Sarge, Husky

Siberian Husky lost during vacation is reunited with Norton family
By Kathy Antoniotti, Beacon Journal staff writer
posted by jim on January 7, 2011

Sarge could be a poster dog for the merits of licensing the family pet. In this case, a license was his ticket home.

The year-old stray Siberian Husky was picked up and taken to Summit County Animal Control in October. Without identification to locate his owner, the dog was placed up for adoption and the Decker family of Norton eagerly adopted him.

Two weeks later, on a vacation to a Guernsey County cabin, Sarge ran away.

"We were in the middle of nowhere — no cell phones, no nothing," said Deb Decker.

On their last day at the cabin, Sarge picked-up the scent of another animal during a family outing in the woods. Decker's son, Gabe, 9, let go of the leash when he was dragged through a field of nettles, Decker said.

But when Sarge went AWOL this time, he was wearing a dog license that identified where he came from and to whom he belonged.

The husky was found a short time later about two miles from where he made his escape by a woman who contacted Animal Control after reading his Summit County tag, Decker said.

"That license saved Sarge's life," she said. "It's renewal time and, I can guarantee, I will be licensing him again."

By state law, all dogs over three months of age must be licensed. New Summit County dog owners have 30 days to buy a $14 license that assigns a distinctive identification number to each dog. Licenses must be renewed annually between Dec. 1 and Jan. 31.

Source: http://pets.ohio.com/2011/01/siberian-husky-lost-during-vacation-is-reunited-with-norton-family/

Dawson, beagle

Lost dog happily reunited with owners
.CBC News
Friday, February 11, 2011 | 2:46 PM

Dawson the beagle was rescued Friday by HRM Animal Services officers after a neighbour alerted them to the lost dog, who was trapped in a Nova Scotia Power compound on Windmill Road.

A six-month old beagle had a happy reunion with his owners Friday after going missing for two days.

"Dawson" ended up trapped inside a Nova Scotia Power compound on Windmill Road in Dartmouth.

His owners had been frantically searching for him since Wednesday, putting up flyers, contacting local radio stations, and even posting his photo on Kijiji.

They were contacted by HRM Animal Services this morning after a woman who lives across the street from the compound contacted the city, concerned about the dog.

Dawson's owner Don Ellis said the dog was lost nearly two and a half kilometres from where was found. The family had been frantically searching for him since Wednesday.

She had first noticed him Thursday, and when she heard the dog barking again Friday morning, called the city.

Don Ellis said the dog managed to get off his leash Wednesday, in the snow on Victoria Road, while his son was babysitting relatives near Dartmouth Highschool. In an unfamiliar area, Ellis said Dawson just kept running.

Ellis was surprised the dog made his way nearly two and half kilometres from where he was lost.

"We concentrated our search there," said Ellis. I thought he was too timid to get this far. I thought he'd just find a place to hide, but I guess ... wherever there was food."

Animal Services officers had difficulty getting Dawson to come out of the compound, and had to call Ellis and his wife, to come coax the dog out.

There was a tearful moment as the owners thanked the neighbour who alerted animal protection officers to their pet.

"Sometimes you get lucky," said Ellis.

Source: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/nova-scotia/story/2011/02/11/ns-beagle-rescue.html

Regis, chocolate standard poodle

Runaway dog, owner reunited Tallmadge pooch wandered Graham Road for 10 days
by Steve Wiandt, Reporter
April 11, 2010

Although Regis the Runaway Dog sounds like a storybook character, he's real -- except he's no longer a runaway. Regis is home safe and sound.

After spending 10 days on his own roaming around the high-traffic area of Route 8 and Graham Road, Regis returned to his owner, Teri Gibson of Tallmadge, who didn't know if she was ever going see her chocolate standard poodle again.

Gibson and her fiancé, Nick Pierson, were among many people looking for Regis, who will turn 3 in May. Pierson's mother, Peggy Lee of Cuyahoga Falls, looked for Regis every day while Pierson, Gibson and Gibson's 6-year-old son, Sonny, were away on vacation. Many members of Pierson's family joined in the search, including his sister, Dawn Wilson of Tallmadge, who searched for Regis on her lunch hour every day he was missing.

Regis began his wayward journey the evening of March 12 when Lee brought him to her home on Notre Dame Avenue in the Falls with Gibson's two other standard poodles to dog-sit them while their owner was away. Before Lee could get Regis into her house, he broke his collar and ran away. The other two dogs went into the house without a struggle.

