George, a collie mix

Poor George. He stupidly left his home when he found the chance to do so, on August 5th, and got almost hopelessly lost. He left behind 2 lab sisters and a grieving mother, and not to mention a houseful of kids that his mom, Barbara, takes care of during the day as a day care provider.

From the start, Barbara’s daughter Jaime started posting to Craigslist looking for sightings. She’d post once or twice a week – which most lost dog owners don’t do. LOTS of people I know noticed the repeated George postings, and wanted to help. But for weeks and weeks, it wasn’t happening. 

Then one day, there was a sighting! Jaime posted to Craigslist again with the info. Since a number of our volunteers cruise Craigslist to see what lost dogs are out there, this was noticed right away, and we whipped a search team into shape. Among the things we did was fliering; Barbara’s family had done some, but not really enough to do the trick. Now, I think, there was enough fliering.

We know that when a dog has been out on the run for weeks or months, you have no idea if he will come to his owner when they encounter each other. You can hope with everything you have, but it might not happen. We always advise lost dog owners not to be surprised or get discouraged if their dog doesn’t come to them or seem happy to see them, initially.

Barbara had long been saying that she thought that if she could ever got near him, he would obey if she scolded him just like if he’s getting into mischief at home. I actually thought it was an interesting idea despite how cautious I try to be in these cases.

So Jaime, whose idea I think that actually was, got to test her theory out! A sizzling hot George sighting call came in, and she jumped in her car and drove to the neighborhood. She actually caught up with George, and she got out of the car. Just as though she had the upper hand, she put her hands on her hips and said “George! You get in this car right now!!”

And he did just that!!!

Source: http://helpfindgeorge.blogspot.com

Coco, a beagle

Wayward beagle reunited with family after 350-mile sojourn
Friday, September 25th, 2009


LAKE ELSINORE — Three months ago, Coco the beagle wandered away from his Central California suburban home. After weeks of searching, the Zamora family assumed the worst and gave up hope of ever finding him.

“We were heartbroken. Coco was nowhere to be found,” Albert Zamora said. “We walked through our neighborhood every night for two weeks. We called local shelters and put up flyers and heard nothing.”

Today, Coco is back home with his family after a mysterious 350-mile journey to Riverside County. His sojourn ended with a joyous reunion at the Animal Friends of the Valleys (AFV) shelter in Lake Elsinore.

It came to a close after a Lake Elsinore resident saw a beagle and Chihuahua running along busy Central Avenue and stopped to pick them up. The resident then transported them to AFV, which provides contract animal control services to Temecula, Lake Elsinore, Canyon Lake and Murrieta. The nonprofit organization, which was established in 1987, offers pets for adoption and operates a shelter that serves nearly 10,000 animals each year.

The two corralled dogs were checked in by shelter staff, cleaned up and scanned for the presence of implanted microchips.

“When dogs are microchipped, we are able to return them to their owners about 90 percent of the time,” said Willa Bagwell, AFV executive director. “Thankfully, the beagle had a microchip, but we couldn’t believe our eyes when we saw his address.”

“Often, families will move and not update the contact information for their pet’s microchip. We were worried that was what had happened,” she said. The shelter staff contacted Zamora, who found it hard to believe his dog was safe and sound 350 miles from his home in Livingston, a suburb of Modesto.

“I was totally amazed when I answered the phone. I had never even been to Lake Elsinore before and couldn’t imagine how Coco had ended up there,” Zamora said. “I didn’t tell the kids right away because I still thought they might have had the wrong dog.”

As a result, one day after he dropped off his children at school, Zamora set off for Lake Elsinore to bring Coco back home. After driving for more than seven hours, a tired Zamora was greeted by six AFV employees who had stayed after hours to help with the reunion. Zamora walked over to a cage and found a happy Coco ready to go home. Zamora slipped Coco’s collar on him and said, “Okay, buddy, time to come home.”

The pair made it home a little after midnight and Zamora woke up the children the following morning with the news.

“They were elated. This was such a big surprise for them,” Zamora said.

How Coco ended up in Lake Elsinore so far from home remains a mystery.

“It was such a neat moment to witness; we all wish we could know this dog’s story,” Bagwell said. “These happy endings remind us why we do what we do, and with the advent of microchips we’ve had a lot more stories that end like this.”

