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Tuesday, April 23, 2002

By Johnna A. Pro, Post-Gazette Staff Writer

Juanita Kratochvil is quick to point out that she was raised with six brothers, and among her own brood of five children, three are boys. That means she spent most of her life helping to care for critters, big and small.

	It's a happy reunion yesterday as Gerard Vrabely of Economy holds his pet, Mr. Duck, while Blackie, his beagle, watches nearby. (Gabor Degre, Post-Gazette)

So on Saturday night, even though she had a house full of company, Kratochvil barely flinched when her son, Jason, 20, marched through the front door of their Economy home and shouted, "Hey mom. I caught a duck."

"Right now, we have tree frogs and crickets. It's just amazing what boys will bring home," Kratochvil said. "I've seen all kind of creatures."

That said, however, Kratochvil was a little taken aback to learn that the duck's companion was on her front porch, too. And it wasn't another duck. Heck, it wasn't even a goose.

It was a dog. A limping old beagle to be exact.

"It's just so comical," said Kratochvil, who reunited the animals with their owner yesterday. "They were inseparable. When the dog lays down and nestles, the duck lays down with him."

The duck, whose name is Mr. Duck, 4, and the dog, Blackie, 13, belong to Gerard Vrabely, who lives on his family's small farm just over the hill and down the creek from the Kratochvil home.

"They have freedom to run as much as they want," Vrabely said.

The animals belonged to Vrabely's late father, John Sr., who had Blackie for years and who got the duck when Vrabely's brother, John Jr., brought six ducklings to the farm from Ohio nearly four years ago.

The other five ducks died over the years, leaving Mr. Duck alone.

Without his own kind to cavort with, Mr. Duck took to Blackie.

The animals are inseparable and often wander the Vrabely property. They play in a nearby creek, sleep together and share food. In fact, they were on the family porch around 2:30 a.m. Saturday when Vrabely returned home from a second job.

"They feel safer together," Vrabely said.

Later that morning, though, when Vrabely's daughter, Anna, went to feed them, they were gone. And by Saturday night, the family was worried because the duck and the dog had never wandered off and failed to return home.

At the same time the Vrabelys were worrying, Jason Kratochvil and his friends were out on the front porch when they heard a quacking noise. That's when Blackie and then Mr. Duck wandered into the yard.

"When I brought the duck in the house, my sister said, 'That's not even real,' " Jason said, laughing. "I said, 'Yes, it is. Where am I going to get a fake duck?' "

The Kratochvils phoned Economy police, who, after laughing hysterically, took a report in case anyone called looking for the animals.

Juanita Kratochvil made room for them in her laundry room and fed them Kibbles 'n Bits left behind by a family dog the Kratochvils had put to sleep two months ago.

On Sunday, she phoned the Beaver County Times, the local newspaper. Editors there dispatched a reporter and photographer and the story of how the family found Blackie and Mr. Duck was in yesterday's paper.

Vrabely had just arrived at work around 6 a.m. and noticed the story and picture as a colleague was flipping through the paper.

"I said, 'That's him. That's my dog and that's Mr. Duck,' " Vrabely said.

He immediately called Kratochvil.

"I never expected them to be here," Vrabely said when he and Anna came to get the animals. "I've never had a problem with them. This is the first time. These are my bad kids. They're grounded."