Donald

Donald's Story
July 8th, 2014

Donald started out at a high kill shelter on the put to sleep list (all dogs are on the pts list there) when a wonderful rescue stepped in to save him.

He was put on the transport van, labeled as a flight risk, which traveled from SC to DE on Saturday, 6/28.

Donald - before, during and after trapping

Once he arrived, he was placed into the backseat of a car to head to his overnight stop.  An inexperienced volunteer opened the car door, with Donald in the back, and that is when he made his escape.  People took off after him, but he was off into waist high weeds.

Later that night a search was on for him, with a dog friendly dog (since he loves dogs), but it was getting dark and the ticks were everywhere.  The search was called off.

The following morning at 8:30am, 6/29 Donald was spotted in the same spot where he escaped from the night before. But took off once he saw people.

A trap was borrowed from a local rescue, a trail was set up with food to lead him back to the area he escaped, and to lure him near the trap.  It was baited with food and left set up overnight in hopes of catching him.

That same day 6/29, two volunteers spent over three hours in the woods looking for him, and spotted him with on the top of the hill far away.  The pink slip lead is what allowed the volunteers to spot him in all the green.

Another volunteer traveled from NJ set up a camera, donated two cases of dog food and supplied the two volunteers with 200 large posters with protective covers to hang and tons of hand out posters.  The volunteer from NJ also spent hours waiting on Donald, but he never showed up.

On 6/30 at 7am Donald was spotted in the same spot as he was previously seen, but didn't go into the trap.

The food was changed and later that day the area was blanketed with the posters. Neighborhoods were walked and people were told of Donald's escape by the three volunteers.  The trap was checked three times before it got dark; no Donald.  The clock was ticking.  Fourth of July was just around the corner and the fear was that the fireworks would scare him from his spot.

The plan for the next day, 7/1 was to change the food again, but this time with freshly cooked fatty bacon including the grease, and KFC honey BBQ tenders due to the pungent smell.  Since Donald's feeding time at the shelter was 7:30, the idea was to place the food a couple of hours before his normal feeding so it would be fresh when he came to eat.  Another trapper said that dogs usually come out at dawn and dusk so the plan was changed to dawn.

Dawn the next day, 7/1, was at 5am. So the KFC was purchased the night before, the bacon was cooked the following morning at 3:30am, and the KFC was heated to bring out the aroma.  Both items were packed up and by 4am, two volunteers were at the trap.

Since it was dark when the volunteers arrived, the headlights were pointed in the area of the trap.  As the volunteer's approached the trap, they could see the trap door was down.  At that moment they knew something was in the trap.  Further into the weeds, suddenly barking!

It was Donald!  He was super scared, but safe.

A call was made to a volunteer with a SUV to transport Donald. Another volunteer was called to help lift the trap with Donald in it.  Trappers warned the volunteers never take a trapped dog out of the trap at the spot they were caught.  If they escaped again, the chances of them being trapped again are very slim.  The dog should be taken in the trap to a safe place and then taken out of the trap.  When the two additional volunteers arrived, Donald was loaded into the SUV and escorted via caravan style to a volunteer's house.

The SUV was pulled into the garage where Donald was safely taken out.  Donald was scared and very thirsty.  He was taken to his own room, put in a large crate with fresh bedding, food and a lot of water.  The volunteer stayed with him downstairs as emails & texts were sent out that he was safe.

Later that day he was bathed, had over 300 ticks removed from his body, played with some of the volunteers dogs and was taken to his temporary foster home until he can join the transport next weekend. He will then, finally make it to his rescue.

So many people were involved in his recovery.All the advice given made the difference in his safe capture.

Donald's normal life can now begin!

Bella Lost from Keller

Good Samaritans Catch a Dog Missing for Two Years
Posted by ADMIN
December 5, 2013

After having been missing for nearly two years, an elusive dog named Bella was finally caught with the help of a rescue group and a couple of good Samaritans and returned home to her worried mom, who never lost hope that they’d be reunited.

Bella was reunited with her owner Melanie Barnes on December 4, 2013, two years after she ran away from Barnes' home in Keller.

Farnaz Memarzadeh first noticed the stray dog in 2012, when she was wandering around the woods by University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas.

“I couldn’t ignore the situation — especially because it was right in front of me,” said Farnaz.

She called her Nadine, and tried to catch her, but could never get close enough. Over the summer, Farnaz contacted Duck Team 6, a rescue group that specializes in catching street dogs.

“Most of the time, I set up a trap, we catch our dog that day,” said Pat Rodriguez. “It might be a couple hours, but we catch our dog.”

Duck Team 6 spent two months trying to catch Bella, but to no avail. But on Tuesday, a maintenance worker from the medical center tried something no dog could resist – some KFC.

“He had a unique strategy that we had never tried,” Farnaz said. “He took Kentucky Fried Chicken — the crispy kind — and hung it from a string at the end of the trap, kind of like mistletoe from the ceiling.”

Now, most of us know that dogs aren’t supposed to be given bone-in chicken, because the bones can splinter in their digestive tracts, but desperate times call for desperate measures. One dangling drumstick and Bella was caught.

She was taken to veterinarian, who found she had ear mites and hookworms – but also a microchip. Her home was in Keller, TX, 37 miles away. Owner Melanie Barnes was delighted to receive the phone call she had waited so long for.

“It’s been a long time, sweetheart!” Melanie said to Bella during their reunion at Farnaz’s home. “It’s been a long time.”



No one knows how she managed to get all the way to Dallas after jumping the fence in her yard, or how she scavenged enough food to stay alive so long. Hopefully now she’ll stay home where she’ll be spoiled for the rest of her life.

Source: http://www.khou.com/news/texas-news/Dangling-drumstick-catches-stray-dog-missing-for-two-years-234583391.html

Ily

Missing dog Ily found after surviving 65 days in Arizona desert, reunited with owner
By: Adam Slinger
Posted: 08/27/2013


PHOENIX - A lost puppy missing for more than two months in the desert was finally found late Monday night north of Anthem.

In late June, 1-year-old Ily ran off Interstate 17 after a car crash seriously injured the dog’s owner and killed another dog in the vehicle.

“[Ily] went through the windshield and ran,” said Rose Sharman, Ily’s owner.

Sharman, who also went through the windshield, is still recovering and using a wheelchair until she’s able to walk again. She told ABC15 she never gave up hope that Ily was still alive.

“I missed her the most at night because she hugged me all night,” said Sharman.

A small army of volunteers searched the desert looking for the puppy, but there were no sightings until about a week ago, she said.

Witnesses reported seeing two dogs traveling together about three miles from the crash scene.

Volunteers took turns playing “watch dog”, baiting a cage with chicken and listening for sounds of activity over a baby monitor.

“We heard some clanking noises,” said volunteers Lynn Drewniany and Guy Bowman. “And then there was a bark.”

“I told them to send me a picture,” Sharman said, “I couldn’t believe it was her.”

Ily, who previously weighed around 55 pounds, now only weighs about 30 pounds. Sharman says other than the weight loss and dehydration, the puppy is in good shape.

“She jumped on my lap and wagged her tail and started crying,” Sharman said of the reunion.

Sharman believes that Ily survived because she paired up with another stray dog in the desert.



The other stray, nicknamed Buddy, was also rescued and is currently under quarantine at Maricopa County Animal Care and Control. Workers at the shelter were able to locate Buddy's original owner, who will be able to take him home on Friday.

Source: http://www.abc15.com//dpp/news/region_phoenix_metro/north_phoenix/Missing-dog-Ily-found-after-surviving-65-days-in-Arizona-desert-reunited-with-owner

Attaboy, sheltie

Pet 'detectives' find lost Attaboy in Forest Hills
By Linda Wilson Fuoco, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
First published on May 2, 2007 at 3:46 pm

The face of a little dog named Attaboy adorned at least 500 "lost" posters displayed throughout Forest Hills, North Versailles and other suburbs in eastern Allegheny County. The posters started going up March 13, when he ran away from his new home. The posters started coming down Monday night.

Deb Jugan spent about four hours taking the posters down. Her progress was slowed because some people stopped their cars to talk to her and others left their houses to talk to her.

All had the same question: "Why are you taking down the posters?"

Some asked if people had stopped looking for the tricolored Shetland sheepdog. Others feared the dog was dead.

Ms. Jugan was thrilled to report that Attaboy had been found Monday morning after a seven-week search.

The dog hunt included dozens of volunteer "pet detectives," who mounted search parties and spent countless hours tramping through heavy woods behind the Forest Hills recreation center on Barclay Avenue. Uncounted animal lovers dutifully phoned and e-mailed reports when they sighted the skittish dog.

Ms. Jugan is the founder of TrackAPet-Pittsburgh, an e-mail list on www.yahoogroups.com that works to reunite lost pets and owners. The 57 members on the list sent hundreds of e-mails, giving everyone permission to forward the messages to other animal lovers who could help look for Attaboy.

