Christmastime at Sailer’s Greenhouse is always joyfully busy. In between crafting holiday floral arrangements for their customers, the Minnisota-based nursery typically hosts a Santa meet and greet and toy drive for their community. While the staff are used to seeing familiar faces at their annual holiday party, this year’s crowd brought in someone completely unexpected.
The party was well underway, with families of kids and pets lined up to meet Santa, when Sailer’s Greenhouse’s Nikki Sailer spotted a particularly happy customer in the crowd.
“I was checking in with everybody, seeing if they’re OK, and then all of a sudden, I saw this yellow Lab,” Sailer told The Dodo. “She had a big stick in her mouth, and she was bouncing around the greenhouse.”
Sailer didn’t recognize the pup, but there were plenty of dogs in attendance whom she’d just met for the first time that day. And even though this dog was running around freely while most other pups with families were safely leashed by their sides, Sailer didn’t think much of it.
“I just figured she was one of our customer’s dogs,” Sailer said.
But after a while, Sailer became curious about the rogue dog. She kept an eye on the pup and started asking around for her family.
“I was kind of asking people, like, ‘Is this your dog?’ And everybody was like, ‘No,’” Sailer said. “And she was just having a blast, bouncing around and trying to play with other dogs.”
You can see more pictures from the holiday party here:
Moments later, a frequent customer approached Sailer with a concerned look.
“One of our regular customers came in, and she was like, ‘Nikki, I think there’s a dog here,’” Sailer said.
When Sailer agreed that there were, in fact, many dogs in attendance, the customer clarified her statement.
“She was like, ‘No, I saw her walking. I don’t think she’s with somebody. I think she’s lost,’” Sailer said.
The customer described seeing a yellow Lab walking alone down the street leading to Sailer’s Greenhouse. Then, the dog disappeared into the building.
Sailer immediately jumped into action. She grabbed a leash and safely corralled the pup away from the crowd.
After posting about the pup on Facebook, hoping to find her family, Sailer walked with the dog around the party to continue their hosting duties. That’s when the rambunctious pup got to meet someone special.
“We were just walking around, doing our work,” Sailer said. “And she went and got her picture with Santa.”
On Facebook, Sailer’s post about the dog started to gain traction. Several commenters suggested the dog could belong to Katie Dee Huth, a frequent customer who lived in the area and had already called the police to report that her dog was missing.
When Huth saw Sailer’s Greenhouse’s post and confirmed she was the pup’s owner, Sailer couldn’t help but smile thinking about their previous conversations.
“We were laughing because we always talked about our dogs, since she’s got a Lab and we’ve got Labs at the greenhouse,” Sailer said. “She’s like, ‘I love Riley, but she’s got a naughty streak to her.’ So everybody was like, ‘Of course, she ran off to go visit Santa.’”
The dog’s spontaneous trip to the greenhouse confirmed her mom’s comments about her, and the staff couldn’t get enough of it. They were happy to reconnect the dog, named Rylee, to her family, but they were somewhat sad to see her go.
“She was so stinking cute,” Sailer said. “We were kind of joking with her, like, ‘We don’t care if we find your family or not. We’re going to keep you if we don’t.’ And then, word got out and Katie came and picked her up.”
Rylee soon returned home with a satisfied smile on her face. After playing with so many new dogs and meeting a jolly man in a red suit, Rylee was ready to settle into her bed for a much needed nap.
It’s been a few days since the holiday party, and the folks at Sailer’s Greenhouse have yet to see Rylee again. They look forward to reuniting with the adorable, festive pup, but this time with her family in tow.
“She’ll be back,” Sailer said. “She’ll come and visit.”
