Dog Gone: A Liquor Store Dog Gets in a Snootful of Trouble
By Gene Weingarten
April 8, 2005
This is a true story about the recent misadventures of Wendy, a liquor-store dog. "Liquor-store dog" is not an AKC recognized breed; Wendy hangs out all day at Hayden's, my neighborhood liquor store. She belongs to Tom, the store manager.
(Actually, no one would mistake Wendy for a purebred. She is comically two-toned, with a completely black-velvet snoot and a completely blond body, as though a black dog had been held by the nose, Achilles'-heel style, and dipped into a vat of peroxide.)
Wendy's best dog buddy is Ophelia, who lives nearby. My theory is that Wendy likes hanging around Ophelia for the benefit of physical comparison — the way Lucy Ricardo liked hanging around Ethel Mertz, if you get my drift. Ophelia appears to be a cross between a hyena and a wildebeest.
Wendy and Ophelia are personable dogs, and everyone loves them. So it became a neighborhood crisis when word spread that Wendy was missing. She had been in Ophelia's house on a sort of play date; unexpectedly, someone opened the front door, and Wendy pondered her options.
Option One: Remain in the house and in the custody of people who love you and provide you a comfortable, stimulating life, nourished in body and mind by ample food and exciting adventures.
Option Two: Bolt for the street and run like a lunatic, becoming a homeless cur in subfreezing temperatures in an inhospitable city where you will die of exposure and/or starvation in teeth-chattering agony, or, if you are lucky, get squashed by a car into dog goo.
Wendy was gone in an instant, of course.
(I am not making fun of Wendy's brain. Wendy has a fine brain, for a dog. She is, for example, vastly more intelligent than Augie, a collie I once owned. One day, my wife went into a store, leaving Augie tied up by a leash to a metal garbage can. When my wife came back out, Augie and the garbage can were ... gone. My wife tracked Augie rather easily by following a trail of people doubled over in laughter at the sight of a collie, racing in mortal terror, loudly pursued by a garbage can.)
Once it became clear that Wendy was good and lost, Tom and his wife Sarah leapt into action. Sarah is a take-charge type — a practical woman, a CPA, a rational, prudent, chief-financial-officer, executive-boss type. Sarah telephoned a pet psychic in California. (Have you ever lost a dog? I didn't think so. Let's cut Sarah some slack here.)
The psychic — a renowned expert in "interspecies telepathy," according to her Web site — offered many observations, for a fee of $60. They didn't check out. At this point, Sarah knew she had to take some additional, serious action. So she called another West Coast pet psychic. This one was named "Hilary Renaissance." (Does anyone happen to have any extra slack? My inventory seems to be running short.)
Thus, Sarah and Tom learned many more vital facts about where Wendy might be, all of which, for some reason, proved wrong. By this time, more than a week of cold weather had passed. Dozens of posters had been hung, some in full color and the size of a large-screen TV. A battalion of Concerned Liquor Store Patrons had combed the neighborhood. Nothing.
Deep in their hearts, Tom and Sarah understood how bleak things looked. They sensed what they had to do. Sometimes you have to just Let Go.
So they decided to let go of an additional $1,800. They phoned a pet detective in Georgia.
Carl Washington, professional pet detective, hopped in his truck with his two tracking dogs — a toy poodle named CoCo and a Jack Russell terrier named Rocky — and drove through the night to Washington. (I met Carl the day he arrived. He dresses like Indiana Jones. He talks like Sgt. Joe Friday. When on a job, he sleeps in his truck. He is one serious, studly pet-tracking dude with two little sissydogs.)
Carl worked tirelessly, but he didn't make the difference. Two weeks to the day after Wendy disappeared, a Good Samaritan phoned Sarah to say he'd spotted a dog matching Wendy's description on a golf course 25 blocks from where she had vanished. Tom and Sarah raced to the scene, commandeered two golf carts and roared past startled duffers, calling Wendy's name, until they came to a wooded area from which Wendy emerged, skinny but fine.