Retired schoolteacher Peggy Buckley, of Brookline, joined in the searches and e-mailed prayer chains to everyone in her voluminous Internet address book.

There's really no way to count how many people were out looking for this dog.

In the end, a humane trap was set up in the woods. Volunteers staked it out for several days, for hours on end. Ms. Jugan checked the trap at 7 a.m. Monday on her way to the Allegheny County courthouse, where she works as an assistant district attorney. She cleaned up the mess that had been made by a marauding raccoon and reset the trap. Sandy Reech, one of the more dedicated TrackAPet regulars, found Attaboy an hour later, sitting calmly in the trap.

This is a nice enough story in its own right. But the Attaboy search took many twists and turns. Before they found Attaboy, pet detectives trapped quite a few raccoons and a few stray cats. Before they found Attaboy, they found two other Shetland sheepdogs.

Who knew that many tricolored Shetland sheepdogs could be lost at the same time?

Ms. Jugan and Ms. Reech thought they had trapped Attaboy in North Versailles on April 10, but it was a different Sheltie that happened to be wearing a collar with an ID tag. That one was Shaggy, whose family had been searching for him since Aug. 7 when he bolted from his fenced yard during a thunderstorm.

Shaggy's family was thrilled to have him back, and they've continually sent updates and pictures to TrackAPet. Type the name Shaggy into the search box at post-gazette.com and you can read that story, topped by the headline, "Wrong lost dog is found."

But now back to Attaboy. The pet detectives continued to get reports of sightings, and continued to follow up.

"I was just crying when I saw him in the trap," Ms. Reech said. "He was calm when I talked to him." When she got him to her home in Level Green, it didn't take long for Attaboy to come around.

Ms. Reech said Attaboy was quickly settling in, playing with her and her husband, Jim, who was one of the search volunteers.

"He's very dirty and he lost so much weight you can see all his ribs," Ms. Reech said.

Attaboy weighed 39 pounds when he ran away and now weighs about 20 pounds.

Attaboy's short-term future includes rest and recuperation at the Reech residence, where he will be well fed and well petted. His long term future is a bit up in the air.

His legal owner is the Animal Protectors shelter in New Kensington, where he was taken after an animal control agent found him in a vacant house. He had been left behind when his prior owners moved. The shelter adopted him out to a Forest Hills family seven weeks ago, and he bolted out a door two days after they took him in.

Though the new owners reported that he was lost, they never helped looked for him and never called or e-mailed for search updates, so he's not going back to that family, a shelter spokesman said.

And the third lost-and-found Sheltie? Several days after Shaggy was found, a woman waiting at a bus stop saw a tricolored dog wandering in Munhall. While she was using her cell phone to leave a message with TrackAPet, neighbors told her the dog lived nearby. The woman personally escorted that Sheltie to its home and gently admonished owners to keep closer tabs on the canine.

Source: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07123/782766-62.stm

Shaggy, sheltie

Wrong lost dog is found
Track-A-Pet members return Shaggy to his family, continue search for Attaboy
By Linda Wilson Fuoco, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Thursday, April 12, 2007

Shaggy, a 5-year-old Shetland sheepdog missing since August, sits on owner Jacci Ford's lap, as her husband Kenny Lindauer and one of their twins, Kristina Lindauer, 7, look on. The sheltie was found less than a mile from their North Versailles home with the collar and tag he was wearing when he went missing still around his neck.

A monthlong search for a scared Shetland sheepdog named Attaboy ended with cheers and tears Tuesday when a skinny little dog stepped into a humane box trap baited with roast beef and cheese.

But when one of his rescuers looked at the "lost" poster that had been widely distributed in North Versailles and surrounding suburbs, she said, "I don't think this is Attaboy."

The tricolored sheltie in the trap, it turned out, was a dog named Shaggy who had bolted out of his yard on Aug. 7, when the storm that spooked him blew open the gate. Around the neck of the dirty, bedraggled dog was a tattered collar with a bone-shaped tag bearing the name and telephone number of his owners.

Allegheny County Assistant District Attorney Deborah Jugan called Shaggy's owners while Sandy Reech, secretary for the Forest Hills Police Department, drove the dog to his North Versailles home.

Meanwhile, Attaboy is still missing. He ran away from his new home March 13.

He had been adopted from a New Kensington shelter, and had lived in his new home only two days when he ran out the back door and never came back.

Before he was rescued by Animal Protectors, Attaboy had been living alone in a boarded up house for as long as two years. His former owners left him there when they moved away, and relatives supposedly had been dropping in to feed him, shelter workers said. He had become very shy and distrustful of people.

Both dogs are tricolored Shetland sheepdogs -- white with black and tan spots. Both are 5 years old. Pictures of both dogs show they are remarkably similar, but Attaboy has more white fur than Shaggy does.

Attaboy weighed 38 pounds when he was adopted last month.

Though Shaggy's family had never stopped missing him and had never stopped looking for him, "after eight months we never thought we would see him again," Jacci Ford said yesterday.

Shaggy was welcomed home Tuesday night by Ms. Ford, her son Thomy Ford, 23, her husband, Kenny Lindauer, and the couple's 7-year-old twins, Kenny and Kristina Lindauer.

Shaggy, who was a very overweight 65 pounds when he ran into the storm, now weighs only 25 pounds. Aside from that, he is in amazingly good shape, said the veterinarian who checked him out yesterday.

A good weight for him would be about 35 pounds, he told the family.

Shaggy does have a prescription medication to clear up a skin condition that the vet said was probably caused by fleas he picked up while living in a wooded area off Irishtown Road in North Versailles.

"Shaggy has always been such a good dog who got fat because everyone gave him treats," Ms. Ford said. "He's very sweet and affectionate with all of us, like he's never been away. We can't believe he wouldn't go to people who tried to feed him and help him."

Ms. Ford also can't believe that the dog was found less than a mile from his home.

Shaggy was found by a network of animal lovers who sometimes jokingly call themselves "pet detectives."

Ms. Jugan, who is known as "doggie DA" because she prosecutes many animal cruelty cases, owns an e-mail list called Track-A-Pet. Approximately 40 list members, including Ms. Reech, have made it their mission to reunite lost pets and their owners.

They post fliers and forward e-mails asking friends, co-workers and neighbors to look for lost dogs and cats. They call police departments, shelters and animal control agencies. Sometimes they organize dog or cat hunts and spend hours in cars and on foot looking for lost animals.

No one keeps records, but they frequently find their targets and get them home.

"It's amazing that Shaggy survived and it's a blessing that he's back with us," Ms. Ford said. "My family just cannot thank those people enough."

The Attaboy search party included Peggy Buckley of Brookline, a retired teacher and member of Track-A-Pet. On Tuesday night, Ms. Buckley sent out an e-mail prayer chain, asking people to pray for the safe return of Attaboy. Less than an hour later, Shaggy stepped into the trap.


Source: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07102/777312-56.stm#

Cheyenne, sheltie

Hard work, KFC help reunite dog with owners
Sheltie back home after more than a month of searching ends in live trap baited with chicken
By Justin Glawe of the Journal Star
Aug 18, 2011

Cheyenne the Sheltie

PEKIN — After more than a month of sightings, stakeouts and a Kentucky Fried Chicken lure, Dwight and Connie Morgan finally have their dog back.

Judith Schmider of Groveland, who owns Aunt Jude’s Pampered Pet Care, reunited Cheyenne, a skittish 3-year-old Sheltie, with the Morgans.

Cheyenne was found in a humane animal trap about 7 a.m. Wednesday, a month and three days after disappearing.

“I’m just a pet lover. I was never going to quit, this is like a child to me,” Schmider said.

Dwight Morgan, 80, of Morton is happy Cheyenne is finally home and back to her habit of waking him up every day at 5:30 a.m.

“When we let her out of that cage in my backyard, she jumped almost three feet in the air to get to me,” Morgan said. “She’s been at my feet ever since.”

The Morgans left Cheyenne with Schmider to attend a family reunion in Florida.

“Usually, we leave her with a family member, but all our family was down there,” Morgan said. “The next reunion is going to be in the Peoria area.”

The dog’s stay with Schmider didn’t last long. Shortly after taking possession of the dog, Schmider pulled into her garage and let Cheyenne out of the car without realizing the garage door was still partly open. The dog bolted through the opening and began its monthlong hiatus.

After more than 50 sightings, according to Schmider, she and other searchers were at wit’s end until they talked to Annette Long, 72, of Normal, at Central Illinois Sheltie Rescue in Bloomington.

“You’ve got to use K Fried Chicken because of the odor. Dogs are drawn to it,” Long said Thursday. “And it’s just common sense to use a live trap.”