AFV offers microchipping at its Lake Elsinore shelter from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays and also hosts microchip clinics at the Lake Elsinore PetSmart and Petco stores every Saturday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. The shelter provides the service for a one-time $20 fee and lifetime registration. Thanks to microchip technology, AFV returns 30 to 35 pets to their owners every month, Bagwell said.

“Coco had been wearing a collar but it fell off when he broke out of the yard,” Zamora said. “All he had left was the microchip. We got it just to be safe but never thought it would lead to something like this.”

Source: http://www.myvalleynews.com/story/40960/

Buck, a blue heeler

Buck's Back: Selma couple discover one-eyed pooch at Lake Selmac
June 12, 2009
By Buffy Pollock, for the Mail Tribune

Julie Fritz is reunited with her son’s one-eyed dog, Buck. Her son, Tim Langley, is a member of the Oregon National Guard and is training in Georgia for a tour in Iraq.

Buck the one-eyed blue heeler is home safe and sound.

The wandering dog made headlines when Oregon National Guard member Tim Langley's girlfriend, Diana Snyder of Eagle Point, posted ads around the valley searching for the lost pooch.

Residents of Rogue River, where Buck was last seen, e-mailed to promise they'd drive around looking for the dog. A professor at Southern Oregon University posted online ads and a local investigator tackled the case "pro bono."

Ultimately, Selma residents Danny and Regina Jordan actually were "found" by the lost dog, who followed them around as they spent part of Friday on Lake Selmac.

At first, the family thought the dog belonged to a family from Crescent City. They spent part of the week tracking that family down before hearing of news reports about the one-eyed dog.

That Buck wound up at Lake Selmac, north of Grants Pass, is just the latest in a string of unknowns about his two years of life.

Buck was on the run after his master, Langley, headed to Georgia for an advanced training before being deployed to Iraq for a year and left him with a friend in Grants Pass.

A trip to Boatnik with Langley's pal, Zak Firestone of Grants Pass, spooked the one-eyed dog, resulting in a series of relocations.

First, a family in Grants Pass found the dog wandering alone and returned him to an old address, still listed on his dog tags, near the Valley of the Rogue State Park. The family had adopted Buck from a shelter after a tractor-chasing accident that cost him his missing eye, but surrendered him to Sanctuary One animal rescue in Grants Pass where Langley's mom claimed the dog for her son.

When Buck was returned to his former owner last week, his collar was removed and he disappeared again.

While the Jordans were looking to Northern California for the dog's rightful owners, Mail Tribune readers and Langley's friends and family were scouting Rogue River.

Until Thursday, when the Jordans found Snyder's number and called to reunite her with her boyfriend's dog.

"I'm so happy someone found him," Snyder said on her way to meet the Jordans in Grants Pass. "Tim had been so worried."

A choked-up Langley said he was grateful his dog had been returned.

"Oh, thank God. Oh, thank God. I'm just happy to have my dog back," he said on a conference call from Georgia.

"I was really surprised someone would return him and they didn't just find him and keep him. He's a great dog."

Langley's mom, Julie Fritz of Eagle Point, drove with Snyder to retrieve the wandering canine.

"He looks good. He's a little shaky and a little thin and he smells really bad," Fritz said. "But he's going to be just fine back at home waiting for Tim to get back."

Jordan said he was happy to return the dog to a fellow veteran.

"I was in the Army 12 years. If it was my dog, I'd want him returned and want to know he was OK," he said.

"He's a neat little dog. I really liked him."

Private investigator Tim Martinez, of White City, said the community's response to the lost dog was a nice gesture for a solider.

"All we needed to know was a solider was about to go over to Iraq to serve his country and he was going to be worrying about his little buddy," Martinez said.

"I'm sure there were folks out looking and helping that no one even knows about."

Source:
http://www.mailtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090612/NEWS/906120324/-1/PETS

Yema, an Azawakh

Yes, pet detectives do exist.

Missing dog's owner hires pet detective to help her find hound
By Amy McRary
Posted January 18, 2008 at midnight

A sign posted Thursday by pet detective Bonnie Hale asks for calls if anyone has seen Yema, a missing Azawakh. Yema’s owner, Margaret Cooter, purposely misspelled the dog’s name on the posters to help people pronounce it correctly if they saw the dog. Yema is pronounced like “Emma” with a “Y.” 

