Family Dog Still Missing After House Fire in Wyandotte

Two Wyandotte residents were still looking for their dog Tuesday after a house fire on the corner of Maple and 14th streets claimed the life of their mother and one of their two dogs Friday night.

Wyandotte resident Iris Shepherd, 56, died in the blaze.

One dog died in the fire and the other remains unaccounted for. Because of the severity of the burns, Dena Cooper, her brother Charles Shepherd and Cooper's two sons, Christian and Cameron, were unable to determine which dog died. 

Wyandotte Patch posted a photo of the two family dogs on the Wyandotte Patch Facebook page. In less than 24 hours, the post was shared more than 600 times.

Despite being seen by more than 34,300 Facebook users, the dog remains missing.

Neighbor Kathy Slack began looking into the possible whereabouts of the missing dog. She gave descriptions of both dogs, Arctic and Cotton, to the Southgate Animal Shelter. The Shelter had one dog matching the description of one of the family pets, but after Slack investigated she found it was not their dog.

Patch readers offered their sympathies and condolences for Cooper and Shepherd on the Facebook post:

• Mary Beth Kohloff: How tragic

• Lynn Papazian-Abduok: Can't complete reading to many tears! God bless & my prayers lifted.

• Samantha Stanfill: Praying for your family! So sad.

• Yyvonne Marks: I am so very sorry for you all my heart and prayers go out and hope you find your little lost dog.

• Tammy Jansma-Dm: My heart goes out to the family, and the pups. I will help to look on the computer. Prayers.

>>>See the above photo of Arctic and Cotton.