By Bryan Wassel, Managing Editor, Town News
Thursday December 20, 2012
A local dog was reunited with her family after going missing for almost three months, weathering the cold and Hurricane Sandy before being found by her owners at Van Saun Park.
Anthony and Francine Smith's dog, Princess, was playing on their front porch with her brother Oreo on Sept. 8 when Francine went inside to get the dogs some water. While she was inside a neighbor rang their doorbell to make sure the dogs belonged to the family and were not strays.
Despite the woman's good intentions, her presence spooked Princess, who was mistreated as a puppy and has become afraid of people, according to the Smiths. While Oreo ran back inside the house, Princess ran away and could not be found after hours of searching.
The family put out hundreds of fliers and mailed postcards with Princess's picture, and received regular updates on her current whereabouts from other Paramus residents, Anthony said. Others who had seen the dog called the Smiths to tell them the locations. They received reports of Princess crossing Forest Avenue, Farview Avenue and Spring Valley Road and other roads.
Anthony said he was grateful for the calls and the assistance the community gave in helping his family find their missing dog.
"We were constantly getting calls," he said. "Every time we got close, we just kept missing her."
Princess was almost brought home at the six-week mark, when she was spotted 10 houses away. The Smiths and their children went out to find her by calling her name, but later learned that the obvious approach is not as effective as it may seem.
"The worst thing you can do is call their name and run at them," Anthony said. "What happens is everybody is calling their name, and other people are chasing her, so she ended up running the other way."
Employees at Van Saun Park found Princess was staying near their maintenance facilities, and determined that was where she was spending most of her time, according to the Smiths. Like others in the borough, the employees contacted the family after seeing a stray dog that matched pictures posted around Paramus.
"Those posters paid off, because the workers at Van Saun Park were seeing her every day, running with the coyotes," Anthony said.
While the Smiths offered to spend the night in the park in hopes of finding Princess themselves, county officials rejected the idea for safety reasons. Instead, Bergen County Animal Control placed traps with food around the park, hoping that she could be captured while looking for a meal.
"It was the day before Thanksgiving when they put the traps out," Anthony said. "It was 11 days later when she went into one of the traps."
On Dec. 2, he went out to the traps with Princess's food, hoping to lure her with a familiar meal. On her arrival, Anthony found her in a trap and took her to a veterinarian's office, where she spent the night. Since then, she has been nursing back to health, regaining the 20 pounds she lost and being treated for the injuries she received during her ordeal.
"When I showed up on the scene, I was afraid how she was going to react," Anthony said. "I had her bag of food, and I was able to feed her bowl of food through the cage. She took it as gentle as the day she left."
Upon returning from her time in the wild, Princess was immediately happy to be home, according to the Smiths. Her first night home she returned to her spot on a couch, and she has been calmly recovering since.
Source: http://www.northjersey.com/community/184333391_Paramus_family_finds_dog_after_three-month_search.html?page=all
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