Charlie, golden retriever

Missing dog reunited with owners

By Guy Clifton

February 19, 2010

Bob Buss and his wife, Bourne, are glad their golden retriever, Charlie, is home after being lost for weeks.

Reno's Bob and Bourne Buss were 3,000 miles away from home in late December when they received a phone call telling them their beloved golden retriever Charlie had run away.

The Busses had left 5-year-old Charlie with friends in northwest Reno and traveled to Maryland to visit their kids and grandkids for the Christmas holiday. Gentle, but shy, Charlie had bolted out the door of the friends' house and despite their extensive searching, could not be found. It was Dec. 22.

When the Busses returned from their trip a few days later, Charlie was still missing. They joined the search effort, which included plastering the northwest Reno neighborhoods with posters and using social media sites such as Facebook, Craig's List and Petfinder to get the word out for people to be on the lookout for Charlie.

Worry; a search

His owners were understandably worried. Not only was Charlie naturally shy, but also had never been far from the family home in southwest Reno.

To make matters worse, Reno was gripped by frigid temperatures with snow still on the ground from large winter storms earlier in the month. They also knew all too well the stories about pets in the Truckee Meadows ending up as food for coyotes.

"He was raised a house dog," Bob Buss said. "He would only go outside to pick up the paper for us or to be in our yard. I was terrified when he ran away that he would either freeze to death because it was the middle of winter or be hit by a car because he didn't know what a car was."

So they searched. And they worried. And the days turned into weeks.

"When you don't know what's happened to a dog, it's heartbreaking," Bourne Buss said. "Every time the snow came or it went below freezing, I just would lie awake at night and wonder if he was OK."

What kept the Busses going were the posters and network of social media. Charlie was spotted in the vicinity of Mountain View Cemetery. Some people were able to get within a few yards of him before he would bolt away.

"He's a very fast runner, and he kept eluding everybody," Bourne Buss said. "One of the firemen chased him up the hill one day, but he found a hole in the fence and was gone.

"It was an odyssey. Every time we began to lose heart, somebody would call and say, 'We've seen him.' The sightings kind of kept us going."

After several weeks, it became apparent Charlie was spending much of his time in the vicinity of Mountain View Cemetery. The Busses began to leave food and some of Bob's old clothing in front of the cemetery office to try to lure Charlie in. With help from Animal Control, they set up a humane trap and put the food and clothes inside on Jan. 29.

For five days, no luck. Then on Feb. 3, Bourne Buss received a call at home. Charlie had come to the office and was laying down beside the trap.

Bourne immediately called Bob, who drove to the cemetery, where Charlie greeted him with a wag of the tail.

Source: http://www.rgj.com/article/20100219/NEIGHBORHOODS/2190351/Missing-dog-reunited-with-owners
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