Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Charlee, Queensland heeler

Missing dog reunited with Elk Grove family after month-long search
10:03 AM, Dec 12, 2011

ELK GROVE, CA - About a month ago, dog owner John Robinson, lost his 8-year-old Queensland Heeler, Charlee, in the Sierras. For the following four weeks, John shared the search for Charlee on Supertopo.com, an online rock climbing forum.


John had written on the site that he had last seen his dog at "2 p.m. at the base of the Great Wall of China, Owens River Gorge." He let the forum know the collar she was wearing had her name and his contact information. A week went by and no word or sign of Charlee. John wrote on November 22, 2011, "Still no Charlee. Don't want to give up hope but it's been over a week now." Any pet owner can relate to his post and feel the angst of searching for a lost companion.

Then the unbelievable happened; Charlee was found and he immediately shared it to the forum.

Dec 9: "Unbelievable but true. Charlee has been found. She was found yesterday by Ben Logan, found near where we last saw her near China Wall in the Owens River Gorge. She is in a hospital in Mammoth and the doctor thinks she will be okay.

She lost 11 pounds, is dehydrated, has a fever and congested. Ben had to carry her out. She is on IV and antibiotics. We are leaving now to pick her up. Ben called me from where he lives in Mammoth and said he saw a dog that looked like Charlee lying near the river, out of view, and when he got up the trail to the parking area he saw my sign and figured that might be my dog.When he called I had him look at the picture here in Supertopo, and he said the pic looked just like the dog he saw. Even though it was getting late, Ben Logan drove all the way back to Owens and hiked down to the bottom of the gorge and found her and brought her back to his house and called me with news. He then took her to the vet where she was admitted. Ben is a great guy. .. more later."

A flood of supporters posted to the forum, giving out their congratulations and good thoughts to Charlee's recovery.

And on that same day, Ben posted to the forum.

Dec 9: "I wish Charlee a speedy recovery. Credit for her rescue is also due to Will Tarantino, my house mate and climbing partner yesterday when I spotted her. Will carried her most of the way out of the Gorge over his shoulders in the dark. Let me know how she gets on."

Charlee is still at the Alpen Veterinary Hospital and recovering. Her status is considered "guarded" meaning she has some big problems to overcome, mainly due to the cold weather which has given her high sodium levels, high kidney values and infections. John continues to post regular updates on the status of Charlee and he receives lots of encouraging posts on Supertopo.com.

Source: http://www.news10.net/news/article/167587/2/Missing-dog-reunited-with-family-after-month-long-search

Supertopo message thread starts at: http://www.supertopo.com/climbing/thread.php?topic_id=1669177&tn=0

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