"He must have had separation anxiety," Gibson said. "He never ran away before." Gibson said Regis had a name tag and a microchip on his collar, but the collar fell off when it snapped in two. Gibson and Pierson delayed their trip to Orlando for a day to look for Regis, but couldn't find him.

Gibson's parents, Sylvia and Don "Sonny" Kling of Tallmadge, were also among the many people who tirelessly searched for the rambling canine. Mrs. Kling said she saw Regis several times, even as far as two miles north of Graham Road on Hudson Drive, but he never came to her when she called him.

"He acted the way lost dogs act -- he was scared," Mrs. Kling said.

Gibson said she is thankful for the help of the Silver Lake, Cuyahoga Falls and Stow police departments and their dispatchers who fielded calls from people who spotted her dog. Falls Community Service Officer Kenny Johnson said the Falls Police got a lot of calls from concerned citizens, adding that most of the sightings took place at night.

"Everybody got involved in the search," Johnson said. "Thank God he was OK."

Many callers were worried the animal was going to get hit by a car. One Silver Lake Police officer actually saw the dog get clipped by a pickup truck and then run away. Ptl. Amy Brauning said she went off duty at 3 a.m. March 19 and was getting on Route 8 at Graham Road after stopping at a store when she saw a "big, black blur" run across the on-ramp in front of her, but up ahead.

"I wasn't close to him, but I could see he was absolutely huge," Brauning said. "I knew it wasn't a deer, but some kind of big dog. Being a dog lover I pulled over." Brauning said she got out of her vehicle and called to the dog, but he acted scared and didn't come to her, instead running south into Stow on the northbound side of Route 8.

The dog wasn't hurt from its encounter with the truck, Brauning said, but the truck got a flat tire trying to avoid the animal.

Regis had a regular schedule as he traveled along Graham Road, Brauning said, and stopped at the same restaurants at the same time every night. The dog lived off of food scraps he dug out of trash cans or found in doggy bags left out for him, she said. Although he didn't go hungry, he still lost weight while he was on his own, Gibson said.

Gibson said that after spending seven "miserable" days at Disney World she, Pierson and Sonny drove all day March 21 to get home, and then rejoined the search party with practically no sleep. Pierson, she said, was out all night and fell asleep in a park where two Falls officers found him and helped him on his way.

Regis was reunited with Gibson the following evening, March 22. Brauning was sitting in her cruiser at Crystal Lake when two women from Kent stopped and told her they saw a big stray dog along Graham Road. Brauning said she knew Gibson and her son were nearby and called her cell phone.

With Brauning's help, Gibson was able to locate Regis near the northbound on-ramp of Route 8. Holding her dog again was an unforgettable moment for Gibson.

"It was like a scene out of a movie," Gibson said. "When Regis heard my voice, he came running and jumped on me, crying and howling like a big baby. He was so happy to see us."

While at Disney World, Gibson said she and her son threw a penny in every fountain or wishing well they saw and said a prayer that they would get Regis back safe and sound.

"We did a lot of praying," she said. "It must have paid off, because this is a miracle. This is a happy-ending story."

Regis, chocolate standard poodle, was found safe and sound by his owner, Teri Gibson of Tallmadge, and her son, Sonny, after he ran away and was on his own for 10 days while the Gibsons were at Disney World praying he was all right.

Teri Gibson and her son, Sonny, are glad to be reunited with their dog, Regis, after he ran away and lived outside on his own for 10 days. Gibson said it was a "miracle" that they found him unharmed.

Source: http://www.tallmadgeexpress.com/news/article/4806086
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Charlie, toy poodle

Charlie the toy poodle is safe at Mesa home
Kelly Mixer, Ahwatukee Foothills News
July 16, 2008 - 2:17PM

A Valley couple is breathing a sigh of relief this week after finding their lost dog Charlie, who has been missing from the Ahwatukee Foothills area of 48th Street and Elliot Road since Saturday, June 21.

The couple, Harry and Many Gurney, live in Mesa but Harry’s sister, Alice Splaine, was caring for the dog at her Ahwatukee Foothill’s home while the couple was away on vacation when Charlie got loose and ran away.

Harry and Many Gurney, along with Charlie

After weeks of searching, the Gurneys received an anonymous phone call Tuesday night that Charlie was being cared for at a local apartment complex near 48th Street and Ray Road.