The trap was provided by Tazewell County Animal Control. The Kentucky Fried Chicken was provided by Schmider.

“Something kept telling me we were going to get her,” she said. “So, all day Tuesday, every two hours I would put a fresh piece of chicken in the trap.”

Early the next day, Schmider arrived to find the door of the trap closed.

“At first, I thought it was a small animal in there,” she said. “When I saw it was her, I fell to my knees sobbing.”

Cheyenne is believed to have survived on scraps from area restaurants as well as the food being left out by Schmider. The dog was taken to a local veterinarian who found that she had lost three pounds, had fleas and bruised paws and was, of course, very dirty.

Dwight Morgan praised Schmider.

“This lady put up signs all over the place, and we had nine or 10 people that said they spotted her and I’m sure more than that called in,” Morgan said. “When she (Schmider) found her, she was crying, she was just so elated that she had finally found her.”

“We’re going to have a welcome home party for her,” Schmider said. “There’s so many people that helped out and they want to get a chance to finally pet this dog.”

Source: http://www.pjstar.com/news/x27458657/Hard-work-KFC-help-reunite-dog-with-owners

Annie, schnauzer mix

A community effort to find missing dog pays off in the end
By George Austin, Editor
July 27, 2011

A schnauzer mix dog has done a lot of traveling recently from Tennesse up to New England to a Somerset home and over to Swansea. But "Annie," the dog that ran away after a day and a half at a home on South Street in Somerset, finally is back home after an intense search by people from the area over the last four weeks.

Annie, a schnauzer that had run away from a Somerset home that had adopted her, has been found and is back living in a foster home.

The dog had ran away on June 20 and was found on July 19 after Have a Heart Traps were put out in an area where Annie had been spotted. Joann Bentley, the Somerset resident who had adopted the dog, had a lot of messages that Annie had been found on her cellular phone after coming out of a meeting last week.

"I just like burst into tears," Ms. Bentley said of her reaction to finding the dog. "I was so happy."

Ms Bentley said the dog was owned by a man in Tennessee who was a hoarder and had about 80 dogs. The dogs were sent to shelters through an organization called Paws New England. Annie was put into a foster home for 5 1/2 months before Ms Bentley adopted her. But shortly after Ms Bentley took the dog in, it ran away.

In trying to find the dog, Ms Bentley put posters up around Somerset and searched the woods. She said people would call her and say they saw Annie. She said putting up a lot of posters really helped to get the word out so that people would call when they saw the dog.

"We knew she was around," Ms Bentley said. "We were always just one step behind, but we finally got her."

Ms Bentley received a call that Annie had been seen at Simcock Farm. Owner James Simcock told Ms Bentley that he had seen the dog, but she looked too afraid to get close to him. She said posters of Annie were given to customers at the farm's ice cream stand in case they saw her. People communicated on Facebook about the search effort to find the dog.

A call came in to Ms Bentley that the dog was seen in the Hailes Hill Road and Dillon Lane area in Swansea. Looking at the pattern of where the dog had been spotted, it was figured out that Annie was following a stream in the area and so Have a Heart cages were set up along the stream at three locations at Simcock Farm, Hailes Hill Road and Dillon Lane, and that is how the dog was found and brought home.

The traps were provided by Swansea Animal Control, Paws New England and from the town where the dog's foster mother lives. The traps are cages that are two feet wide by three feet long and two feet high. The cages have a trigger inside so that when an animal goes in to get food the door is shut.

"It was just a real community effort," Ms. Bentley said of finding the dog. "Everywhere I went, people would say, did you find your dog. Everyone was great helping to try to find Annie."

When Annie was found, the dog had lost 16 pounds from what had been a 35 pound body. The dog's foster mother brought Annie to a veterinarian who said other than the weight loss, the dog was in good health. Ms Bentley decided to give the dog back to the foster mother who lives in Needham. The dog at Simcock Farm, named Rascal, came from a Paws New England shelter. Ms Bentley said Mr Simcock and his wife, Beverly Simcock, were a big help in finding Annie.

"She would want someone to do that for her fur baby if she ever got lost," Ms. Bentley said of what Ms. Simcock said to her about helping to find her dog.

Source: http://www.southcoasttoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=%2F20110727%2FPUB05%2F107270354%2F-1%2Fpub05
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Millie, black lab/greyhound

Recap of Millie's Capture
by Angela Song,  Scared, Lost Dogs: San Diego on Facebook
Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Millie, chillin' after her capture, following 76 days on the lam

Millie was captured at 12:45 am on July 18! After 76 excruciating days of intense witness development, tracking, finding that Millie nearly starved to death, training to keep her in one area, dart and drugging attempts, and Jen living under the freeway for 15 hours a day two months- not an exaggeration! Here is a recap of the night since so many caring people have been asking and wondering.

On the day/night of trapping, we had our team of five. We each had a pre-planned role with specif...ic responsibilities. We were positioned in different locations with different equipment. I was with Jen who had the baby monitor, I had the binoculars. Pattie and Lynn were in a parking lot just adjacent with Lynn's high powered scope aimed at the from the of trap.

There were several hours of planning and deliberation and detailed testing and retesting of all the moving parts. We set the trap at 6 pm to sync it with her usual feeding and activity time.

She really made us work for her capture. Although she came out a few times from 8:25 pm onward, she kept us on the edge of our seats as it grew dusk then very dark. Jen and I worked back and forth with me letting her know if Millie was approaching the trap so she could turn the baby monitor on. We had limited battery time so the monitor could not be kept on. Becky, Pattie, and Lynn called in from their vantage points as well. We were all in constant communication (even if words were not spoken). The dark hours between 9 pm and midnight were pretty nervewracking to say the least. Millie went back and forth between the humane trap and box, to the east, disappeared to the west, napping here and there, multiple approaches without eating, a LOT of looking out into the parking lot.

When she finally approached the box trap the final time, she went in for the hanging hot dog first then went right back in to try for the chicken. It took her three good tries to get the bait chicken. It was a super dry, nuked chicken breast attached to a papattachéattached to the wire at the very end of the trap. Thank goodness she didn't accidentally trip the wire during these initial attempts because she was doing her crazy lean-ins and looked out at the parking lot. She did this several times before she actually committed to pulling the chicken. She walked all the way in and the door slammed shut.

From the nanosecond we saw the door shut on the monitor, Jen and I flew to the trap (I think our feet touched the ground, but can't remember). Car doors still swinging open. I know Jen will give more details on this, but it was so critical that we got there within a miniute. A minute! Millie was already frantically clawing at the door and sides and started barking as we approached (a scared bark, not aggressive) and we know even a couple of more minutes and she could have lifted the side of the door and gotten out. Thank goodness for the box trap and the ingenious custom-made flanges from Pattie's friend, Glen, to help keep the door down. It bought us precious moments.

As soon as Millie heard Jen's soothing voice as Jen was tying the door, and Millie realized we were not there to harm her, she immediately calmed down, sat and allowed Jen to reach in and put a collar (three in total) around her. She is SUCH a sweet girl.

By this time, Pattie, Lynn, and Becky were there and with all of us guarding the door, we lifted it for Jen to go in and sit with her baby. It was an incredible moment.

Jen and Becky were able to calmly walk back down with Millie on the lead(s), put her in the back of Pattie's truck which had the crate ready to go and off to the vet we went. ... The rest of this happy ending to be continued...

Video 1 - Testing of trap door in daylight view. It works! 

Video 2 - Millie finally in the trap!

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Scared-Lost-Dog-San-Diego/210446905654052

Ellie, yellow lab

Dog that fled deadly wreck found
By Staff reports, the Charleston Gazette
June 11, 2011


MOUNT LOOKOUT, WVa. -- A dog that fled a wreck that left one of her owners dead earlier this month was found Saturday -- an hour before the woman's funeral service.

The dog, an 18-month-old yellow Labrador retriever named Ellie, was caught in a humane trap on "a little country road" in Mount Lookout near Summersville, said Christy Adkins, assistant manager of the Nicholas County Animal Shelter.

On June 1, Linda and Jim Booth were traveling from Hayesville NC, to Pennsylvania when their vehicle flipped near the intersection of US 19 and Mount Lookout Road in Nicholas County. They were traveling to a family reunion and to celebrate their 50th anniversary.

Linda Booth, 68, died at the scene. Her husband, 74, was taken to the hospital.

Last week, friends had said finding the dog would be crucial in helping the Booth family cope with their loss.

Jim Booth went to his wife's funeral Saturday knowing Ellie had been found, Adkins said. The dog will be returned to him Monday.

"She was caught an hour before [Linda Booth's] services," said Adkins, who credited the community with helping to find the dog. "It was wonderful."

The shelter staff had put some of Jim Booth's clothing articles in the trap so the scent would attract Ellie, Adkins said. They also sprinkled his cologne around the area.

