By Susan Morse
January 11, 2013 12:04 PM
YORK, Maine — Rollie, the 2-year-old German shepherd missing since being hit by a truck Wednesday, was found alive Friday morning, though not well.
With a suspected broken leg, Rollie made it from Organug Road in York north to Mountain Road in Cape Neddick, a distance of four miles by road and an unknown distance by the dog.
When Meg Nichols got the call, she was ecstatic, joking, “If we had known he wanted a hot dog, we would have gotten him one.”
For his part, Rollie raised his head from the seat of the car, indicating he recognized Meg and husband David Nichols. He did nothing but lie down in the back seat as Meg and David took him to the emergency facility, Port City Veterinary Referral Hospital on Commerce Way in Portsmouth.
“He was definitely dazed and confused,” Meg Nichols said.
As of Friday afternoon, Rollie was resting comfortably at the veterinary hospital.
His back leg is swollen and lacerated, but an X-ray did not determine a big break, said Meg Nichols. He also suffered a tear to his lung, she said.
“We were just lucky he did not have an internal injury,” she said.
If all goes well, Rollie will be home Saturday night, she said.
At 22 months, Rollie appears to have many more years to participate in one of his favorite activities, grabbing a log from the wood pile to carry around.
“We have a cat that may be a little disappointed he's home,” Meg Nichols said.
The couple got Rollie as a puppy from a breeder in Bangor.
On Wednesday around 7:30 a.m., a dog walker had Rollie on a leash on Organug Road, when Rollie spotted a squirrel and took off, breaking his collar, according to York Animal Control Officer Larry McAfee.
Rollie ran across Organug Road, and was hit by a truck heading south, McAfee said. The truck did not stop. The dog took off onto the grounds of the nearby York Golf & Tennis Club, and apparently kept running. No one could find him.
So started a search that involved the family, McAfee, Kittery Police Officer Jay Durgin and his K-9 partner, and at least 40 volunteers. Rollie's photo and status on Facebook had many in York on the lookout for the wounded German shepherd.
“I couldn't believe people came with their own dogs in search of our dog,” Meg Nichols said. “I was just struck by the support. People were out there, eight, 10 hours a day.”
On Friday around 6 a.m., Nichols was ready to start another day of searching.
“In the dark this morning, I was trying to think, 'Where would he go today?'” she said.
She never thought Rollie would go as far as Cape Neddick, she said, but Durgin was already checking the area of Chases Pond Road off Mountain Road.
Around 8:30 a.m., she got the call from David that Rollie had been found. The couple knew it was their dog from a distinctive mark on his tongue, she said.
David and Meg's daughter, Coco Nichols, who is in medical school in Portland, spent every spare moment searching for Rollie.
“Thank God he's alive,” she said on Friday.
Meg Nichols is thankful to all who participated in the search, and grateful to the good Samaritan who stopped to pick up Rollie. She said she knew neighbors and residents would be there to help if she was in need, but people went above and beyond anything she could imagine.
“We live in a special community,” Meg Nichols said. “I've lived in York a long time and never realized it.”
Source: http://www.seacoastonline.com/articles/20130111-NEWS-130119933
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