Bonnie Hale has heard the "Ace Ventura" remarks over and over. But animal lovers who call the St. Louis, Mo., pet detective aren't laughing.

Hale's a certified missing animal response technician; she and her 6-year-old Australian shepherd Murphy hunt lost dogs and cats like other search-and-rescue workers look for missing humans. On Thursday, the pair roamed streets, parking lots, back yards and underbrush looking for a shy canine escape artist called Yema.

Yema's owner, Margaret Cooter of Farragut, called Hale after her Internet search found that pet detectives really exist.

Yema, a rare greyhound-looking Azawakh hound, somehow escaped Jan. 9 from the enclosed porch and backyard fence at Cooter's Landoak Lane home. The fast, skittish tan-colored Yema (pronounced like Emma with a "Y") had lived with Cooter for eight days; Cooter bought the 5-year-old animal in Clarksville on New Year's Day.

Cooter had searched, posted $500 reward flyers and called the Young-Williams Animal Center before she dialed Hale. She was willing to pay the $1,000 for Hale's work and expenses. "If I take on an animal, I'm going to do whatever I can for them. I'm responsible for her," said Cooter, manager of contracts and compliance for the Knoxville office of AMEC Earth and Environmental.

"There are no guarantees," Hale said. "By the time I get them, the cases are difficult."

While using a rescue dog is the most unusual and talked-about part of Hale's work, Murphy is just one tool. "And he's not the best tool," she says. Hale also uses more standard methods including hanging large "lost dog" posters and canvassing neighborhoods.

Hale's been a pet detective for slightly more than a year; she and Murphy had worked 11 cases on location. She often helps pet owners through phone consultations. More than half the pets the two looked for were found at some point. Murphy, however, hasn't yet flushed one out.

Pet detectives may be as rare as Azawakhs; Hale says about 25 certified ones are active in the United States.

The sad plight of another lost dog began her work. In November 2006, a car belonging to a couple visiting St. Louis from Michigan was stolen. Their white dog was in the car.

Hale led the volunteers who hunted unsuccessfully for the dog. "My life hasn't been the same since."

Hale, who also does faux finishes and mural painting, decided she also wanted to find animals. She completed 100 hours of training, and Murphy passed a four-day course from the California-based Missing Pet Partnership's pet detective academy.

On Thursday, Hale drove her red Ford Escape Hybrid, with Murphy resting in a large crate in the rear, to various West Knoxville locations where Yema may have been seen. She opened a plastic bag that held a white T-shirt with Yema's smell on it. She put a bright orange harness reading "rescue" on the 53-pound Murphy and donned her own yellow vest with the words "PET RESCUE" across the back.

Murphy works for food treats, and cheese is his constant encouragement.

Cueing Murphy with the question "Do you want to work," Hale held onto the dog's long leather leash as he sniffed and meandered along driveways, around flowerbeds and down streets, "Look for it, find it," she encouraged. Occasionally she told Murphy to "get back to work" or ordered "no squirrels" when he got distracted.

When Murphy found Yema's scent, his stance changed instantly and dramatically. Head up, tail waging and eyes shining, Murphy twice Thursday tracked where Yema had been in a residential and office area between Landoak Road and Center Park Drive.

Employees at Modern Salon at 10133 Kingston Pike spotted the lost hound about 10:30 a.m. Thursday; Murphy found but then lost that trail.

By late afternoon, he'd picked up the trail again and pulled Hale into a Cogdill Road back yard not far from the salon.

By dusk, the tracking duo hadn't found Yema. But Hale was confident they'd outlined a rectangle of about one-half mile where the hound was likely surviving. Members of the Greyhound Rescue Foundation of Tennessee helped search for Yema and set a humane trap near Cooter's residence.

They hoped the dog would be tempted by the tuna in a bowl there.

It was Murphy's tracking, however, that may have pushed Yema home.

At 9 p.m., Cooter and Hale returned from a nighttime search to find the hound sitting by the same porch she had escaped from.

Slightly scratched up, Yema otherwise appeared healthy after her weeklong adventure.

Source: http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2008/jan/18/missing-dogs-owner-hires/