Ellie had some cuts and scrapes, as well as an open wound on her side, Adkins said.

"The vet said it's going to heal," Adkins said.

Source: http://wvgazette.com/News/201106111068

Duke, yellow lab

Dog food lures lost Duke, ends two-week chasing tale
Elusive yellow Lab is back with family
Ron Devlin , Reading Eagle
Originally Published: 2/7/2011

Two weeks after slipping out of the Spring Township Petco and living on the lam, Duke, front, reunites with owner Shawna Beidler, left front, and her parents, Todd and Sheila Bubbenmoyer of Richmond Township. Sheila is holding Dukes best friend, Chloe, a chihuahua.

Duke, the missing dog who was the subject of an intensive manhunt, was back home Sunday night with his family in Richmond Township.

After two weeks on the lam, the 2-year-old yellow Labrador curled up on a cushion next to his master, 19-year-old Shawna Beidler.

"Our prayers were answered," said Shawna, gently stroking Duke's head.

Duke's long journey home ended just in time for his third birthday, which is today.

Shawna and her parents, Sheila and Todd Bubbenmoyer, haven't had a restful night since Duke bolted from the Petco store in Broadcasting Square on Jan. 23.

Duke was being sized up for a new collar when, spooked by a stranger, he darted from the Spring Township store and fled to an open field across Broadcasting Road.

"He had never done that before," said Sheila, who owns Tidy Cleaning Co. in Richmond Township.

Duke proved a resourceful escapee, eluding a cadre of searchers for 14 days.

Though he had been spotted numerous times in the area near where he escaped, Duke avoided capture.

Todd, 43, who works night shift at a Boyertown foundry, tromped through snow-covered fields in pursuit of the errant animal.

Even the family's German shepherd, Hope, was unsuccessful in luring her canine companion. Todd had taken her to the area where Duke had been seen, thinking he would respond to her familiar scent.

A group of animal advocates finally lured Duke into a trap Sunday with a generous helping of dog food, wet and dry. Most of the searchers didn't know Duke or his family.

"A lot of people came together over this dog," Todd said. "We're so very thankful to them."

Nadine Essick of Womelsdorf, who spent days searching for Duke, said she was driven by a love of animals.

"If I know about an animal in distress, I have to do something about it," she said. "I have to know in my heart and mind that I did all I was capable of doing."

Essick, part of a group of searchers from Peacock Bridge Kennel in Bern Township, said the Humane Society of Berks County lent them a trap.

Once, Duke managed to go in the trap, eat the food and get out without triggering the gate. He wasn't so lucky the second time, and was captured Sunday afternoon.

"He dropped a few pounds and didn't smell very well, but he's healthy," Sheila said.

"We're so thankful and relieved," she said. "For the first time in two weeks, we'll get a good night's sleep."

Source: http://readingeagle.com/article.aspx?id=284777

Bill, viszla/lab mix

Catching Bill
Kat Albrecht, Pet Detective Blog
April 16th, 2011

Sometimes, recovering a lost dog is as easy as driving down to the local shelter or posting a LOST DOG Ad on Craig’s List. However, when the dog has a skittish temperament and is so panicked that he is running from everyone, including his own family, things change. Suddenly it’s not so easy. In fact, it can be downright hopeless. Many of skittish dogs that escape from their families are simply never recovered because theses guardian typically don’t have the knowledge, the proper equipment, or the support they need. The story of Bill is case where a family (a foster family at that) refused to give up, even when the recovery took them close to one year!

Bill Relaxed at Home

Bill, a Vizsla / Labrador mix, somehow ended up in an animal shelter in early 2010. He was rescued and ended up in the hands of Don and Marianne Blackwell from Ft. Collins, Colorado. The Blackwell’s fostered Bill for six weeks for the rescue group they volunteered for. Here’s how Marianne described life with Bill (before his escape):

“Bill quickly became part of our family and was a real sweetheart. My husband Don walks/runs our 3 Vizslas in the back field and was eventually able to take Bill without a leash; Bill stayed near the rest of the pack and to Don.”

Well, as fate would have it, an adoptive family was found for Bill. However, there was a problem. Bill hated crates. But the rescue group felt that Bill needed to be crate trained for his new family. So Bill was moved out of the Blackwell’s house and in with another volunteer who knew how to crate train dogs. As Marianne told me, “With a great deal of sadness, we let them take Bill from our home. We were miserable.” Marianne and Don were miserable because they loved Bill and knew how much this gentle dog hate, hate, HATED crates! When Marianne called the fellow rescuer a few weeks later to find out how Bill was doing, she learned the crushing news. Bill had jumped a fence and ran away from the other rescuers house a week before. Marianne and Don were heartsick! They immediately launched an extensive search (shelter checks, posters, advertisements, etc.) for Bill. They kept this up not just for weeks, but for MONTHS. However, eventually all leads and sightings diminished down to nothing. It seemed that Bill had vanished from the face of earth.

Then, eight months later (in January 2011), Bill was sighted by the same rescuer he’d escaped from. He was seen running near a drainage ditch not far from his home. Marianne and Don jumped back into recovery mode. They posted more flyers, talked to people in the area of the sighting, and ultimately after great gumshoe work they discovered where Bill was living. He had found an abandoned house with a hole big enough for a Viszla mix to crawl into. Don and Marianne began to put food out there and would catch glimpses of Bill as he took off in terror from anyone who tried to approach him.

That was when I came into the picture. Marianne surfed the Internet for information on how to catch a hard-to-catch dog. She found Missing Pet Partnership’s web site and was encouraged by the story of how MPP volunteers caught Sophie, a skittish Bernese Mountain Dog after a 7 week effort. Marianne emailed me on February 27, 2011, explained Bill’s story, and ended her email like this:

“What can we do next? We have been looking for our dog for almost 9 months and will not ever give up on him, but we don’t know what to do to bring him in. He is obviously a survivor and eats garbage and whatever else people have set out for him. There’s flowing water nearby. He looks fairly healthy, but is very people-adverse. We need to bring him home. Can you help with any ideas or game plans?”

I immediately advised Marianne to purchase a digital wildlife camera in order to monitor Bill’s activity, especially if they planned to use a large dog humane trap (which I also recommended they get). I then referred her to Jim Branson, Missing Pet Partnership’s secret weapon for recovering hard-to-catch dogs. Jim consulted with Marianne (then and over the next several weeks), sharing MPP’s experience in using humane traps, wildlife cameras, and the very rare cases where traditional trapping did not work and other techniques were needed.

Marianne and Don bought a wildlife camera and set it up by the food dish. Immediately, they began to monitor Bill’s activity by looking at the pictures that were snapped of him every day.

Bill Sitting By His Hidey-Hole-Home

They contacted the Larimer County Humane Society Animal Control who set up a humane dog trap. However, Bill would not go into the trap. So they put out the largest size dog trap available but just like Sophie who was just too afraid to enter a dog trap, Bill would not go into a dog trap.

Bill Too Afraid To Enter Humane Trap

This is the value of using wildlife cameras in capturing skittish dogs and cats. Wildlife cameras provide useful information. They confirm that the animal is still in the area. And like the case of the skittish dog Vivian Irene and Buddy the skittish cat, wildlife cameras can inform rescuers that yeah, a baited humane trap IS attracting the animal you’re trying to catch but the trap ISN’T going to catch them!

And that’s what happened with Bill. Don and Marianne spent the next several weeks trying to catch Bill. They put a sedative in his food, thinking it would make him calm enough to enter the trap. That didn’t work. Ultimately, after 8 weeks of effort they decided they needed a new plan. They contacted the Larimer County Humane Society Animal Control again and they offered to dart and capture Bill.

Bill...captured at last!

It took a team of three animal control officers plus Don and Marianne who knew where Bill would run (which he did) after he was darted. Ultimately after a dart, a foot chase, another dart, another foot chase, and a THIRD dart (because darted dogs will run!) they were able to corner the groggy Bill and capture him with catch poles. Bill was immediately transported to the emergency vet where he was given a thorough check up and a bath. He was de-wormed, given flea and tick treatment, and had blood work done for heart worm and internal organ testing. Amazingly, Bill was pretty healthy.

Marianne, Don, and Bill (at the emergency vet)

So, do you want to know how the story ends? If you’re like me, you’re a sucker for a happy ending. Remember that Marianne and Don were not even Bill’s owners. They were simply a foster family who fell in love with Bill and felt compassion for him to the point where they refused to give up on him. Don wrote a story about Bill’s recovery that Marianne e-mailed to me (and gave me permission to share). So I will let Don tell you, in his own words, what ultimately happened to Bill after he left the emergency vet:

“Finally, after 11 months away out in the cold and by himself, Bill was home. When Bill woke up to three dogs and his former foster family, he decided life was good. It was just like he was never away. Bill decided he doesn’t like being alone. Bill follows Don everywhere he goes. Bill and Don decided that was OK with both of them. Also, everyone decided that this was never really Bill’s foster home. This was Bill’s forever home.”