Wendy approached them in that slap-happy, semi-apologetic dog-who-has-done-something-wrong manner, where the tail is wagging but the dog appears to be simultaneously attempting to wipe the floor with its butt. Wendy seemed to be saying, "Hi. WhattookyousolongI'msorryIloveyouDoyouhaveanyfood?"
The next day, I brought Wendy a welcome-back present of three dog biscuits and a dried pig ear, tied up with a ribbon and bow. She ate the bow, too.
Source: http://www.jewishworldreview.com/0405/weingarten040805.php3
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Monday, June 29, 2009
Saturday, June 27, 2009
Bailey, a small white dog
Don't try this at home, only because you can't. This is extremely unusual, if this dog really did walk home. The story doesn't mention if the dog had a tag, but if he did and if the tag has the home address, this dog may have been picked up and dropped off. But we'll go with he figured out the way and walked home. Oh and I just have to say, there's no way this dog is a bichon frise, at least he's not a purebred bichon.
Dog logs 7 miles in trek home in North Huntingdon
By Paul Peirce, TRIBUNE-REVIEW
He may be tiny, but Bailey, a bichon frise, trudged more than seven miles to come home.
Janet Staigvil, of North Huntingdon, was so upset over her missing pet that when she heard a dog crying on her front stoop Tuesday, she thought she was hearing things.
After three days of frantically searching for her pet, Staigvil didn't want to answer the door for fear of being disappointed again.
But Staigvil and her husband, Lou, soon discovered their 10-year-old dog -- who was lost more than seven miles away -- had managed to find his way back to his owners near the village of Rillton.
"I was starting to worry we'd never see him again. You know when you have a pet this long, it's really part of your family, and when you lose it, that's all you can think about day and night," Janet Staigvil said.
"We're so happy. And we're really amazed he was able to find his own way home," she said.
The dog's odyssey began Saturday when Lou decided to take Bailey along on a wood-splitting trip near his sister's home. Frieda Bogec and her husband, Bill, live near Madison Cemetery in Darragh, Hempfield Township.
"I thought he should take Bailey along so he could play with their golden retriever while they split wood," Staigvil said.
About 9 a.m. Saturday, the Bogecs' dog came running out of the woods. Bailey was nowhere to be found.
A daylong search by the Staigvils and the Bogecs proved fruitless. On Sunday, they continued the hunt and tacked up wanted posters. They placed an advertisement in the Tribune-Review seeking help to find the dog.
"He was crying, and you could tell he is still a little sore, but he's so happy to be home. He jumped the whole way up into my arms when I went out to the front to see if it was him," Janet Staigvil said.
Dog logs 7 miles in trek home in North Huntingdon
By Paul Peirce, TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
He may be tiny, but Bailey, a bichon frise, trudged more than seven miles to come home.
Bailey's hike from Darragh to North Huntingdon covered seven miles over three days. "You could tell he is still a little sore, but he's so happy to be home. He jumped the whole way up into my arms when I went out to the front to see if it was him," said his owner, Janet Staigvil.
Janet Staigvil, of North Huntingdon, was so upset over her missing pet that when she heard a dog crying on her front stoop Tuesday, she thought she was hearing things.
After three days of frantically searching for her pet, Staigvil didn't want to answer the door for fear of being disappointed again.
But Staigvil and her husband, Lou, soon discovered their 10-year-old dog -- who was lost more than seven miles away -- had managed to find his way back to his owners near the village of Rillton.
"I was starting to worry we'd never see him again. You know when you have a pet this long, it's really part of your family, and when you lose it, that's all you can think about day and night," Janet Staigvil said.
"We're so happy. And we're really amazed he was able to find his own way home," she said.
The dog's odyssey began Saturday when Lou decided to take Bailey along on a wood-splitting trip near his sister's home. Frieda Bogec and her husband, Bill, live near Madison Cemetery in Darragh, Hempfield Township.
"I thought he should take Bailey along so he could play with their golden retriever while they split wood," Staigvil said.
