Pets become a part of the family.

They leave a paw print on your heart that never seems to go away.

But for one area woman, that small paw print has covered a broken heart for nearly two years and has led her on a journey with self-reflection, healing and finding “faith” through her loss.

Rose Reese of Jim Thorpe, an experienced dog trainer, as well as a multi-dog owner, lost her beloved 16-year-old dachshund, Tia, in the summer of 2020, in a mystery that has never been solved.

“She went missing on July 31,” she said of Tia’s disappearance. “I kept saying, what could I do? If you named it, I was doing it. I wanted to find her. I wanted to know where she was.”

But to this day, Tia’s body or location has never been found, leaving Reese in a sort of purgatory, wondering whatever happened to the pup - was she picked up by a person who found her after she got out of the yard, did she get lost in the woods and attacked? No clues have ever been found to give answers to those questions.

This loss led Reese on a journey that culminated in adopting a new pup and writing the book “Tia’s Journey to Faith.”

The months after Tia’s disappearance

Over several months after Tia went missing, Reese found herself wondering if she could do something to help others, while also helping herself.

She had a medium come in to track Tia, had tips upon tips pour in but nothing ever was found.

“I was doing everything I could to possibly find her,” Reese said, noting that her search led her to starting a lost and found pet program in her development called “For the love of Tia.”

She has spearheaded the movement and has helped some neighbors find their dogs or pets that got out in the immediate area and doing that gave her some closure; but her soul still yearned for her lost friend.

To help in the grieving process, Reese began writing in a journal. The pages were filled with her thoughts, inspirational quotes and Bible verses.

This eventually led to more.

Finding purpose

“That’s when I decided I had to go further with this whole thing,” Reese said.

Sitting in church, she asked God for direction, and through the next events, Reese said she found the direction.

“It came to me that I should start a Facebook support group” for people like her going through similar things.

But again, it just wasn’t enough.

It wasn’t until September 2021 that God spoke to Reese again and led her hand to begin to write.

“I never wrote a book in my life,” she said. “But I felt I needed to write a book.”

It took months to find where to begin, but through God’s grace, she started putting pen to paper and also found a publisher in a friend from a Facebook group she had followed.

In January, she took a writing course and following that, the words started to flow.

Reese worked with her publisher and found the path she knew she needed to take in the book, and soon found a new path that she never thought this journey would take her on.

Finding Faith

In 2017, Reese spoke with a breeder who wanted to know more about the Tellington Touch, a type of training to help animals that Reese is certified in.

Three years later, after Tia went missing, Reese reached out to the breeder to see if she had any guidance on anything Reese could have been missing in the search.

On Nov. 3, she called the breeder back to see if she was still breeding dachshunds.

Two days later, a woodpecker showed up, sat on her window and knocked.

“He made two more visits on the 24th and 27th and he came to our front door and knocked,” she said.

Her new puppy Faith was born on Nov. 4, and Reese takes this sign from the woodpecker as a sign that they were meant to be.

The breeder called Reese and told her that the puppy was missing a paw, and if she was interested, she could have her.

“I asked myself, Am I ready for this? I’m still looking for Tia.”

But after some reflection, Reese felt this pup was meant for her.

It was then that she named her Faith.

“It’s been going on since 2020,” Reese said of her journey, from losing Tia to finding Faith; but it has helped her find joy in her life and realization for the purpose of her story to be told.

The Facebook page she created is still active but private so Reese says that if you are interested in joining to talk about a lost pet or grieving over one, to contact her on her Facebook page Reeses Training from the Heart, and she will provide more information on the group.