Source: http://katalbrecht.com/blog/?p=978

Mackie, golden/Great Pyr

Patience helps lost dog's return
By Paul Leighton, Staff writer
November 9, 2010

BEVERLY — A Beverly couple learned a valuable lesson in the art of retrieving a lost dog last weekend.

Three days after he had bolted, an adopted golden retriever/Great Pyrenees named Mackie came home Sunday night only after his owners heeded the advice of an expert and employed an amazing amount of patience.

"We learned a lot," said Mary Misencik, referring to herself and her fiance, Mike Allen. "It was a crash course."

Misencik and Allen had just adopted the 21/2-year-old Mackie on Friday when Mackie got loose as he was being loaded into the back of their SUV for a trip to the beach.

Mackie was spotted several times over the next three days in the couple's neighborhood on Independence Circle, but would run away whenever someone approached him. He was also seen in the woods off Boyles Street, on Hart and Haskell streets in Beverly Farms, and in front of an estate in Prides Crossing.

Through Facebook and old-fashioned posters, word spread quickly about Mackie's disappearance. Misencik estimated that nearly 100 people were involved in the search.

But it was the advice of a woman in Mansfield that finally turned the search in their favor. Misencik had been put in touch with Debbie Scarpellini, who runs a volunteer website called lostdogsearch.com.

Scarpellini told Misencik and Allen that Mackie, who was not familiar with the area, was most likely being scared by all the well-meaning searchers. Dogs interpret chasing as an aggressive action and are likely to take off, Scarpellini said.

When Mackie showed up on a hill across from Misencik's house on Sunday morning, Scarpellini advised patience.

For the next 12 hours, Misencik and Miller tried to entice Mackie into their house using food and their other dog, McKinley, as the bait. Scarpellini advised Miller to tie a string to the door and stay out of sight, to make it less intimidating for Mackie to walk through the door.

Finally, around midnight, Misencik lured Mackie into the house, and Miller pulled the door shut with the string.

"It was an unbelievable journey," Misencik said. "The whole neighborhood was united. It bonded so many people. We didn't know there were that many dog lovers out there."

Source:  http://www.salemnews.com/local/x104131227/Patience-helps-lost-dogs-return#
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Nevada, black lab

YC dog found alive month later in Roseville
By Nancy Pasternack/Appeal-Democrat
2011-01-15 00:31:46

She hadn't turned up at a local animal shelter, or been spotted during neighborhood searches, or found dead on a highway.

Nevada, a seven-year-old black lab was reunited with the Poland family after being missing from Dec. 9 to Jan. 8. Savannah, 9, from left, Bailee, 13, Melissa, Samantha, 8, and Cody, 15. Cody is holding Miley. Photo taken Friday, Jan. 14, 2011, at the Poland's Yuba City home.

Nevada, a 7-year-old, gray-muzzled, black Labrador retriever, had wandered from the southwest Yuba City yard of her owners — a family with four kids — and had not been home in four weeks.

"She doesn't like to be away from us," said Melissa Poland, who, along with her husband, exhausted themselves searching and worrying, and eventually, resigning themselves to the likely fact that she was lost forever.

Meanwhile, in northwest Roseville, animal control officers had been frustrated in their attempts to trap a shy, graying black Lab that had been spotted by a driver on Dec 9 — a mere three hours after Melissa Poland first began to get the word out that her dog was missing.

On Friday, a skinny, freshly bathed Nevada relaxed in her Yuba City living room, surrounded by her favorite pack of humans.

Her constant canine companion, Miley the Chihuahua, nuzzled her and settled in nearby.

The mystery of how Nevada wound up in Roseville, and the gratitude over her return still is overwhelming for the family, said Melissa Poland.

"I think she got in the back of somebody's truck," said Samantha Poland, 8, who, like everyone else in the family, has considered a number of scenarios to try and resolve the question that is unlikely to find resolution.

One of Samantha's sisters suggested someone might have taken Nevada deliberately.

During the dog's absence, the parents tried to convince them — and themselves — that someone had simply fallen in love with Nevada and had taken her to a new, loving home.

Miley "was very sad and depressed," in Nevada's absence, Poland said. "She hid under the kitchen table. She didn't want to go out. She had been Nevada's shadow."

Her 15-year-old son, she said, was devastated.

He had received Nevada as a puppy to keep him company after difficult surgeries related to his cerebral palsy.

"Cody was the most upset of all," said his mother.

But three weeks after Nevada left home, the situation seemed hopeless. The family's search for her, after all, had been epic.

They had posted photos and descriptions and checked Craigslist and Petharbor.com., scoured all nearby neighborhoods almost obsessively, and checked local animal control.

Melissa Poland also called the office of the veterinarian where Nevada had first been microchipped to provide an updated address and telephone number.

In the end, it was one stranger's determination to find Nevada's owner that got her home safely.

On Jan. 7 — four weeks to the day since she left home — the dog was successfully trapped.

Hungry and exhausted, she had finally given in to the temptation of food in a baited cage.

Though the dog was no longer wearing her collar, Roseville Animal Control Officer Laura Morin knew she had a home, according to Melissa Poland.

She checked the frightened animal for a microchip — a move that met with success and relief.

But a call to the Yuba-Sutter Veterinary Hospital, where Poland had recently updated her dog's address, produced nothing of value.

"They told Laura that the dog had been chipped there, but that they had no idea where the owners could be located," Poland said.

Undaunted, Morin scoured the Internet for a match, and that did the trick, Poland said.

"She kept Nevada with her the whole time. She even fed her KFC for lunch," Poland said.

The family had been at a birthday party in Lincoln when they got the call.

Skepticism led to joy when they arrived at the Roseville Police Department and saw their long lost dog.

"We were shocked that she survived," said Poland. "She's spent her life indoors, and she's such a home body."

There were smiles all around on Friday, one day after Nevada finally seemed caught up on sleep and showed a hearty appetite.

"She's the dog with nine lives," Poland joked. "If only she could talk."

Source: http://www.appeal-democrat.com/articles/gray-103107-southwest-animal.html
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Mack, pitbull

Big Mack Attack
Kat Albrecht's Pet Detective Blog
February 13, 2011

When most people hear the word “attack” in the same sentence as the word “pit bull” they assume the worst. While the story I’m about to tell is about a pit bull named Mack, the word ”attack” in this story refers to the aggressive efforts of a Missing Pet Partnership volunteer who made it his personal mission to recover one lost dog. The recovery story of Mack highlights Missing Pet Partnership’s vision for community-based lost pet services–volunteers who do everything in their power, even when it takes weeks, to reunite a lost companion animal with their family. Here’s how it began:

Mack (left) and Rocco (right)

On December 12, 2010, two male blue pit bulls who lived and played together escaped from their yard in Federal Way, Washington. Mack and Rocco were naughty dogs but as we all know, dogs escape from their homes on a daily basis. What made their case unique was that their owner, Nick, was overseas, serving in Iraq. The housemate who was watching the dogs made an effort to find the dogs but failed. Several weeks passed without either Mack or Rocco showing up at the local animal shelter and hope began to fade.

On January 10th, MPP volunteer Ryan Gamache found two stray brindle pit bulls. As in all cases when our volunteers find a stray dog, we all THINK LOST, NOT STRAY and therefore assume it is a lost (not stray) dog and attempt to find the owner. Ryan posted a Craig’s List Ad that read “Two Found Pit bulls: Call To ID.” This is how Nick’s family, who lived back east, first heard about Missing Pet Partnership. They called MPP to say their two blue pit bulls, Mack & Rocco, had been missing for nearly a month. They were crushed to hear that the two pit bulls that Ryan found were brindles (who were reunited with their owner). That meant Mack and Rocco were still missing.

But now Mack and Rocco were on Ryan’s radar. He communicated with Nick via e-mail and and realized just how much Nick loved his dogs and how worried and helpless he felt to be in the Middle East, fighting for our freedom while his two dogs were missing. Ryan made it his personal mission to find Mack and Rocco, no matter what it took.

Tragically, and without going into detail, Ryan discovered that Rocco had been killed and that Mack fled. But at least we had a sighting and an area to start searching so Ryan got to work. He posted giant, neon posters that read ”LOST BLUE PITBULL BLUE COLLAR” along a major roadway in Federal Way near where Rocco was killed. Immediately, leads came in. Yes, a blue pit bull with a blue collar was seen just a few days ago in this neighborhood. Then another lead, he was seen over there.

The next day, January 17th, the hottest lead of all came in–a blue pit bull with a blue collar was coming around one man’s house. Ryan immediately responded and with the home owner’s permission, set out a plate of dog food and wildlife camera to see if we could capture pictures of the dog.