About 9 a.m. Saturday, the Bogecs' dog came running out of the woods. Bailey was nowhere to be found.
A daylong search by the Staigvils and the Bogecs proved fruitless. On Sunday, they continued the hunt and tacked up wanted posters. They placed an advertisement in the Tribune-Review seeking help to find the dog.
"We found out that there were sightings, but nothing substantial when we went out. There was even a sighting in Crabapple Park in Herminie (Sewickley Township)," Janet Staigvil said. Bailey's return stunned Janet's sister, Shirley Biancheria of North Huntingdon.
"Bailey's no bigger than a white powder puff. That's a lot of walking on those tiny little legs," Biancheria said. Bailey's journey ended about 8:15 a.m. yesterday.
"He was crying, and you could tell he is still a little sore, but he's so happy to be home. He jumped the whole way up into my arms when I went out to the front to see if it was him," Janet Staigvil said.
Bailey rests on the family sofa in North Huntingdon.
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Thursday, June 25, 2009
Coaster, a hound mutt
Microchip allows injured dog another Christmas
Sunday, January 4, 2009
BENTONVILLE, Ark. – When the police officer placed the badly injured dog in the back of a squad car, the dog's life had an expiration date measured in hours.
Police Sgt. Robert Burkhart found her motionless and cold on the side of Walton Boulevard near Bella Vista Road. The dog, hit by a car, was injured. He gently picked up the hound-based mutt, then took her to Sugar Creek Animal Hospital on Northwest J Street.
Without tags on the collar, the dog's future appeared certain: Police policy is to euthanize injured animals if they are found without a way to identify the owner.
"She came in and I said, 'This is somebody's dog," veterinarian Darlene Wier said. "No dogs are going to die on Christmas Eve."
With that, staffers pulled out a wand, scanned the dog's neck. They found the thing that would save the dog's life – a microchip placed just beneath her skin.
The dog – Coaster – belongs to Stephanie Comstock. The microchip was placed when Comstock adopted Coaster from the Bella Vista Animal Shelter two years ago. That tiny device, no larger than a grain of rice, was not only responsible for saving Coaster's life, it ensured she was able to go home to her family for Christmas.
The story of how Coaster ended up injured on the side of the road began at 6 a.m. Wednesday.
"I was taking her and the other dogs out just like I always do to walk them and feed them when (Coaster) decided to bolt," Comstock said. "Over the last several weeks she had been doing fine but she was a street dog and every now and then she gets a burr in her and just wants to run."
Usually, when Coaster decides to go for a run, she stays within a three-house radius of the Comstock home, then comes home. Wednesday morning, when Coaster did not return home, Comstock's children began combing the neighborhood in search of their beloved pet, Comstock said.
Sgt. Burkhart found Coaster in front a quarter-mile away from where Comstock had taken her for a walk that morning. Less than an hour after running off, Coaster had been run over by a vehicle and was a patient at Sugar Creek.
The children were still out looking for Coaster when Comstock got a call at work from Sugar Creek letting her know they had the dog and – although she was a little banged up – she was OK.
"This is the first dog we had that had a chip in it. Before, when you lost a dog, it was just gone. So to have the chip in there and to be able to get them back is just great," Comstock said.
The microchip planted between Coaster's shoulders meant that Comstock could tell her kids that their dog was alive and well.
"There is something to be said about living in a smaller town. I moved here from Los Angeles and the probability of somebody calling and going through the effort to find us – it just would not happen in a big town," Comstock said.
"I like the energy of a big city but there is not much that can beat raising your child in a small town where everyone looks out for you," Comstock said as she gently stroked Coaster's head.
Microchips containing a pet owner's contact information can be placed in dog or cat by local veterinarians or animal shelters.
"The main benefit of having the microchip is so (veterinarians) can easily locate the owners if a dog or cat is found. With the chips, the dogs can be found and returned home," Sugar Creek office manager Melissa Freeman said.
"Collars can get loose and fall off or if the dog is stolen, the collar can easily be taken off – but the microchip cannot be removed," Freeman said.
