Grateful family will have chance to thank dog rescuer
The mystery of the identity of the anonymous Hollister hero who
rescued a wandering dog on Hwy. 68 in Salinas and returned it to
its grateful 90-year-old owner in Santa Cruz was quickly solved
after hitting the paper last week. The man’s name: Chris
Stainton.
From all accounts, Stainton is the type of guy you’d want to
find your lost dog. He owns seven dogs, most of whom he either
rescued or found as strays. When he finds a stray, he doesn’t just
take it to the animal shelter. He puts an advertisement in the
paper seeking the owner; and in the meantime he takes care of it
like it was his own.
Grateful family will have chance to thank dog rescuer
The mystery of the identity of the anonymous Hollister hero who rescued a wandering dog on Hwy. 68 in Salinas and returned it to its grateful 90-year-old owner in Santa Cruz was quickly solved after hitting the paper last week. The man’s name: Chris Stainton.
From all accounts, Stainton is the type of guy you’d want to find your lost dog. He owns seven dogs, most of whom he either rescued or found as strays. When he finds a stray, he doesn’t just take it to the animal shelter. He puts an advertisement in the paper seeking the owner; and in the meantime he takes care of it like it was his own.
Two of the people who responded to The Pinnacle story about Stainton’s rescue of Buttons the dog were men who know him well – his father and his dispatcher at United Rentals in Salinas. Both men spoke highly of Stainton, 44.
John Grajek, the dispatcher, said Stainton brought Buttons in to the United Rentals office after finding it wandering on the busy roadway and was determined to reunite the dog with its owner.
“We looked at the dog and saw its name tag,” Grajek said. “I started doing a search of the owner’s name and we found her address and he took it up there (to Santa Cruz). That was his intention the whole time.”
Grajek recalls a couple of stray dogs wandering into the United Rentals yard about six months ago and Stainton took both of them home, wanting to make sure they were cared for. He also searched for their owners, but to no avail.
“He’s always had a kind heart for animals,” Grajek said.
Stainton’s father, Bruce, a local real estate appraiser, first heard the story at a family barbecue last weekend.
“Some family said, ‘Hey, did you hear about Chris?'”
He hadn’t, but that wasn’t surprising, he said, because his son is “pretty tight-lipped and he doesn’t want notoriety,” Bruce said. “I didn’t doubt the story one bit, though. He’s that kind of guy, He rescues animals.”
Chris and his fiancee live on Orchard Road, where they currently have seven dogs, including a deaf albino boxer that Chris rescued.
As a testament to what the animals mean to him, Stainton’s dad said “every one of them is his favorite.”
“That’s the kind of guy he is,” Bruce Stainton added. “He likes animals and he wouldn’t have wanted (Buttons) to be alone. He probably would have brought him home and put an ad in the paper if he couldn’t find the owner.”
When Grajek realized that the Dalman family was looking to get in touch with Chris Stainton, he called Chris Dalman – whose grandmother owns Buttons – and gave him Stainton’s number this week.
Dalman’s dad had already compensated Stainton for his time and effort with a reward on the day he returned the dog, but the rest of the family didn’t have a chance to thank the humble truck driver for his selfless efforts. Now that will change.
“He’s always been a good kid,” Stainton’s dad said this week, the pride obvious in his voice. “He’s never given me or his mother any problems. He’s really a good guy. I’m pretty proud of him.”
It will be a happy ending to this dog tale.
Adam Breen teaches newspaper and yearbook classes at San Benito High School and is a reporter for The Pinnacle. He is former editor of the Free Lance. He can be reached by e-mail at [email protected].
