Luke, hound mix

The Daily Item, Sunbury, PA
Owner finds missing pooch on shelter website
By Karen Blackledge, The Daily Item
September 16, 2010

SUNBURY — Jennifer Cooper never gave up searching for Luke, her family’s 12-year-old Siberian husky mix who had escaped from her backyard and disappeared more than four months ago.

Dylan Cooper, 4, of Sunbury, pets Luke, who disappeared on Dylan's birthday

After Luke ran away by digging a hole at the end of the fence at their Wolverton Street home on May 6, she put out what she called an “all-points bulletin” for him.

“I put up fliers everywhere in town — in Shamokin and in Selinsgrove and lots of places,” Cooper said.

She listed Luke on amberalertpets.com, and a friend created a Facebook page, “Help Find Luke,” which attracted 135 members.

Nightly, she would look at the SPCA and petfinder websites to check for Luke’s photo. The family also has a beagle mix adopted from the Danville SPCA and a pit bull-hound from a Harrisburg shelter.

“Days and months went by without any sightings or anything,” Cooper said. “I was getting very discouraged, but my heart told me he was out there somewhere so I kept looking.”

Luke disappeared the day she was holding a fourth birthday party for her son, Dylan.

“I was busy doing other stuff,” she said. “He was in the yard with our two other dogs. I was surprised he left his buddies.”

Luke wasn’t wearing a collar or license because Cooper had just given him a bath.

Months later, Cooper was looking at petfinder.com and saw a dog she thought was Luke at the Danville Adoption Center of the Pennsylvania SPCA.

She called to get a better description of the pooch and was told he had been adopted after being at the shelter for three days. The dog had been taken to the shelter by Milton police.

An SPCA employee called the woman who had adopted the dog, and she agreed to have him tested for epilepsy because Luke has epilepsy.

“He has seizures on occasion. I can’t imagine how many he had without his medicine,” Cooper said.

When Luke’s identity became clear, the woman who had adopted Luke returned him to the SPCA. On Monday, Cooper’s boyfriend, Matthew Osman, brought Luke home.

“I don’t know quite know what happened to him,” Cooper said. “He has a couple of scabs and minor wounds. I gave him a flea bath Tuesday. He’s just skin and bones, but he’s starting to come around.”

They have fixed the hole in the fence.

“From now on, I will watch him when he goes out,” Cooper said. “He is happy to be back with his family, and we are going to give him all the TLC he needs to get back to his former health.”

Source: http://dailyitem.com/0100_news/x721418003/Owner-finds-missing-pooch-on-shelter-website
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