The Gurneys said residents at the Sonoran Apartments hadn’t realized that they had been desperately looking for their 6-year-old toy poodle for weeks.

“We think it took Charlie a day-and-a-half to get there because they found him walking in the parking lot that Monday (June 23) and he was very dehydrated,” Harry said, adding that the woman who contacted him on Tuesday wished to remain anonymous and did not accept their reward.

The Gurneys called the manager of the apartments and arranged to come over to get Charlie from the woman taking care of him. That woman also wished to remain anonymous, saying that she had posted Charlie’s information at the Ahwatukee Foothills Petco to no avail.

“I just screamed when I saw him and my husband dropped to his knees crying when they brought Charlie in to us,” Many said.

“We knew right away it was him,” Harry added. “I thought I’d never see him again. I’ll never let him get out of my sight again.”

The entire family was relieved to hear the good news.

“I’m glad the dog is back where he belongs,” Splaine said. “I just want to thank the community for all their support.”

Charlie was missing from a Mesa family from June 21 until July 16.

Source: http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/story/120942

Otto, American bulldog

This story comes straight from the blog of Kat Albrecht, founder of the Missing Pet Partnership.

The Story of Otto
November 27th, 2009

Look at this picture and tell me what you see. An abused dog? A neglected dog? A dog that deserves a better home?

If you found this dog wandering in your neighborhood and he was wearing a collar with an ID tag, would you call the owner and return this dog to that family? Or would you work to re-home him, knowing he would get a better life? Read on…

This photo is of Otto, an American Bulldog and he is most definitely loved and NOT neglected or abused! The above photo was taken in an emergency vet’s office after Otto was humanely captured in a dog trap. He had been “lost” for two months during which time his family was frantically trying to recover him. Otto lost 33 pounds (he went from 90 to 57 pounds), but he is currently recovering from his terrible ordeal.

Here’s his story. Otto was traveling with his Daddy on an Interstate in Arkansas when they were involved in serious car crash. Sadly, Otto bolted from the crash in raw panic and would run from anyone who tried to capture him. Ultimately the sightings dropped off and his owner had to continue on with his move to Houston, Texas. But then during the 7th week Leslie Mann, an avid animal lover just passing through the area, sighted the skinny white dog in the middle of a heavily vegetated median on the same Interstate where the accident took place. Leslie did some detective work and discovered that this dog was likely the missing dog Otto. She called the owners in Houston as well as Missing Pet Partnership in hopes of finding a pet detective who could help in the recovery.

Pet Detective Lisa Bukowczyk from The Feline Finders lives in Little Rock, Arkansas. Although Lisa’s business title sounds like she only works lost cat cases, she is a certified Missing Animal Response Technician with Missing Pet Partnership and takes on dog cases as well. Among her services, Lisa offers “Trap and Reunite” (TAR) which are highly effective techniques (attract, detect, then capture) used to recover panicked lost cats and dogs. Lisa responded immediately and met with Linda, Rob, and Margarita (Otto’s human family who drove 8 hours from Houston) to plot out a recovery strategy.

First, they set up feeding stations accompanied with digital wildlife cameras in order to verify whether or not the dog sighted was really Otto and to condition him to come back for a source of food. The strategy worked, because within two days they captured a very skinny Otto on camera! Everyone was elated to discover that the skinny dog that Leslie spotted was, in fact, Otto!

Next, Lisa set up a large dog humane trap and slathered it with peanut butter and dog food but locked it open with a bungy cord (so the door would not close). This was to make sure Otto would not be afraid to enter the trap. They left it tied open for 3 days until he willingly entered the trap. He wasn’t afraid. He was hungry and he licked the trap clean! On the fourth night they actually set the trap and were hoping for the best.

Margarita returned to the trap at midnight and Otto was inside! She called Lisa for help to lift the dog and the cage into the back of her van (not risking letting him out of the trap and escaping again). They rushed Otto to an emergency vet where he was treated, released, and taken home to Houston to be loved on and pampered.

The most important aspect of this story that I’d like to share is that when you find a stray dog that looks terrible – a dog that looks starving or has injuries – please remember Otto’s Story. Understand that the skinny, panicked dog that you found might be a loved companion animal who looks awful because he’s been on the run for weeks, or even months.