"(Coaster) is a lucky dog," Wier said, noting that all pet owners should have their dogs and cats microchipped. "We love a microchip."
Source: http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/fea/pets/stories/010509dnpetschip.1c77859.html
Sunday, January 4, 2009
BENTONVILLE, Ark. – When the police officer placed the badly injured dog in the back of a squad car, the dog's life had an expiration date measured in hours.
Police Sgt. Robert Burkhart found her motionless and cold on the side of Walton Boulevard near Bella Vista Road. The dog, hit by a car, was injured. He gently picked up the hound-based mutt, then took her to Sugar Creek Animal Hospital on Northwest J Street.
Without tags on the collar, the dog's future appeared certain: Police policy is to euthanize injured animals if they are found without a way to identify the owner.
"She came in and I said, 'This is somebody's dog," veterinarian Darlene Wier said. "No dogs are going to die on Christmas Eve."
With that, staffers pulled out a wand, scanned the dog's neck. They found the thing that would save the dog's life – a microchip placed just beneath her skin.
The dog – Coaster – belongs to Stephanie Comstock. The microchip was placed when Comstock adopted Coaster from the Bella Vista Animal Shelter two years ago. That tiny device, no larger than a grain of rice, was not only responsible for saving Coaster's life, it ensured she was able to go home to her family for Christmas.
The story of how Coaster ended up injured on the side of the road began at 6 a.m. Wednesday.
"I was taking her and the other dogs out just like I always do to walk them and feed them when (Coaster) decided to bolt," Comstock said. "Over the last several weeks she had been doing fine but she was a street dog and every now and then she gets a burr in her and just wants to run."
Usually, when Coaster decides to go for a run, she stays within a three-house radius of the Comstock home, then comes home. Wednesday morning, when Coaster did not return home, Comstock's children began combing the neighborhood in search of their beloved pet, Comstock said.
Sgt. Burkhart found Coaster in front a quarter-mile away from where Comstock had taken her for a walk that morning. Less than an hour after running off, Coaster had been run over by a vehicle and was a patient at Sugar Creek.
The children were still out looking for Coaster when Comstock got a call at work from Sugar Creek letting her know they had the dog and – although she was a little banged up – she was OK.
"This is the first dog we had that had a chip in it. Before, when you lost a dog, it was just gone. So to have the chip in there and to be able to get them back is just great," Comstock said.
The microchip planted between Coaster's shoulders meant that Comstock could tell her kids that their dog was alive and well.
"There is something to be said about living in a smaller town. I moved here from Los Angeles and the probability of somebody calling and going through the effort to find us – it just would not happen in a big town," Comstock said.
"I like the energy of a big city but there is not much that can beat raising your child in a small town where everyone looks out for you," Comstock said as she gently stroked Coaster's head.
Microchips containing a pet owner's contact information can be placed in dog or cat by local veterinarians or animal shelters.
"The main benefit of having the microchip is so (veterinarians) can easily locate the owners if a dog or cat is found. With the chips, the dogs can be found and returned home," Sugar Creek office manager Melissa Freeman said.
"Collars can get loose and fall off or if the dog is stolen, the collar can easily be taken off – but the microchip cannot be removed," Freeman said.
"(Coaster) is a lucky dog," Wier said, noting that all pet owners should have their dogs and cats microchipped. "We love a microchip."
Source: http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/fea/pets/stories/010509dnpetschip.1c77859.html
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Star, A Harlequin Great Dane
Community Togetherness for a Lucky Star
05/18/2009
Nobody wants to even think about the range of emotions that one goes through when their beloved pet goes missing, let alone have to actually experience them. I am certainly not shy about saying that I would absolutely freak out if my little feline buddy Tailer disappeared. Ugh. Not a pleasant thought.
Last month everybody here at Dogster HQ was touched by a story that involved one of our own members who unfortunately had to go through that dreaded situation. Rod and Susan Ensley of Anderson, South Carolina, are the humans that belong to Dogster member Star, the amazing-looking Great Dane that you see here. Susan wrote to us about what their family went through last month, and wanted us to share Star's story with you.