Wildlife Camera Confirms The "Stray" Is Mack!

It was Mack! The next step was setting up the humane dog trap. So Ryan dragged the dog trap and set it up, along with the camera. A day passed. Nothing. A few more days passed. Still nothing. A full week passed by without Mack showing up on camera, let alone entering our dog trap. Ryan was discouraged, but not about to give up. On January 26th, Ryan and two MPP volunteers, Chris DeLaRosa and Dianna Stacy, went out and posted new LOST BLUE PITBULL BLUE COLLAR posters close to the last sighting. The next morning, leads began to flood in! At around 11:00 a.m. we received a fresh sighting–Mack was seen an hour earlier in the caller’s front yard.

Since the humane trap had failed and we had learned that Mack loved other dogs, I offered to use my magnet dog Kody and my stainless steel (65″) Snappy Snare (a technique we’ve pioneered at Missing Pet Partnership and use to capture hard-to-catch-dogs) to capture Mack. Now that we had a fresh sighting of Mack, I called Ryan, grabbed Kody and my Snappy Snare, and headed to the sighting.

Ryan and I spent over an hour looking for Mack but we didn’t find him. As luck would have it, as soon as I left and arrived home I received a phone call. A woman named Karen saw our neon sign and called MPP to say she was a passenger in a car that WAS FOLLOWING MACK AT THAT MOMENT! I kept her on the line which enabled me to call Ryan on my cell phone and direct him where to go until he found Karen’s car and Mack.

Ryan had a catch pole and treats and tried to entice Mack, but Mack wouldn’t have any of it. I lived about 5 minutes away. By the time I arrived and pulled around the corner I could see Ryan, a 1/2 block away and Mack, who was standing in the middle of the street about 5 houses down from me. I knew I would have just enough time to open my car door, walk to the back of my SUV, open the hatchback, grab my Snappy Snare, let Kody out of her crate (her long leash was attached to her harness), and Mack would be right there.

And that’s exactly what happened! Right as Kody hit the ground and I walked her from behind my SUV, Mack was a few yards away. But he immediately began to wag his tail and walked right up to sniff noses with a tail-wiggling-Kody. My Snappy Snare was positioned over Kody’s nose so that when they sniffed noses, I could move it over Mack’s head, release the ring, and catch Mack. It was a textbook capture and we had Mack!

My biggest disappointment was that we did not get film footage of this capture. However, if you’d like to see video footage of another case where I used magnet dog Kody and my Snappy Snare to capture a another skittish pit bull on a different MPP recovery case, watch this video HERE

Mack was on the run for a total of 45 days. Ryan took him to the vet plus fostered him until Nick came home a week later. While I missed the live reunion between Nick and Mack, I stopped by a few hours later.

Ryan has his own pit bull named Karma (she’s one of our wiggly cat detection dogs) who had fallen in love with Mack. I enjoyed watching Nick and Ryan and their dogs interact. I snapped a picture as Nick massaged Mack’s ear as he told us about how he’d wished we could have met Rocco.

Friends (Nick & Mack and Ryan & Karma)

The night ended with my taking a portrait of Nick and Ryan, two new friends posing with the dogs they loved. The best news is that Nick came back to the states because he and Mack are moving into a new place (with a secure yard) in California. Like so many families who MPP has helped recover a beloved lost pet, Nick was grateful to Ryan and to Missing Pet Partnership. And Ryan was rewarded with what keeps our volunteers at MPP passionate about the volunteer work that we do–the joy of making a difference.

Source (and more pictures and hyperlinks): http://katalbrecht.com/blog/?p=936

Zeta, Australian shepherd

Ramona dog reunited with owner after 5 months on its own
Dixie Pettit
Published 12/10/2010 - 1:08 p.m.
Dogs: 2, Coyotes: 0

That’s the score in the Cavender household.

When his father died last May, David Cavender brought his father’s three dogs home to live with him in San Diego Country Estates. “L.G.” is a basset Hound, “Zeta” an Australian shepherd, and “Doofus” a 30-inch tall but not big, long-legged mutt.

Ramona is surrounded by family adn EARs volunteers

Within a week, the gate was left open. Doofus and Zeta walked out for a romp in the neighborhood.

A devastated Cavender flooded the neighborhood with posters.

“My son and I posted signs up on the mailboxes, at the equestrian center, at the Country Store,” he said. “I made calls to all the animal shelters – you know – San Diego, Escondido – I called everyone I could think of. Nothing. After a couple of weeks of trying to find them every day, I just figured the coyotes got them.”

Five weeks later, Cavender saw a flier about a “found” dog. Someone had found Doofus near the International Equestrian Center.

“I concentrated my search over there, hoping to find Zeta, but I couldn’t find her,” said Cavendar.
Again it was assumed that Zeta was a victim of coyotes or, if lucky, “had been picked up by someone who had simply decided to keep her.”

Zeta, like other family pets in the Estates, disappeared without a trace. As time went by, the signs came down. Cavender could only return to work and the two dogs who remained.

Martha Fredericks walks every morning with her dog by the equestrian center. It was during her daily walks that she noticed “kind of a shadow” in the bushes.

“I saw just little glimpses of her,” said Fredericks. “I wasn’t even sure she was a dog when I first saw her,. She blended well into the bushes. I started seeing her early October. She came out of the bushes a couple of times and walked ahead of me about a hundred yards. She had tags and was obviously somebody’s dog. She was real nervous and kept looking back at me but wouldn’t let me get close to her. I put kibble out and something kept eating it, but she was so very skinny that I don’t think she would have lasted much longer.

“That one weekend when it was so hot I got really worried about her. I tried to find her with one of my daughters. We looked all over the bushes for her, but we just couldn’t find her. My other daughter (Anne Mueller) thought of craigslist. She looked there to see if a dog was missing but then placed an ad. That was how we found Laura.”

A volunteer for Emergency Animal Rescue (EAR), Laura Bedinger looks under the pet section on craigslist every day.

“We (EAR) have the equipment, experience, and the willingness to go out and help animals out of dangerous situations,” she said. “I do this on my own. I help to rehabilitate animals, rescue other abandoned animals, and then find homes for them.This girl, Anne Mueller, was asking for help. Animal control wouldn’t help, so I set a trap up for her (using a cheeseburger) but didn’t catch her until the second night when I threw some oatmeal cookies into the trap.”

Bedinger spent hours watching and waiting for the elusive dog.

“She was obviously terrified out there, but she had tags. She was emaciated and had lost about half of her body weight, but I knew someone didn’t just abandon this little girl — someone had to be missing her.”

The 2007 tags were from an Apple Valley hospital, but the telephone number had been disconnected. After several phone calls, Bedinger spoke with an employee from the animal control in Apple Valley.

“Animal control said there was another address in Ramona listed as a forwarding address, but they wouldn’t give me the address or phone number. They said they would try to call the person and get back to me.”

After a week and no word, Bedinger called again, this time able to convince the worker from animal control to keep making calls until she was able to get in touch with the person.

Cavender was at work when he got the call from animal control at Apple Valley.

“Do you have a dog with a strange name you’ve been missing?” said the voice on the phone.

“I said ‘Zeta,’ and they said ‘Yeah, somebody found her!’ I couldn’t believe they found my dog. I kept saying, ‘I can’t believe she’s still alive!’ My dad passed away in May and she has been missing since the first week in June!”

Less than a mile away the whole time, Zeta was brought back to Cavender after five months missing.

“It is amazing. They never gave up looking for me,” said Cavender.

“She probably got lost and didn’t know how to get back home, so set herself up in the bushes and tried to survive on her own,” said Bedinger. “Dogs that have to fend for themselves begin to turn feral (wild) in order to survive. When I first got her out of the trap, she tried to nip at me. She was really scared. Emaciated and full of burrs and worms, Bea Hoskins (volunteer) worked with her a lot, so she would trust people again.”

Gone since the first week in June, Zeta is a proven survivor. Though unclear how much longer she could have made it on her own, the little Australian shepherd beat the odds. The high-desert heat and cold fall nights took a toll on her, but coyotes did not claim this girl.

Bright-eyed and happy to be home, Zeta and Doofus are buddies once again. As the pair bounce around the patio together, “L.G.” rolls over for a belly-rub.

An overwhelming happiness courses through the air. Rescuers with misty eyes, dogs oblivious to anything but the moment, and owners know this is one of those times when things are as it should be.

“This just shows you shouldn’t give up,” said Bedinger. “You just never know.”

Source: http://www.ramonasentinel.com/article/News/News/Ramona_dog_reunited_with_owner_after_5_months_on_its_own/21213

Bailey, terrier

Bailey Is Back! Dog Lost After Boarding At Elizabeth Kennel Back Home
Local Trapper Locates Dog That Ran Away From Brizes Kennel
Joseph Heckel
POSTED: 12:38 pm EDT July 1, 2010

ELIZABETH, Pa. -- The frantic owner of a dog that was lost by the kennel where the animal was boarding got some fantastic news on Wednesday -- her pet was safe and sound, thanks to a clever neighbor.

