Sep 24, 2009 12:21 pm US/Eastern
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What started off as a leisurely stroll through the woods, quickly turned into a town-wide manhunt, or should we say dog-hunt, for a little Boston terrier named Zoe.
Zoe went missing while on a walk in Foxboro's Gilbert State Forest.
WHAT JUST HAPPENED?
Last Sunday, while Zoe's owners, John and Jess Karalis, were returning from a weekend away, Zoe was out for a walk with Jess' father in Foxboro's Gilbert State Forest.
As the two were making their way down a path, two mountain bikers flew by and spooked Zoe, who managed to shimmy out of her collar and bolt further into the woods, leaving Jess' father in the dust. "There is my father-in-law standing there with just a leash and collar saying, 'Oh…,'" John explained.
THE DOG HUNT BEGINS
Karalis was in the grocery store when he heard the news from his wife. Karalis bolted home and that's when the search began. All that day the family desperately looked for Zoe, with no luck.
Zoe is 3-years old and was adopted by the Karalis' over a year ago.
She was originally from a puppy mill, so all John and his wife wanted to do was give her a good home and lots of love. So when they learned that Zoe was lost, they were devastated. "You get so attached to this dog, you know what her history is. The whole point of adopting her is to give her a good life, and now she's in the wilderness."
OLD SCHOOL -- AND NEW SCHOOL -- SEARCH
The next morning, Karalis decided to get the word out to the neighborhood. He started putting calls out to people, asking them to keep an eye out for Zoe.
Karalis tried everything to spread the news about Zoe's disappearance. "At that point, I made up 500 lost dog posters, which I started blanketing around the neighborhood, putting in mailboxes and telephone poles," Karalis said.
He went to the post office and handed out flyers to letter carriers. He went to the schools and handed flyers out to bus drivers. He even went to the police station, where flyers were given out to officers during roll call. "Anyone driving that could do some looking while I couldn't got one."
And that's not all. Karalis took to the Web. He went on Twitter and found tweeters in the Foxboro area and told them all to keep an eye out for his missing dog.
Those people started tweeting people they knew, who then tweeted their friends, and before Karalis knew it, the word spread so fast, he started getting messages from Boston terrier message boards. "It had gotten to the point where I'd find people and say, 'I'm looking for a dog,' and they'd say, 'You looking for Zoe?'"
TIPSTERS CALL, BUT LEADS RUN DRY
So now that the word was out, the entire town had their eyes peeled for little Zoe. Over the next few days, Karalis got multiple calls from tipsters who spotted Zoe around town. "She's a small dog. She's scared, she runs away from people, but she wouldn't go far."
On Thursday, Zoe was spotted by a man mowing a large field in town, and within a half hour, Karalis was notified about his terrier's whereabouts. But by the time Karalis' family got there, Zoe was gone.
That night, Karalis went out to the field where Zoe was spotted and put out her pad and some food, hoping she would come and eat, but by Friday morning, the food had not been touched.
WE MEET AGAIN
That same day, while Karalis' father-in-law was in the field searching for Zoe, he spotted her in the distance – staring at him. "There he is, face-to-face with Zoe again, days after he lost her," said Karalis.
But before he knew, Zoe took off. She could not be caught.
THE CALL HE'D BEEN WAITING FOR
Karalis received multiple tips from people all over town who saw his little lost dog, but each tip would lead to disappointment. Karalis would rush to the spot where Zoe was last seen only to find that she was not there anymore.
But on Friday night, Karalis got the call he had been waiting for six days to hear. "I think I have your dog," the caller told him.
Karalis rushed to the woman's home and was finally reunited with his lost dog.
LUCK BROUGHT ZOE BACK
The woman who rescued Zoe recognized her from a flyer that Karalis had left in her mailbox earlier that week.
She found Zoe as she was returning from the hospital with her daughter, who plays field hockey for Foxboro High School. The teen was taken to the emergency room after hitting her head during practice.
On their way home, the family decided to get something to eat, so instead of taking their usual exit, they got off one exit early to see if they could grab something on their way home.
As they made their way onto the ramp, they found themselves behind a car that had stopped. When they got out to see what was going on, the woman spotted a dog walking nearby and quickly realized it was Zoe.
The woman called an exhausted and hungry Zoe over to her. The terrier slowly made walked toward the woman who scooped her up and brought her home.
Karalis said it was that family's decision to get off the highway early that saved his dog. "Because of the turn of events, they happened upon my dog."
REUNITED
Minutes after getting the phone call, Zoe was finally back in her owner's arms.
The first thing Karalis did when Zoe came home was take her to the vet. She had a few bumps and bruises, but will be OK.
During the search, Karalis' in-laws had offered a $500 reward for Zoe's return. When they went to deliver the money, the family would not take it. "We came to an agreement to donate it to the North Attleboro Animal Shelter in Zoe's name," Karalis said.
This search has turned Zoe into quite the celebrity. People around town are able to pick her out and Karalis says he's been stopped several times by people who want to know how his search went.
Since the incident, the Karalis' have invested in a more secure leash for Zoe to make sure this doesn't happen again. "First thing we did was get her a harness… So no more slipping out for her!"
Source: http://wbztv.com/watercooler/pets/lost.dog.found.2.1205608.html
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