Cathy Orde
Feb 2nd, 2011
We have been busy here in Wyoming! Just before Christmas there were three separate rollovers on the Interstate where dogs were ejected from vehicles. All but one dog was caught.
With this particular case, the dog was very afraid of people, especially men. His name was Kuma, and he was a German Shepherd Malamute cross that could easily have been mistaken for a wolf by a rancher. In our area, that is NOT a good thing!
Kuma was ejected from the family car going at least 60 mph. The family had been traveling through with their two small children and two dogs. During the rollover, the wife broke all of the bones in her foot (ouch!!) and had to have surgery. She was released from the hospital and they had to continue on and leave Kuma behind after their initial search failed to find him. It was a complete heart breaker for them. I told the husband to take care of his family and that I would take care of getting Kuma back.
So I headed out to the area where Kuma had been spotted in a 2 1/2 mile radius from the crash site. I parked along the Interstate and scanned the area with my binoculars. I spotted the dog over a mile away north of the Interstate.
My trailing dog Zoe and I started tracking Kuma, and got within 1/2 mile, but he saw us and ran!
Zoe saw Kuma and I gave her the "Bring Him Back" command. Zoe took off over the ridge, and a few minutes later she popped back over the ridge with a smile on her face, and Kuma following behind!
He saw me and started to run, so again Zoe went after Kuma and brought him back to me.
After some time I got Kuma to trust me, and he was eating out of my hand, but I just couldn't grab his collar. I worked with him 6 hours one day and 8 hours the next day. What Zoe and I did the first day kept Kuma in that area.
The next day I put out a humane dog trap in the afternoon. The owner said there was "no way" Kuma would go into a humane trap. But Zoe showed Kuma a very fun game to play with the trap. She was having a ball, and Kuma was watching her. I set the trap, covered it with blankets, and then Zoe and I went home.
I returned at 10:30 PM to check the trap and Kuma was inside of the trap!
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| Kuma, Cathy Orde and Zoe |
This was a Christmas Miracle for the family. After I trapped Kuma, I took him to our local Animal Shelter who I have a great working relationship with. The staff at the Animal Shelter were awesome and pampered Kuma until the family returned. It was, to say the least, a very happy reunion!
Source: http://www.facebook.com/#!/notes/missing-pet-partnership/kumas-christmas-adventure/191440397540271
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