Duke, chocolate lab

Lost Dog Reunited With Family After A Month Long Adventure
Chocolate Lab Goes Missing From Backyard
Posted on Sunday, November 20, 2011

Now that Duke is sleeping on 8 year old Jackson Bakken’s bed each night, everyone in the Bakken house is sleeping a little easier. Duke took quite a journey to get there.

Jackson Bakken holds his dog Duke sitting next to his father, Dale Bakken

Jackson’s father, Dale Bakken, had given up hope of ever seeing the Chocolate Lab again.

Bakken came home early on Oct. 14, to find Duke missing from his kennel in the backyard. How he got out of the chain link kennel was a mystery. Duke was hit by a car as a puppy, as a result has a limp and can’t run far.

Bakken searched the neighborhood and surrounding area, but turning up nothing he alerted neighbors and called the shelters around town.

Over the next few days, Bakken filed a missing dog report with Animal Control and posted multiple Craigslist ads. Weeks passed. Still nothing. He was angry with himself for neglecting to get a tracking chip and new identification tags for Duke.

Jackson Was Always On The Look Out For Duke

Delivered by Santa Claus on Christmas, Duke, the pick of the litter came to live with Jackson and Dale five years ago.

The Chocolate Lab is quick to give kisses even to strangers. He loves crawling on laps and is easy going to a fault.

“If somebody breaks in, he’d probably help them,” said Bakken.

When Duke went missing, Jackson lost a wrestling and tennis ball-fetching buddy. Bakken lost a loyal and talented birding partner.

Jackson was always on the look out for Duke, hoping he’d come home soon.

But Bakken admits that after a while he gave up hope that they would ever see him again. He canceled his bird hunting trips — it just wasn’t worth it without Duke.

“There was a lot of heartache and headaches not knowing where he was for a month,” Bakken said. “To not hear anything from anybody, I was a little disappointed in humanity.”

A phone call from a stranger, Stephanie Lewis changed all that.

Duke’s Adventures Away From Home

For five days of the month long absence, only Duke will ever know where he went. On Oct. 19, Duke was taken in at the Parker and Pets Rescue shelter after someone in Charlo called and said they’d had found a stray Chocolate Lab.

Duke was at the shelter for about a month until the PetSmart adoption event led him to Stephanie and Sonny Lewis’ Corvallis home, where he turned out to be a good fit with the Lewises five other dogs, one of which is a 14-year-old Lab near the end of its life.

Duke would come to a whistle, but always seemed to be heading off somewhere. Stephanie Lewis was convinced he was looking for something.

“We adopted him and brought him home, he was such a good dog. His manners were so good, you knew someone was missing him. If he was my dog, I would be out looking for him,” Lewis said.

On a hunch, she contacted two other chocolate Lab owners who listed lost dog postings on Craigslist. Both were a dead end. She decided to make one final call to Bakken.

An Emotional Reunion

Bakken was stopped dead in his tracks by Lewis’ call. They connected by phone Monday afternoon and reunited with Duke that night.

“I sat down and he just sat on my legs and put his head on my shoulder. I felt a little silly I got emotional in front of somebody I hardly knew,” Bakken said.

Bakken is still baffled about how Duke got from Missoula to Polson to Corvallis and back again.

He can’t say enough about the Lewises’ and what their kindness means to him.

“The big thing I got out of this is there are good people out there that do the right thing for no reason other than it’s the right thing,” Bakken said.

Lewis said she was happy to help and hopes someone would do the same for her.

“Never stop looking for your dog. Somebody knows something and there has to be somebody out there who will return it,” she said.

Bakken reimbursed the Lewises’ adoption fee and took Duke home, where he is happier than ever.

Before his trip, Duke slept outside. Now, “I give him most of the bed,” Jackson said.

Source: http://www.aplacetolovedogs.com/2011/11/dog-reunited-with-family-after-a-month-long-adventure/1486624852/