"On April 12th, 2009, we enrolled our Dogs in your TogetherTag pet recovery service. As I was online enrolling, two of our Great Danes went missing from our yard. The security alarms had been activated at 8:00 a.m. Our fence had been cut and our Danes' collars were found on the back of our property. We contacted the local sheriff's department to report the incident and our missing Danes. We filled out a lost dog report with the Dogster/Catster Together Tag program. They sent the Lost Dog Alert out to rescues and shelters in our area."
What happened over the next few days I can only describe as chaotic. In a state of shock and overwhelmed with grief, the Ensleys set out to do everything in their power to get the word out about their missing dogs. They drove all over Anderson County looking for them. Thankfully, one of them returned home a couple hours later, but with chemical burns around her eyes from the use of pepper spray. Star, however, was still nowhere to be found.
"We made phone calls, printed and posted flyers and contacted veterinarians within a two hundred mile radius of our home. We cross-posted our Dane's information to get out as much information to as many people as possible to locate our dog. We continued to search for our Dane, driving the roads and walking hundreds of private acres, checking barns and chicken coops - anywhere a scared Dane could possibly hide - we checked it. With no luck.
On Monday afternoon, I received a call from a veterinarian who explained that one of their employees went to a flea market called "the Jockey Lot" (it's an awful place), where they have a puppy row where they sell animals."
Apparently, the employee saw a woman who was walking around with a dog that matched the description of Star. She was trying to sell her. Thanks to the posters that the Ensleys had been putting up, the employee recognized the dog. Others at the flea market also saw the dog and thought that something seemed out of place. According to them, the dog "would not raise her head and appeared to be frightened."
The Ensleys immediately contacted the sheriff's department. Two deputies were sent to the flea market lot, but by then the lot was empty.
The family had followed the Together Tag missing pet suggestions to a "T" AND the responsive involvement of the community was phenomenal, but the Ensleys were still without their super-Star.
"By this point, there were thousands of people looking for our Great Dane. My husband and I were emotionally and physically exhausted.
My husband went to the other side of town and began searching. He talked to people, handed out flyers and put up posters. One of the people he spoke to told him a young Harlequin Dane was spotted in their neighborhood on Monday evening. They explained where the Dane could possibly be staying. Wednesday morning we received a phone call the Dane was spotted again that morning at 6 a.m.
They continued searching the next day with no luck. They were about to leave when his cell phone rang. One of the neighbors saw Star go into a barn on his property. Rod parked between four barns and started searching. They started calling her name again. My brother walked into one of the barns and there she was!"
Scared and confused, Star at first started barking, not too sure of what was going on. But when Star saw her Daddy, she ran at him, and tackled him! She covered Ron with kisses and then ran over to the family's SUV. Sniffing the vehicle was the final confirmation... and then she knew for sure: Star was going home!
Other than having four ticks, being dehydrated and sunburned, and having a slight infection on her leg, Star was just fine and went home to recover on the couch with the rest of her family.
I want to personally thank Ron, Susan and Star for sharing their inspirational story with all of us. It's heartwarming to know that when communities come together, lost pets CAN be reunited with their families. It really is that simple. If you're prepared, you'll be many steps ahead when it comes to being reunited with your pet, should he or she unfortunately go missing. As evidenced by Star's return, the quicker you are at getting your community involved, the better your chances of a safe homecoming.
We are also super pleased that Susan's quick actions involved her printing up and distributing our Together Tag lost pet posters. We're very VERY happy that our service played a role in Star's return. This is exactly why we started Together Tag in the first place.
--Anders
Source: http://blogs.dogster.com/dogster_site_updates/2009/05/18/community-togetherness-for-a-lucky-star/
05/18/2009
Nobody wants to even think about the range of emotions that one goes through when their beloved pet goes missing, let alone have to actually experience them. I am certainly not shy about saying that I would absolutely freak out if my little feline buddy Tailer disappeared. Ugh. Not a pleasant thought.