Because Leslie Mann did not assume that the skinny dog that she saw was “dumped” or “abused,” Otto was reunited with this family! Leslie did what we wish all rescuers would do…she assumed that the skinny dog was LOST, not dumped or stray. For info on how easy it is to mistake a panicked, lost dog for an “abused, neglected dog” (and even a panicked, lost cat for a “feral cat”) visit Missing Pet Partnership’s Think Lost, Not Stray page. In addition, there are simple actions that you can take when you find a stray dog to increase the chances of reuniting a found lost dog with their family.

Thank you to Leslie Mann and the other unsung-lost-dog-recovery-heroes for making a difference!

Category: Pet Detective Cases

Baxter, a brown dog

Finding Baxter: The Skeptic's Story
(From the files of Sam Connolly, Pure Gold Pet Trackers)

I was very skeptical about hiring a dog tracker, but I am sure glad I did! My dog, Baxter, had been missing for over a month. We were from North Carolina, and he had run away in Maryland. Numerous animal agencies, websites and shelters had been contacted and his posters were posted online as well as hung around the neighborhood. I had to be off to Texas for a while and was relying on my brother to be the point of contact in Maryland for any sightings. It was not long before a wind storm had blown away most of the posters, but luckily someone had seen them and had sighted Baxter on their farm.

Baxter had been spotted off and on for around 2 weeks at the farm, but being a very shy, scared, and untrusting dog, he ran away from everyone calling his name and trying to catch him. The sightings eventually stopped and the food, kennel, and toy we had placed on the farm remained untouched. More posters were hung and blown away (Sam has some good poster-making advice as well). Neighbors near the farm had been talked to and received flyers. Two more weeks had gone by with no Baxter reports and things were looking dim.

I was doubtful that I had enough of Baxter’s scent for him to be tracked, not to mention that it had been a month since he had touched his things and two weeks since he was last seen. However, I decided as a last effort before going back home to North Carolina to go forth with the dog tracking.

I contacted Sam Connelly of Pure Gold Pet Trackers from her website. She was very honest with me about not knowing if there would be enough scent on the articles that I had to start the tracking dog. She also said that since it had been so long as well as hot and dry, that there may not be enough of a trail left to follow. She encouraged me to give it a try, though, and I agreed.

Sam and Brando met me at the farm where my dog had last been seen and I gave her one of Baxter’s toys and his hairbrush. She let Brando smell the articles and we started the search. After checking a few spots on the farm where my dog had been seen we finally found a good trail to follow. We wound along through a couple of back yards near the farm, crossing the busy Rt. 32 three times and into a small wooded area behind some homes across the road from the farm where we had started. The trail went through the edge of the woods and eventually came out to a barbed-wire fence around a small pasture. As my brother and I talked to the owners for permission to cross their property, Sam and Brando waited at the place where the trail went under the fence. Sam heard a noise behind her and turning to see what it was, found Baxter standing about 20 feet away at the edge of the wood. He had been following us through the woods and came looking for me but came upon Sam and Brando first.

After being spotted, Baxter ran back to the woods to his safe spot where he had been staying. Sam yelled to me that she had seen Baxter. As I ran up to her she handed me a small can of cat food with a pop-top lid and told me to go into the woods, find a place to sit on a stump or fallen tree somewhere, open the can, put it on the ground in front of me and call softly to Baxter until he came to me. She also gave me a bag of dog treats to toss into the woods all around me to lure him in. After a month wandering on his own he had to be starving and food was definitely going to be attractive to him. Within half an hour of waiting in the woods, I had him back with me.

I cannot thank Sam and Brando enough for leading me back to my dog! He is right now lounging in his favorite spot: the bed. I highly recommend the Pure Gold Pet Tracking team and urge anyone to use them before too much time has passed. I found it well worth the money and effort.

Thank you,
Elizabeth

Source: http://www.puregoldpettrackers.com

Domino, rat terrier

AMAZING VIDEO: Total strangers come together over lost dog
An online photo prompts a Laguna Beach woman to help someone she never met.
By Chris Caesar, The Orange County Register
Thursday, April 30, 2009

Kim and Jason Southwick don't have kids, but they have created a family that's tighter than most – Jason with his black pug, Mr. Big, and Kim with her prized rat terrier, Domino.

Kim was there when Domino was born in a backyard shed. And, in turn, the dog has spent a lifetime being there for her. When Jason wrestled with a near-death bout of pancreatitis, Domino sat with Kim as she cried and prayed for his recovery. Later, when Kim recovered from a hysterectomy, Domino was there, keeping her spirits up.

