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Hot dogs, a microchip, and an 11-year reunion
A pit bull named Forty-Cal finds his way home after 11 years, the two-step trick that makes a mood shift actually stick, and a Capitol mystery.
Greg Sullivan
September 18, 2026 • Est. Reading Time: 4 minutes
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“Some days seem to fit together like a stained glass window. A hundred little pieces of different color and mood that, when combined, create a complete picture.”
― Maggie Stiefvater
Two stories about not giving up before the good part. Psychologists found that reframing a bad moment only works if you keep going past step one. And a Philadelphia woman kept going for 11 years, updating a microchip for a dog she had every reason to believe was gone.
Health
A new perspective helps, but it isn’t enough.
Your boss sits you down and says your work is slipping. In an instant, your brain starts catastrophizing. “I suck! I’m the worst! I’ve never been any good at anything!” Then you spot the employee-of-the-month plaque you earned after a brutal quarter. Suddenly, this rough moment has some context.
Psychologists have long known that changing how we interpret a situation can change how we feel, an idea that also shows up in tricks for naming negative thoughts and attempts to reframe anxiety as excitement. But as psychologist Christian Waugh reports, researchers wondered whether simply finding a better perspective was actually enough. So they split the process apart and tested what happened at each stage.
Participants got some relief after coming up with a new interpretation. But researchers found something much more interesting when people had the chance to keep going, especially because a surprising number of us apparently bail on the process before it does its best work. Making a new perspective stick takes a little more effort than your inspirational mug would have you believe.
Frequent contributor and master of composition and framing Dan Ferrarese shared this image. Dan seems to believe in a picture being worth a thousand words, because this lovely submission came with only the word ‘Sedona’.
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How would your pet greet you after 11 years apart?Forty-Cal's answer made the shelter staff look silly. What's yours? |
And what did we learn?
In yesterday’s issue, we shared that it was the 239th anniversary of the Constitution's signing.
And we asked how many delegates signed the U.S. Constitution on September 17, 1787? The right answer just barely eeked out the win at 47.9%.
13 (46.4%)
39 (47.9%) ✅
55 (4.6%)
76 (1.0%)
55 delegates attended the Constitutional Convention, which lasted four grueling months. 3 refused to sign because they were demanding a Bill of Rights, which of course came later, and another 13 had just… gone home! Leaving our 39 signatories.
Culture | Courtesy of Upworthy
 | ||
What trends are accepted now but will be embarrassing in the future? Our readers shared 21 ideas. | ||
Today’s trend is tomorrow’s cringe. | ||
By Tod Perry | ||
We can all be sure that as society evolves, many things that seem normal today will be cringeworthy to people in the future, whether it’s our fashion, politics, civility, or our treatment of the environment. | ||
If we look back just 30 years ago, same-sex marriage was illegal, people routinely smoked in bars and restaurants, and it was fashionable and cool to vogue. | ||
So, when we look back on the world of the 2020s, there are bound to be many things that we’ll be embarrassed about in 30 years, especially when we are forced to live with the repercussions of the decisions we make today. On a lighter note, we’ll all also have clouds full of photos of ourselves wearing hairstyles and clothes that look utterly ridiculous in hindsight. | ||
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Local News
Eleven years is a long time to keep the faith.
I've written stories about lottery winners, health miracles, and found gold... but I don't think I've ever been quite as jealous of a story as I am of this one. In 2015, a Philadelphia woman named Jourdyn Koziak lost her pit bull, Forty-Cal, from her backyard. Probably stolen. Gone. She moved counties, built a whole new chapter of her life, and still, every single year, kept his microchip information up to date. Just in case.
Earlier this year, a little girl found a friendly pit bull walking up to her on a street in Philly. Her family fed him hot dogs and called Animal Control. The shelter scanned his chip, found Koziak's number, and made a call she almost didn't believe. When she finally showed up, the staff pulled her aside and gently warned her: after eleven years, he might not recognize her. As Erik Barnes reports, they were wrong.
Who’s a GOOD boy/girl?
Image of the Day has its own lane, but the pet pics keep arriving, and I am not made of stone. So every Friday, I’ll share one reader-submitted photo of a favorite pet. Want yours featured? Send it along.
If I gave you 3 guesses what this handsome fellow was named, you wouldn’t need the second or third. Meet Bubba, the two-year-old tabby of GOOD reader Rosemary Coffman.
On September 18, 1793, George Washington laid the cornerstone of the U.S. Capitol during a grand ceremony in the still largely unfinished city of Washington. There were brass bands, artillery, a parade, Masonic regalia, and an inscribed silver plate placed beneath the stone. A suitably monumental beginning for one of the most recognizable buildings in America. There is just one small problem: nobody knows exactly where the cornerstone is anymore.
Historians know the ceremony happened and have contemporary accounts describing it, but more than two centuries of searching have failed to conclusively locate the stone Washington himself laid. Two hundred thirty-three years later, one of America’s most important buildings is still keeping one of its oldest secrets.
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💬 From the group text…
Behold the bountiful spoils of a photo-hunt in the highlands.
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Until next week, stick to that GOOD thing you’re doing, it may yet pay off! (He says, contemplating whether to go on a walk or plop on the couch.)