Bailey, a terrier mix, has been returned to her owner after an employee of Brizes Kennel, fell and dropped the dog's leash, allowing the dog to run away.

Kerri Cotton was reunited with her pet after a hunter and trapper who lives in the area had an idea about how to get Bailey back.

"There was a really wonderful neighbor out there who set up a homemade trap to where she could get in but couldn't get out. Probably lured her in with food, and Bailey fell for it, thank God, and went in," Cotton said.

Cotton and her husband had dropped off their two dogs so the couple could attend a wedding. She said that when she returned to pick up her dogs, 18-month-old Bailey was not there.

Kennel owner Barbara Brizes said staff members spent hours looking for the dog after the animal was lost.

Cotton credited a Channel 4 Action News report that aired on Tuesday for getting the word out about Bailey's disappearance.

"Once the story did air, they really stepped up and were really instrumental in finding her. They really were out searching long and hard for her," said Cotton.

Cotton said Bailey also returned from her adventure in the country in great condition.

"They cleaned her up real nice, which was really wonderful for them to do. She had lots of briers in her coat, and they combed her up real nice, too.

Source: http://www.thepittsburghchannel.com/r/24110221/detail.html

Previous article, at: http://www.thepittsburghchannel.com/news/24075289/detail.html

Dog Runs Away While In Kennel's Care
Owner Left Dog At Brizes Kennel In Elizabeth
POSTED: 8:13 pm EDT June 28, 2010

ELIZABETH, Pa. -- The slogan of Brizes Kennel in Elizabeth is "Your Pet's Country Getaway" and that's exactly what one dog did when it managed to escape an employee's handle.

Kerri Cotton told Channel 4 Action News' Sheldon Ingram that she and her husband dropped off their two dogs Friday at Brizes Kennel, but when they returned to pick them up on Sunday, 18-month-old Bailey was not there.

"They lost Bailey, and they wanted me to help look for her, and I was just floored," said owner Kerri Cotton.

Kennel owner Barbara Brizes told the Cottons that a 13-year-old fell while walking Bailey and lost his handle on the leash.

"It was an accident. He fell, the dog took advantage of it and took off, and, unfortunately, the dog doesn't respond," said Brizes.

Bailey disappeared into 225 acres of land. Brizes said six of her employees searched the land for hours.

"Our office manager got in her car and went on the roads in case it would come out the other side. They walked through all the trees, they went everywhere," said Brizes.

Mistake or not, Brizes said she acknowledges that her business is accountable for Bailey's disappearance.

"The dog's in our care. It was an accident. We've been in business 40 years, we've never lost anybody's dog," said Brizes.

As for Cotton, she's left weighing her options without Bailey.

"I don't have my dog. This dog is my baby. I don't have any children. She's my baby," said Kerri Cotton.

Teddy Bear, Irish wolfhound

Lost dog reunited with family after 4 years in N.C. wilderness
Posted to: News Pets North Carolina Login or register to post comments
By Erin James, The Virginian-Pilot
August 14, 2010

Back home in New Bern, N.C., Leigh and Greg Wilkinson gather Friday, Aug. 13, 2010, with Teddy Bear, the dog they lost near Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge in 2006.

MANTEO, N.C. Merri Jo Alford knew what she was looking for.

Hidden somewhere at the Outer Banks SPCA among stacks of paperwork buried in long-forgotten cardboard boxes were a few pieces of paper stapled together. On them, Alford knew, would be the names and phone number of a New Bern, N.C., couple with whom she'd spoken so many years ago.

But how much time had passed? Had it been two years, Alford wondered, or three? Could it really have been four years since Greg and Leigh Wilkinson desperately filed a lost-dog report?

Alford knew one thing for sure: T he skinny dog with matted fur that she had rescued near Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge was the pooch the Wilkinsons had lost on a canoeing trip years ago.

She remembered the distinctive-looking dog from the flyers the Wilkinsons posted. She remembered their persistence in looking for her.

Finally, on Wednesday, Alford - an animal-control officer who goes by the nickname "Josie" - found the report.

It was dated Nov. 19, 2006. Reality set in for Alford and her colleagues.

Four winters and three summers Teddy Bear survived in a wilderness heavily populated with bears, alligators and wolves. Her owners can only speculate as to how she did it.

On the day Teddy Bear went missing, the Wilkinsons had been canoeing on a creek near the wildlife refuge. They were preparing to head home - Teddy Bear was already in the car - when the dog jumped out an open window and ran into the woods.

She'd done this before, but she always came back. After 20 minutes, the Wilkinsons began to worry.

They searched for eight hours but never found any sign of Teddy Bear. Greg Wilkinson remembered calling for Teddy as he trudged knee-deep through the swamp.

On the spot where they last saw their dog, the Wilkinsons left an open can of sausages. They found a hotel for the night and were back the next day at first light.

Again, they searched. They posted flyers and talked to anyone who would listen. They filed a lost-dog report with the local SPCA. They placed an ad in the local newspaper. With permission, the Wilkinsons searched the refuge after dark.

Some tips came in, but it was never Teddy Bear. The Wilkinsons worried that their shy dog might never approach a stranger and, therefore, might never be found.

In the end, they were right. Teddy Bear never did approach a stranger, even for a few locals who had been leaving food and water outside for her for years. She owes her homecoming to Alford, who set a humane-cage trap for the dog after one local reported seeing a stray dog in the area. Teddy Bear was found in a community called East Lake, not far from where she went missing.

Teddy Bear, an Irish wolfhound mix, now sat waiting in an SPCA kennel. Within minutes, Alford was calling the Wilkinsons' number. She got their answering machine, left a message.

Leigh Wilkinson went home that day for lunch. Two messages were waiting. As she listened to the second one, time stood still.

"I just stood there, and I played it again," Wilkinson, 50, said. "And then I started crying."

She called Alford. Then she called her husband to tell him the news.

Greg Wilkinson braced his wife for disappointment. So many times before, the Wilkinsons had traveled back to the Outer Banks to search for Teddy Bear or anyone who might have seen her.

In response to a tip, they once traveled to Plymouth, N.C., on the outside chance that Teddy Bear had traveled U.S. 64 and crossed the Alligator River bridge.

"You never give up faith. You never give up hope. But you get discouraged," Greg Wilkinson, 61, said.

Staff at the SPCA snapped a few pictures of the dog in the kennel and e-mailed them to the Wilkinsons.

When they saw the photos, all doubt disappeared.

She was shaggier and skinnier, but it was Teddy Bear in those photos.

The Wilkinsons left immediately. On their three-hour trip to the SPCA, excitement gave way to anxiety.

Would Teddy Bear recognize them? Would she be healthy? Had she been transformed into a wild animal?

Would she be angry?

The chances of finding a dog after four years is "incredibly rare," said SPCA International spokeswoman Stephanie Scott.

"I personally cannot think of a story like this," Scott said.

At the Outer Banks SPCA, lost-dog reports are an endless challenge for staff. Shelter Director Rich Crino said the shelter files an average of 100 lost-dog reports each year.

Many dogs are found within hours. But as time passes, so do the odds of ever finding a lost animal, Crino said. Four years is far more than an exception to the rule.

"I've never even heard of anything like that before," Crino said.

"I really felt like she was out there somewhere, but I wasn't really sure that we'd ever get her," Leigh Wilkinson said.

Teddy Bear perked up when the Wilkinsons walked through the door of the shelter. A shy dog by nature, Teddy had hardly interacted with any SPCA staff since arriving 13 days before.

"She came right up to us. She knew us. She started sniffing around our faces. She let us rub on her," Leigh Wilkinson said.

The Wilkinsons scooped Teddy Bear up and drove back to New Bern. For the first time in almost four years, Teddy Bear jumped up onto the couch and rested in what had always been her favorite spot. She was home.

Teddy Bear, now 6 years old, is on antibiotics for skin problems and will begin heartworm treatment soon. Otherwise, she's in surprisingly good shape.

"She is like the same gentle, sweet, loving Teddy," Leigh Wilkinson said.

The Wilkinsons said they plan to purchase a tracking collar for Teddy Bear - just in case. They are also planning more canoe trips.

As for Alford, the Wilkinsons said they can't thank her enough for working so diligently.

Alford calls it "just a good memory day."

And as she speaks, cardboard boxes collect dust behind her.