So, last month, when Domino went missing while the couple was on vacation from their Phoenix home, staying at a place near San Diego's Chollas Lake Park, Kim says the pain she felt was a struggle to comprehend.

"I had always really wanted kids, but could never have them," Kim says. "Everyone was trying to get it off my mind. But they didn't understand that (losing Domino) was like someone had ripped a child out of my womb. I was beyond devastated."

During the half-week left in their trip, Kim and her family spent every waking hour calling for Domino in the park, posting flyers and asking strangers if they'd seen a rat terrier with a curled tail and loving, beige eyes.

No luck. When the Southwicks drove back to Phoenix that Sunday night, they were a family member short.

"I had plans to fly to Atlanta for my mother's birthday," Kim says. "If I didn't already have the plane ticket, I would've stayed there and searched every single day."

Still, it's the Internet age, so Southwick's hunt for Domino didn't have to end. She went online for hours, sent faxes to potential leads, and followed up every relevant "lost dog" posting she could find in an effort to find Domino.

The distance between Kim and San Diego was an admitted setback, but she says she's no stranger to longshots. She didn't lose hope when doctors dismissed Jason's pancreatitis as untreatable, and she wasn't giving up on Domino, either.

"Every day I was looking at Websites," Kim says, "It was like I had OCD."

What Kim didn't know was that she wasn't alone.

•••

At about the time Domino went missing in San Diego, Vicki High was working at her job – painting murals – at a home near her own house in Laguna Beach.

As she painted, a tiny, cream-colored rat terrier wandered into the client's lawn. After some food and a little play, High snapped some photos of the dog and posted them on the Internet. Almost immediately, those images were seen, online, by Kim.

The description wasn't a strong match – "a shot in the dark," Kim admits. But Kim was desperate, and decided to contact Vicki.

It wasn't the right dog, but Kim and Vicki connected.

"(Kim)… kept asking if I was positive that the dog didn't have some black and white spots," Vicki remembers. "It didn't. But she was crying and crying, and I thought, 'Well, maybe I should help.'"

"I guess I just talked to her at the right moment," Kim adds. "And, after two to three weeks of talking to people who could just care less, I heard her express some real genuine care."

A few days later, Vicki called Kim, saying she'd have some free time that weekend, and would drive down to San Diego and post flyers if Kim could send some photographs. Kim, feeling something special about Vicki, agreed.

"A couple of my friends were like, 'You've got to be kidding me. You're posting flyers for someone you met online? Do you really think it's going to work?' And so on," Vicki says.

"Sometimes, you just have to have the time to do what it takes to help someone who needs help. This was a situation where I thought, if I had been missing my pet, if I was her, completely helpless, what would I want someone to do for me?"

Still, even though Vicki was game, she was also prepped for failure. Why would her posters get better results than the posters Kim and Jason had already put up?

After she taped her second poster to a San Diego wall, Vicki was surprised to find a lead.

"This really nice young woman pulled over and said that her mom had spotted this dog in the wooded area behind their house, but that (the dog) couldn't come to her when she called," Vicki says. "She brought me to her home, and said 'There, that's her.'"

Vicki remembers having one thought: "You've got to be kidding me."

Vicki spoke to other neighbors, who all confirmed the dog had meandered around the neighborhood for weeks.

Feeling assured that she wouldn't offer Kim false hope, Vicki called with the unbelievable news.

•••

Southwick was so caught up in what she describes as a "whirlwind of faith" that she ran out of her Phoenix home without locking the door – or securing a return flight. Instead, she sped down the highway to catch the first plane to San Diego.

"I just prayed and prayed on that plane, and said "Jesus, I know I am pushing it, but please let me have (Domino) back tonight'," Vicki says.

The two women – now practically old friends – met in a terminal at San Diego International Airport. Then they drove to the neighborhood where Domino was last seen.

Kim called out for Domino. And, within moments of hearing the familiar voice, Domino – a "white burst," according to Kim – emerged from the woods. She instantly resumed her role as Kim's pet, rolling on her back and wagging her tail frantically.

Vicki videotaped the incident and posted the video on YouTube.

"That laughter you hear?" Kim says of the video's 1:46 mark. "I did that for about 30 minutes."

Now, Vicki and Kim are looking into ways of providing other online services to other pet owners. One of their ideas is an improved "lost pet" Web site, as well as a site that would offer online support for people who are rescuing pets from public shelters.

For now, Kim spends her afternoons with Domino. The tiny dog survived the ordeal with only a thorn in her side and a small sore on one of her paws.

