Peewee’s Big Airport Adventure: PIT Operations Team Reunites Missing Dog with Owner

On Saturday, Sept. 13, at 10 p.m., Kalynn Schweichler and her family arrived at Pittsburgh International Airport from Gilbert, Arizona, with their 3-year-old Shih Tzu Peewee ready to unwind after a busy day of traveling.

But in just a few seconds, those plans changed.

In town for a family funeral, Schweichler was in the process of getting a rental car when Peewee took off running.

“Something must have spooked him – he’s a nervous dog,” Schweichler said. “My mother-in-law was holding his leash, and he just booked it.”

Schweichler’s husband and brother-in-law chased Peewee down the street. Two pulled hamstrings later, Peewee was nowhere in sight.

“I was calling everyone,” Schweichler said. “It was insane – we’re not from here. I didn’t know who could help us.”

Schweichler and her family spent the rest of their night with the Allegheny County Police Department at PIT searching for Peewee. By 5 a.m., he was still missing, and Schweichler found her spirits and energy entirely depleted.

“We were just devastated. We were thinking we might not ever find him,” she said. “We’re from out of town. How are we going to leave Pittsburgh without him?”

A community effort yields a tearful reunion

On another part of the airport’s campus, the Airport Operations team was in an all-hands-on-deck search for Peewee – a mission driven by a dedication to customer service, safety and security.

Mark Nassan, a PIT operations supervisor and airport team member of 33 years, heard about Peewee when he came in for his 6 a.m. shift on Sunday, Sept. 14. Later, PIT Operations Manager Marc Buranovsky, who has worked at the airport for 20 years, found out about the missing dog too, and they didn’t waste any time.

“We had people from the Ops team looking for him,” Buranovsky said. “It was a whole team effort.”

Meanwhile, Schweichler was working with local nonprofit H.A.R.T. (Home Pet Search and Rescue), which helps locate missing dogs in the Pittsburgh area. When Peewee was spotted on a camera, Nassan and Buranovsky knew what to do.

“Let’s go find Peewee,” Nassan said to Buranovsky.

The two men spent the next 45 minutes searching through brush, weeds and rocks until they spotted something moving.

“As I started turning around to walk away, I caught something white out of the corner of my eye,” Buranovsky said. “I pulled a branch away, and Peewee was tucked down in there.”

The two airport staff members quickly brought Peewee, who was still wearing his leash, to safety in an airport operations vehicle. They immediately called Schweichler, who happened to be on airport property searching for Peewee at that very moment.

Less than 24 hours later, her dog was back in her arms.

“I just started bawling my eyes out,” she said.

For Nassan, Buranovsky and the rest of PIT’s operations team, these kinds of missions aren’t about the praise; they’re part of the job.

“We take pride in what we do here in Ops,” Buranovsky said.

“Our job requires a lot of discipline. It’s just customer service,” Nassan added.

Schweichler was not only thrilled to be reunited with her beloved companion; she was overjoyed to see the community come together in search of her best friend.

“In the beginning, we were just defeated. We thought we weren’t going to find him,” she said. “The more support we got, it finally gave us hope that we could actually get him back. It’s been so nice to see how much everybody cares.”