Source: http://hamptonroads.com/node/565212

Another version of the story at: http://www.witn.com/stateregional/headlines/99996634.html

Story Comment Posted by: Leigh Location: New Bern on Aug 5, 2010 at 09:46 AM

As the owner of Teddy Bear, I just want to thank everyone in the East Lake area who may have helped Teddy these past years and especially to Josie and all the great folks at the Dare County SPCA for making the extra effort to research past files (going back 4 years!) to find the poster of Teddy Bear that we made and distributed throughout that area back in November 2006. This is a great news story - one of hope and perserverance and of people doing more than is required in their jobs because they know it is the right thing to do. Teddy Bear is getting reaquainted with our house and our new dog, Santee, but she's the same old Teddy - sweet and gentle and loving. We are so blessed and so happy to have our girl back where she belongs.

More comments at: http://www.witn.com/stateregional/headlines/99996634.html?storySection=comments

Bailey, light brown dog

Lost dog tale has a happy ending
Cindy Wolff, Scripps Howard News Service
Wednesday, January 3, 2007

MEMPHIS — For 20 days the light brown dog with a black nose and sweet eyes hid in the mud, weeds and under runways at Memphis International Airport, running from the deafening sounds of jet engines.

She was found on New Year’s Day by Pam Bell, a woman who scoured muddy fields two or three times a day for three weeks searching for the dog named Bailey.

The starving dog was caught in a steel cage trap baited with fried chicken.

Bailey came to Memphis on Dec. 12 on a flight from Seattle. Her owners Chris and Laura Pierce shipped the Great Dane mix to stay with Chris’s stepfather and mother Richard and Lelia Ripley. Lelia said a Northwest employee wanted to see Bailey and opened the door to her crate. The dog bolted across the runway and disappeared.

Bell heard about Bailey and decided to help in the search.

Bell woke up on New Year’s Day morning and heard a dog had been found.

There was Bailey in the cage, skinny, scared and muddy.

Bell took pictures and e-mailed them to the Pierces.

Chris said that Bailey knows how to sit and do a high-five.

Bell squatted down and asked Bailey to sit.

“Give me a high-five.”

The dog’s paw went into the air and touched Bell’s hand.

The e-mail arrived.

“That’s her. That’s her. That’s her,” Chris said. “Look how skinny she is. Oh man. That’s Bailey. No question about it. My wife is crying. We’re all crying. This is a great way to start the New Year.”

Bell will foster Bailey for a few days until Richard Ripley recovers from knee surgery that is scheduled this week.

Source: http://www.gosanangelo.com/news/2007/jan/03/lost-dog-tale-has-happy-ending/
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Sammie & Maddie, terriers

Widower finds family dogs after wife's fatal crash
Joshua Wolfson, Star-Tribune staff writer
Friday, June 5, 2009

Zoe, right, a golden retriever trained to search for missing pets, helped to find Sammie, left, and Maddie, center, after they disappeared following their owner's fatal car crash.

The tow truck drove off at 2 a.m., leaving him alone in the empty prairie where his wife had died hours before.

Greg Wong could hear her voice in his head. Find those dogs. Find Sammie and Maddie.

"What are they going to do?" he thought. "They are out in the wild and they are such tiny dogs."

The trooper had called him with the news three hours earlier. Susan Wong had died when her Isuzu Rodeo rolled along Wyoming Highway 487. Her sport utility vehicle rolled three times along the road, then fell into a deep ravine.

During the phone call, the trooper mentioned someone had spotted a dog running down the highway after the crash.

Greg Wong realized that at least one of the two dogs his wife had been traveling with might still be alive. Within a half hour, he had showered, brewed a pot of coffee and began the drive from his Laramie home to the crash site 40 miles south of Casper.

When he arrived, he met the tow truck operators who had just pulled his wife's Rodeo out of the ravine. After they left, he began to search.

"I guess a lot of it didn't soak in," he said. "I knew that is where my wife died, but you get to that point where you almost turn into a zombie. You are afraid to start thinking about it too much because emotionally you can't handle it. I kept focusing on 'you have to find those dogs.' In a way, I was thinking my last connection to my wife was those dogs."

He slowly drove the highway, using a portable spotlight to search the area. When that didn't work, he got out of his car, and walked through the night.

He found no sign of the animals.

Susan Wong was just a few hours from home when the crash occurred. She had been driving back from Butte, Mont. and had her terriers, Sammie and Maddie, along for the trip.

At about 7:30 p.m. on May 30, while traveling south on Highway 487, she slammed on the brakes and steered to the left, causing the rollover. Investigators still don't know why she made the sudden maneuver.

Greg Wong had spoken to his wife an hour before the crash. When she failed to arrive, the 49-year-old purchasing agent called the Wyoming Highway Patrol. After an excruciating wait, a trooper called back and told him what had happened.

"I guess words can't describe it," said Wong, who'd been married to his wife for nearly 11 years. "You are not sure what to do. The cold hard reality is there is nothing you can do."

What am I going to do now? he thought. Almost immediately he had an answer.

Susan Wong had loved animals, and always kept dogs and cats as pets. He had to find Sammie and Maddie. Now.

When he arrived at the crash site, the animals were nowhere to be found. He came across debris from the crash, but no sign of either animal. Sometime early that morning, he drove home.

Wong didn't give up. He returned to the crash site the next day, taking with him Tony Munari, a friend who served as best man at the Wongs' wedding. He also brought along the dogs' toys.

He walked up and down the highway, calling for his pets and squeaking their toys.

He believed the dogs were still alive. Their remains hadn't been found inside the Rodeo or around the crash site. Still, he couldn't find any trace of the animals.

There was plenty of reason to be worried. The area is full of coyotes and rattlesnakes and the terriers didn't have experience fending for themselves.

Wong got his first break when he stopped at a rest area four miles from the crash site and met a foreman for a highway maintenance crew.

The foreman volunteered to search the area himself. His wife also went to the site and left cheeseburgers, in case the pets needed something to eat.

Wong's next break came Monday when someone at the animal shelter in Laramie suggested he call Cold Nose Investigators, a professional dog service whose canines search for cadavers, missing people and lost pets.

By that afternoon, he had met up with the Cathy and Curt Orde, the couple behind Cold Nose Investigators. They brought with them Zoe, a golden retriever whose owner gave her up after Hurricane Katrina.

Zoe might look like a typical family pet, but she has received special training to focus on a specific scent and track it to its source.

After getting a whiff of the terriers' bed, she immediately picked up a their trail near the crash site.

Zoe and Cathy Orde led the way. It had just rained, and thick mud and the rugged terrain hindered their progress. Still, the golden retriever stayed on the scent and led the group on a two and 1/2 mile trek.

" I trust Zoe's nose," Cathy Orde said. "This is what she's been trained for. She doesn't deviate from that scent. She stays on task."

They began to come across signs of the tiny terriers. First they saw dog tracks, then dog excrement. They also saw evidence the terriers had bedded down in the grass.

The party made a large loop away from the highway, then back again. They traveled under a culvert, through a ravine and then back onto the highway.

It was starting to get dark, so they began to set up a kennel near the crash site with food, bedding and clothes with the Wongs' scents.

"We are just getting ready to finish up and all of the sudden, my little Cairn Terrier pops her head up from just around the side of a bush," Wong said.

It was Maddie.

Wong felt elated. The dog appeared to be fine, save for irritated paws. The group figured Sammie was nearby, so they started the search again.

His trail led to a dry creek bed and the party couldn't find a safe way down. They decided to call it quits for the night.

The next day, they received some good news. Two women had spotted Sammie in the area. Wong and the Ordes returned to the area and began searching again.

Zoe picked up the trail at the spot where Sammie was last seen. The scent led back to the crash site, then to a ravine and through a culvert. Suddenly, Zoe made a quick turn to the left and stuck her nose into a hole in the side of a drainage.

Sammie appeared to be inside.

"We suspected he was in there," Wong said. "But he wouldn't come out."

The group decided to set up a trap near the crash site and baited it with food and other items. Then they left for the night.

The next morning, Cathy Orde received a call from the foreman. He had found a dog in the trap.

For the fifth consecutive day, Wong left Laramie and headed north. When he reached the foreman's shop, he went inside and found his missing terrier happy and healthy.

"It was just the most amazing thing," Wong said. "Once Sammie saw me, he came running to the front of the cage and started licking my finger."

Sammie, a Yorkshire terrier, is usually reserved around strangers.

"But that day, he loved everybody," Wong said. "Everybody was his friend."

After a few days at home, Sammie was running around as if nothing had ever happened. Maddie, in contrast, seemed more reserved than she had been. Maybe she was mulling over what happened to her mother, Wong speculated.

Finding the dogs, he said, offered him some comfort as he mourned his wife. It allowed the emotions surrounding her death to soak in, rather than knock him over as if he had run into a brick wall.

"It made my wife's death a little easier to take," he said. "I didn't have to bear it all at once. I had a mission."

Source: http://www.trib.com/news/local/article_7e893288-b4a0-5503-8b06-2470600d4ea4.html