"She was extremely tired; probably slept with one eye open for three weeks," Kim says.

"I know she was waiting for me."

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dnHUAeL3yWM

Source: http://www.ocregister.com/articles/kim-domino-vicki-2384586-says-dog#

Boonie, a black dog

This dog had been seen hanging around, but proved hard to catch When a flier connected the stray to its owner, the ACO involved stopped trying to trap the dog, and contacted its owner.

County animal control officer reunites lost dog with owner
By TM Shultz
The Daily CourierWednesday, April 01, 2009

Keith Bracken holds his dog Boonie after being reunited with her through the efforts of Cordes Lakes residents and Yavapai County Animal Control.

When a Yavapai County Animal Control officer learned a stray dog was roaming the Conestoga Lane area of Cordes Lakes, she tried as hard as she could to capture the dog and find its owner, since the animal had a collar and tags.

But the dog, who deputies later learned is named Boonie, was extremely shy and refused to come near anyone, especially the animal control officer, who spent an hour on March 16 trying to catch Boonie.

Because of the dog's shyness, the officer placed a trap at a home the dog seemed to frequent, thinking she might catch him that way, deputies said in a press release. The officer checked the area each day until March 20 when neighbors called to report the dog was back in the area.

But when the officer arrived, the dog disappeared. On March 25 the officer happened to stop by the Beaver Creek Ranger Station and noticed a lost dog flyer with a picture of the stray she had been trying to catch. The flyer even mentioned that Boonie was "extremely shy and standoffish".

"When the officer contacted the owner's parents - who live in Phoenix - they told her that the owner, their son Keith Bracken, 57, had been very upset over losing Boonie. Bracken suffers from partial paralysis, and Boonie has been his companion and aide.

Boonie disappeared on March 13 in the Badger Springs area near Interstate 17. Bracken had driven from Phoenix with the dog that day and, while outdoors, Boonie disappeared. Bracken stayed in the area for five days, camping out in his vehicle, hoping to find Boonie.

On Monday Bracken and his parents met with the animal control officer in Cordes Lakes and found Boonie resting on a porch in the Conestoga Lane neighborhood. When the dog saw his family, he ran toward them. Bracken picked up Boonie, who immediately began licking his face with excitement, deputies said.

Deputies and the animal control officer said they would like to thank all the neighbors on Conestoga Lane who kept an eye on the dog and reported its movements during the past two weeks.

Bracken said he is extremely thankful for the animal control officer's efforts, which made his reunion with Boonie possible.

Source: http://www.dcourier.com/Main.asp?SectionID=1&SubSectionID=1&ArticleID=66527
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Czar, a shepherd mix

This dog was lost about 50 miles from home, and had been hanging around the town he "settled in" for close to three years before a visible jaw abcess gave someone feeding him a good reason to call in Animal Control for help in catching him. He also seemed to be more susceptible to being lured by treats to an area in which he was not as difficult to catch as the all outdoors. 

Michelle Garza is reunited with her floppy-eared pooch, Czar, on Nov. 10 in Lisle.

The following is an unedited essay written by Warrenville resident Barbara Bailey, who helped reunite Michelle Garza with her lost pet.

Please microchip your pets. A Microchip Identification System is a safe, simple and permanent form of pet identification designed to quickly identify lost pets and reunite them with their owners. Over 10 million pets become lost each year. One out of every three pets is lost during its lifetime, and only one in ten lost pets are found. A Microchip Identification System is a proven way to successfully recover your pet if it should become lost.

In the fall of 2005, my dogs started running toward our back fence barking. I followed them to see what was there - it was a tan and black dog, who looked like a German Shepherd mix. The dog started wagging its tail and ran along the back fence with my two dogs. My dogs seemed to accept this strange dog and I was able to toss it a few treats, which he greedily took. He was not wearing any collar or tags, and he was a male dog. Knowing most of the dogs in the neighborhood, and not recognizing him, I went back inside to call the Warrenville Police Department to let them know that there was a loose dog beyond my back fence. They said someone would come out - but minutes later, the dog took off.

This seemed to be the pattern of the dog for next couple of years - I and our neighbors, the Milnamow and Sider families, would see him early in the morning before we went to work, and then later in the afternoon. I called the police department, but the dog was so fast that he kept eluding them. We kept on thinking that he belonged to someone - that his owners had let him out in the morning to roam, and then let him back in the house at night. He was a healthy-looking dog, too. This dog continued showing up at various times and we gave him food and water when we could. We began to look forward to seeing him each day.

