'I got my dog!'

I am so grateful my closest circle of family and friends is made up of animal lovers.

Last night on CNN’s “Anderson Cooper 360,” a brief clip brought me to sweet tears of joy.

The clip was of a boy holding his 14-year-old Dalmatian just rescued after four days of being stuck in a drainpipe. The boy, through tears, happily exclaimed, “I got my dog!”

Several years ago, my son Ladd’s Boston terrier DuPont, named for Jeff Gordon’s race car, went missing.

“I know DuPont is somewhere where you can’t get to him,” I kept telling Ladd.

DuPont had a bad habit of scratching under the backyard fence and taking off. Once, he had crawled into the back of a pickup truck and ended up 15 miles away. Thankfully, because he wore an ID tag, the truck’s owner was able to bring him home.

Days and weeks passed, but I couldn’t give up hope that Ladd would get his beloved dog back.

Exactly one month to the day after DuPont went missing, I was online when my CallWave answer machine took the call: “Mom, I hope you’re sitting down. DuPont is home!”

I cannot write here words to describe the tone in Ladd’s voice.

A woman had found the little fellow, half-starved and quivering, under her car and was kind enough to bring Ladd’s “baby” home. She refused his proffered reward money. I’m certain the joy as man and animal made contact was enough.

DuPont was only a few miles away – on the other side of a major highway. Although he had lost weight, the vet pronounced him in good health.

A certain wish of animal lovers: if animals could only talk.

I kept Ladd’s phone message for a long time (until my computer crashed) and listened to it often. It brought tears of joy and a reminder of hope.