Last month everybody here at Dogster HQ was touched by a story that involved one of our own members who unfortunately had to go through that dreaded situation. Rod and Susan Ensley of Anderson, South Carolina, are the humans that belong to Dogster member Star, the amazing-looking Great Dane that you see here. Susan wrote to us about what their family went through last month, and wanted us to share Star's story with you.
"On April 12th, 2009, we enrolled our Dogs in your TogetherTag pet recovery service. As I was online enrolling, two of our Great Danes went missing from our yard. The security alarms had been activated at 8:00 a.m. Our fence had been cut and our Danes' collars were found on the back of our property. We contacted the local sheriff's department to report the incident and our missing Danes. We filled out a lost dog report with the Dogster/Catster Together Tag program. They sent the Lost Dog Alert out to rescues and shelters in our area."
What happened over the next few days I can only describe as chaotic. In a state of shock and overwhelmed with grief, the Ensleys set out to do everything in their power to get the word out about their missing dogs. They drove all over Anderson County looking for them. Thankfully, one of them returned home a couple hours later, but with chemical burns around her eyes from the use of pepper spray. Star, however, was still nowhere to be found.
"We made phone calls, printed and posted flyers and contacted veterinarians within a two hundred mile radius of our home. We cross-posted our Dane's information to get out as much information to as many people as possible to locate our dog. We continued to search for our Dane, driving the roads and walking hundreds of private acres, checking barns and chicken coops - anywhere a scared Dane could possibly hide - we checked it. With no luck.
On Monday afternoon, I received a call from a veterinarian who explained that one of their employees went to a flea market called "the Jockey Lot" (it's an awful place), where they have a puppy row where they sell animals."
Apparently, the employee saw a woman who was walking around with a dog that matched the description of Star. She was trying to sell her. Thanks to the posters that the Ensleys had been putting up, the employee recognized the dog. Others at the flea market also saw the dog and thought that something seemed out of place. According to them, the dog "would not raise her head and appeared to be frightened."
The Ensleys immediately contacted the sheriff's department. Two deputies were sent to the flea market lot, but by then the lot was empty.
The family had followed the Together Tag missing pet suggestions to a "T" AND the responsive involvement of the community was phenomenal, but the Ensleys were still without their super-Star.
"By this point, there were thousands of people looking for our Great Dane. My husband and I were emotionally and physically exhausted.
My husband went to the other side of town and began searching. He talked to people, handed out flyers and put up posters. One of the people he spoke to told him a young Harlequin Dane was spotted in their neighborhood on Monday evening. They explained where the Dane could possibly be staying. Wednesday morning we received a phone call the Dane was spotted again that morning at 6 a.m.
They continued searching the next day with no luck. They were about to leave when his cell phone rang. One of the neighbors saw Star go into a barn on his property. Rod parked between four barns and started searching. They started calling her name again. My brother walked into one of the barns and there she was!"
Scared and confused, Star at first started barking, not too sure of what was going on. But when Star saw her Daddy, she ran at him, and tackled him! She covered Ron with kisses and then ran over to the family's SUV. Sniffing the vehicle was the final confirmation... and then she knew for sure: Star was going home!
Other than having four ticks, being dehydrated and sunburned, and having a slight infection on her leg, Star was just fine and went home to recover on the couch with the rest of her family.
I want to personally thank Ron, Susan and Star for sharing their inspirational story with all of us. It's heartwarming to know that when communities come together, lost pets CAN be reunited with their families. It really is that simple. If you're prepared, you'll be many steps ahead when it comes to being reunited with your pet, should he or she unfortunately go missing. As evidenced by Star's return, the quicker you are at getting your community involved, the better your chances of a safe homecoming.
We are also super pleased that Susan's quick actions involved her printing up and distributing our Together Tag lost pet posters. We're very VERY happy that our service played a role in Star's return. This is exactly why we started Together Tag in the first place.
--Anders
Source: http://blogs.dogster.com/dogster_site_updates/2009/05/18/community-togetherness-for-a-lucky-star/
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