Other people in the Warrenville community had also seen this dog and were giving him treats. One family even put out food at the edge of a small forest, across the street from where they lived, hoping to nourish the dog. Soon, we started seeing this dog in other parts of Warrenville when we were in our cars - near the post office, near the VFW, on Curtis Street, on River Road, etc. He was seen in nice weather and in stormy weather. He was seen eating out of garbage cans, yet he would never approach us when we called him - he always ran in the opposite direction. At this point, we began to suspect that he was lost.

Our next door neighbor's daughter, Claire Milnamow, decided to call him "Bob." Bob would not exactly respond to this name, but now he hesitated when we called him. He took treats very gently out of our hands, and he knew his commands - sit, stay, down.

On November 7, 2008, Bob again showed up beyond our backyard fence. When I took some food to him, we noticed that he developed an abscess on his jaw. On November 8, Bob came back for more food. I called Animal Control Officer Joshua Perry and he came to our house right away. My husband and I let Bob into the yard and fed him treats every five feet until he reached our fenced area near our back door.

With the help of Steve Bailey, Corporal Carl Abraham and Officer Jon Muchowski, ACO Josh Perry was finally able to catch Bob and then transported him to Arboretum View Animal Hospital in Lisle, IL, where he was evaluated and his abscess was treated. He was given a kennel with a bed to sleep in and he settled in nicely. Officer Perry and the staff at Arboretum View Animal Hospital scanned his neck and found a microchip! Officer Perry went back to the police department and put a call into the number listed on the microchip.

Michelle Garza returned Officer Josh Perry's call on the morning of November 10. She was absolutely hysterical, laughing and crying, that her dog was found. She agreed to come up to Warrenville right away to be escorted to Arboretum View with Officer Perry.

When Michelle arrived at Arboretum View Animal Hospital to see if indeed, her lost dog, Czar, had been found, the staff had her sit in a chair while they went to get Czar from his kennel. Officer Perry told Michelle that if the dog did not come to name "Czar" then she was to call him "Bob." Czar came out, looked at Michelle and ran across the room and flew into her lap, putting his paws around her neck and whining softly….everybody at Arboretum View that day had tears in their eyes. What a happy ending!!!!!!!!

It turns out that Michelle and Czar were on their way from the northwest suburbs to Wilmington (where they currently live) in November, 2005, when she made a stop at the Old Navy store on Rt. 59 in Naperville. Unbeknownst to Michelle, her car's back window was rolled down, and Czar wanted to follow her into the store. Czar went into the wrong store and got lost. Michelle was frantic! "I came out of Old Navy and there was pandemonium everywhere - someone said that a dog was running around the strip mall!" Michelle camped out every night for a week in the parking lot of Old Navy, hoping her dog would come back. She called the Naperville Police Department to report her lost dog, posted fliers in a 40 mile radius, called all the animal shelters in the area and had her family and friends looking for Czar. She was just devastated, but did not give up hope that Czar would be found.

In Michelle's words, "I want to give you, your neighbors, and the City of Warrenville a huge thank you for looking out for Czar when he was lost. I am so grateful that he was in a community such as yours. I feel like your neighborhood really kept him going - and I couldn't be more thankful. I had so many fears when he went missing, and they never went away until I saw him again at Arboretum View. It was absolutely the best day of my life and I can't even begin to explain the way I feel. Not a day went by that he wasn't on my mind - now the only tears I have are out of joy!! My family and friends were overjoyed when they found out the good news.

Czar met his new little sister last night - she is a five-month-old Beagle/Golden Retriever mix. I just got her in October, and she was an orphan that showed up in my uncle's yard in Indiana. I always said I would never be able to have a dog again, but this little girl needed to be loved. I felt very bad, because while she was going through her training, I kept on thinking of my baby, Czar. Anyways, the introduction went well - she loves him already - and she now has such a great role model to look up to. Czar also has another sister - my older cat, Oreo. Oreo had such a hard time adjusting to being without Czar after he went missing. When she saw him standing in our living room on Monday, her eyes got real big and he was staring back at her. Czar started his low-whining cry, as when he saw me. They truly missed each other. Of course, I started crying again too. Thank you for being so happy for us and thanks again, Warrenville, for being in his life when I could not."

