Yogi, Chesapeake Bay retriever

Social Media Helps Bring Home Lost Dog
By Jason Claffey
January 11, 2013

A local family credits social media for helping bring home its missing dog after the dog recently spent nine days out in the cold

Yogi, shown here with Brennan Young, spent nine days out in the cold and traveled more than 10 miles around Exeter.

Four-year-old Yogi, a brown Chesapeake Bay Retriever mix, went missing from its Lee home Dec. 27 during a storm that caused havoc in the Seacoast region. The dog was playing in the snow when it took off, possibly following a scent. The dog was wearing a bright orange collar.

Brennan Young, a student at Oyster River High School in Durham, tracked his dog's footprints out of the neighborhood, but the trail eventually cut out. When the dog didn't return the next day, Young and his family started to worry.

"It was scary," Young said. "There are plenty of stories of dogs not coming back."

His family put up a posting on Craigslist, but didn't get any immediate responses. Meanwhile, Young's mother, Theresa, drove around town looking for Yogi.

On New Year's Eve, a Patch reader posted a note on the Exeter Patch Facebook page, saying she had seen a dog with an orange collar beside Route 101 in Exeter—about 12 miles from the Young's home. The reader said the dog looked scared and had its tail between his legs.

That post was shared on the Facebook page of Granite State Dog Recovery, which helps bring home lost dogs in the New England area.

In the next few days, more sightings were reported on the Exeter Patch and Granite State Dog Recovery Facebook pages. Meanwhile, the Young family was still worried—especially on the nights of Jan. 2 and Jan. 3, when the temperature hovered around zero degrees at night.

Finally, on Jan. 4, the Lee Police Department received a tip that the dog was sighted near a trash can. Theresa Young drove to the area and found Yogi in a nearby field.

"It was awesome," Theresa Young said.

The Young family said the Facebook postings were instrumental in increasing awareness of their missing dog in the area. They said they can't thank the people who posted sightings and their police depatment enough.

"There's plenty of people out there who care enough to help, and that's nice," said Brennan Young.

His family rescued the dog from New Jersey, where it was likely bred for dogfighting, they said.



Source: http://exeter.patch.com/articles/social-media-helps-bring-home-lost-dog