technology, he was not only able to see it, but feel like he was really there. That's a gift that is more than just a novelty. It's the heartwarming conclusion to a story that began decades ago and will echo through years to come.

Watch Frank's reaction to the virtual reality experience here:


Don't look now, but Democrats and Republicans in Congress just agreed with each other — on something that's actually 100% worth doing.

Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images.


They're honoring the long-neglected, fearless, all-around badass women pilots who served in World War II.

Photo by the U.S. Air Force/Wikimedia Commons.

According to an NPR report, the bipartisan bill would finally allow former WASPs — the Women Air Force Service Pilots who flew in WWII — to be buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

Photo by R.D. Ward/Department of Defense.

Currently, these women are barred from being interred at the cemetery because they were technically classified as civilians at the time of their service.

The legislation was introduced by Arizona Rep. Martha McSally and it passed yesterday.

Who were the WASPs?

Photo by the U.S. Air Force/Wikimedia Commons.

They were women who were trained to fly training, transport, and supply missions during World War II. Because of a shortage of male pilots on the home front, the U.S. military somewhat reluctantly gave these critical jobs to women.

Predictably, the women killed it.

Women like...

Jacqueline Cochran

Photo by the U.S. Air Force/Wikimedia Commons.

After helping launch the WASP program, Cochran became the first woman to fly a bomber across the Atlantic Ocean. To this day, she, "holds more international speed, distance and altitude records than any other pilot, male or female," according to the National WASP World War II Museum.

Mickey Axton


Photo by the U.S. Department of Defense/Wikimedia Commons.

One of a select group of women to be trained as test pilots ("Hey, uh, so, good news! We invented a new plane. How would you like to be the first person to see if it actually flies?"), Axton became the first woman to pilot the massive B-29 in 1944.

Cornelia Fort

Photo by U.S. Air Force/Wikimedia Commons.

Fort was one of the few American pilots airborne during the attack on Pearl Harbor, and during the battle, her quick thinking enabled her to evade an oncoming Japanese Zero and save herself and the male student she was training. She spent several months ferrying planes from factories to military bases, until she was killed in a midair collision.

Giving these brave women a place alongside the men they served with is long overdue.

Though their missions were noncombat, the flights were not without risk, and many gave their lives in the process — 38 in total.

Indeed, too many of them are no longer with us, and their role in helping win the war was too critical to deny them the honor they deserve because of a technicality.

An appropriate burial is the least we can do.

Photo by Saul Loeb/Getty Images.

It might be too late. It might even be too little.

But it's what we owe them.