Officer Josh Perry states, "If it were not for the people of Warrenville, we would not have been able to rescue Czar and get him to his owner. This is just one example of how the Warrenville Police Department appreciates the community getting involved."

Source: http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=251467
Another version: http://www.dailyherald.com/story/print/?id=251466

Buck, golden retriever

In this story, the family lost their dog while on a family trip, and they delayed leaving for a couple of long hard days before they felt they had to move on. Those couple of days were enough for the residents of the area to remember, when the dog re-appeared from seemingly nowhere, six months later.

The Real 'Homeward Bound': Dog Found After Missing for 6 Months
Friday, February 06, 2009

HELENA, Mont. — A 7-year-old golden retriever named Buck, startled by a train whistle last summer and lost for six months in north-central Montana, is back home in Washington state thanks to the efforts of several Chester residents.

"I've never had a miracle happen to me, so I don't really know what to think," said Kim Halter of Bonney Lake, Wash. Halter said she, her husband and two of their sons were on a family trip to Montana in August when they stopped at a rest stop along U.S. Highway 2 in the small town of Chester.

"The dog was normally never on a leash. Big mistake," Halter said Thursday. "But he was always next to my son. He never left his side, so we never really had a problem."

"We were under the trestle when the horn blew. When Buck heard the whistle, he took off like a shot. None of us even saw him." Halter said Maxine Woods, who lives across the highway, was waving her arms and trying to tell them that their dog ran away.

"He just basically disappeared," Woods said Friday. "He was just going faster than any dog I've seen run." Woods joined the search for the dog.

"She got in her car and then she started calling people and before you knew it everybody around there was looking for our dog," Halter said.

After two days of unsuccessful searching, the Halters, brokenhearted, resumed their travels. "We went to the library and the librarian in Chester made us posters and wouldn't charge us a dime for them," Halter said. The family put up posters in banks and post offices in the small towns around the area. "That was about all we could do," she said.

After a few false sightings, the family didn't hear anything for six months. As fall turned into winter, heavy snow fell in the Chester area and temperatures occasionally fell into the 20-below-zero range.

"Every time we'd hear about the weather we would just cringe," Halter said. "I would just cry even harder, thinking 'Where is my Buck?' And of course I couldn't let my son (17-year-old Jason) know. I never let him see me cry because he kept the faith and kept the hope."

"He would tell me all the time that Buck's coming home," she said of her son, who had had the dog since it was a puppy. "He actually thought he was going to walk home like in (the movie) 'Homeward Bound."'

It was about 27 degrees below zero early on Jan. 25, the day Jason Wanken spotted a stray dog on his family farm just north of Chester.

"We spotted this dog out here on the farm, just on and off, going through the creek and whatnot," Wanken said. "We just never had a prime opportunity to go over and get him." Later in the week, Wanken used a snowmobile to bring some food to the dog, which had taken up residence under a collapsed building. Wanken's mother had remembered the name of the golden retriever that had gone missing last summer and told Wanken to see if the dog would answer to the name Buck.

"The next day, I took the boys out with me and I had a full bag of food with me and I just rattled that bag," he said. "I started to feed it and could actually pet it then." Wanken and his wife were able to use food to lure the dog into a kennel. They then took the dog to Woods' house. "I thought it couldn't be this dog, though, it's been too long," Wanken said.

Woods called Halter on Saturday, Jan. 31. "She e-mailed me three pictures and when I was on the phone with her I received the pictures, and we both started crying and I said that was him," Halter said. Confirmation that the dog had an underbite sent the Halters on a 750-mile trip. "We drove all night," she said, arriving in Chester Sunday afternoon.

"When we got to the Wankens, he ran right up to us and it was absolutely without a doubt him," Halter said. "It was a miracle. He looked at us and we looked at him and we were all crying. It was beyond amazing."

No one seems to know where Buck had been between Aug. 13 and Jan. 25. "From the time he left us until the time Jason Wanken found him, there is no clue where he's been or what he's done," Halter said. "Only he knows. I almost feel like taking him to a pet psychic to see if they could tell me. Only he knows his secret and he's keeping it to himself.

Jason Halter of Bonney Lake, Wash., is seen with his dog Buck, on Sunday, Feb. 1, 2009 in Chester, Mont. Buck who was spooked by a train and had been missing in north-central Montana for six months before being found by Chester residents.

"I tell ya one thing, he hasn't stopped smiling since he got home and neither have we."

Source - http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,489508,00.html
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