Support eases dog owner's pain

A shopkeeper says "it's been like a parade'' of kind gestures since an article about how his poodle's death was handled.

By JON WILSON

© St. Petersburg Times, published October 18, 2000

ST. PETERSBURG -- Hugs, cards and plants have greeted the surprised owner of a dog killed this month on Tyrone Boulevard.

Frank Schnorrbusch was closing his sports card store Oct. 1 at Tyrone Gardens shopping center when Taro, his 7-year-old poodle, disappeared.

The next night, a message from the city sanitation department notified Schnorrbusch that the dog's remains had been picked up.

Schnorrbusch wanted to claim the remains so he could bury Taro himself. But he was told that they already had been shipped to the dump. Schnorrbusch was upset because the remains hadn't been held longer.

Taro and his littermate Pierre were the only family he had, he said.

But people who read about Schnorrbusch's misfortune in Neighborhood Times did their best to make the Old Southeast resident feel better.

"It's been like a parade" through the store, Schnorrbusch said early this week.

"I've had more hugs and kisses, but no women have taken me home," the 72-year-old said.

"There's a boy about 12 years old came in. His mother had a plant in her hand. She brought it for Taro. And they also brought a bag of treats for Pierre," Schnorrbusch said. Pierre is deaf and cannot bark. Schnorrbusch raised the dogs together.

"They had me crying. The kid was crying, the mother was crying," he said.

The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals has offered another dog if he wants one, Schnorrbusch said.

"I'm considering it strongly. I most likely will take it up with the SPCA after the first of the year."

Meanwhile, he has plans for some of the greenery people gave him.

"I'm going to take the plants where I figure Taro got killed, and I'm going to plant them there," Schnorrbusch said.

"If I were to take them home and I couldn't keep them alive, I'd feel even worse."

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