Frances, yellow lab

Lost and found: Seeing-eye dog reunited with owner

By Jenna Buzzacco-Foerster
Tuesday, January 5, 2010

NAPLES — She knew the Old Naples neighborhood inside and out.

Edith Kling, a local author and retired social worker, sits in her living room in Old Naples with her service dog, Frances, on Tuesday, January 5, 2010. Frances disappeared over the weekend after being spooked by New Year's celebrations and fireworks. Word spread of the runaway dog through family, friends, neighbors and local business owners. Kling and her dog were reunited after someone picked Frances up and took her to a local animal shelter. "She is so much a part of me," said Kling about her 8-year-old yellow lab. "The way the community came together was unbelievable."

But when the first firework burst on New Year’s Eve, Frances — an 8-year-old seeing-eye dog — bolted off the porch of her home near the Naples Pier, leaving her owner for days.

“I’ve had guide dogs for the last 28 years (and) to not have my guide dog in my left hand, it’s like my left hand is missing,” said 80-year-old Edith Kling, Frances’ owner. “It was getting really, really terrible minute by minute. You have no idea, when you’re blind, the attachment you have for your dog. It was just terrible.”

Four days and hundreds of e-mails later, Kling and Frances were reunited this week, after someone located the 8-year-old yellow Labrador at Collier County Domestic Animal Services.

“I have never seen such an outpouring of kindness and concern,” said Stephen Kling, Edith Kling’s son. “The entire town rose up to find the dog.”

A Sunday morning e-mail to a perfect stranger may have something to do with the community response.

Around 10:45 a.m. Sunday, Stephen Kling sent an e-mail to Naples resident Paul Frey asking for help. In his e-mail, Stephen Kling said Frey’s name popped up when he searched for dogs and Naples on the Internet.

“I thought you might be able to help put out the word to other Naples dog people,” Stephen Kling wrote. “My mother’s seeing eye dog bolted during the fireworks on New Year’s Eve in Old Naples and is still missing.”

Two hours later, Frey — who has played an active role in trying to create an off-leash dog park in Naples — sent an e-mail blast to the more than 100 people he has on his e-mail list.

Those e-mails were then forwarded to friends, and suddenly, Stephen Kling said, his mother was getting bombarded with help in hopes of finding Frances.

“I can’t believe how this community got together,” Edith Kling said. “It was the most unbelievable of the goodness and kindness coming out of people’s hearts.”

All that goodness paid off: Edith Kling said she received word on Monday that Frances was at Collier County Domestic Animal Services.

Amanda Townsend, director of DAS, said Frances came in Thursday night after an officer found her in Old Naples. While they scanned the microchip implanted in Frances, the number that kept coming up was for the guide dog school in New York.

Calls to the school went unanswered, Townsend said, because of the holiday weekend.

“The trail had gone cold (for the officer) there,” she said.

Townsend said she returned to work Monday to find an e-mail — with an animal identification number — about a dog listed on the Web site. That dog, she said, turned out to be Frances.

“It was fabulous,” she said. “It was really exciting. You could tell that Mrs. Kling was so relieved. It was fabulous to see.”

Edith Kling may have been excited to see Frances, but Frances may not have necessarily felt the same way.

“I was feeling indescribably happy,” she said. “She ignored us. She was punishing us.”

Edith Kling said everything was back by normal Monday night, and she appreciated all of the support from the community.

“It was the most amazing (instance) of people coming together and of people helping,” she said. “I have no words to say how they helped me.”

Source:  http://www.naplesnews.com/news/2010/jan/05/lost-and-found-seeing-eye-dog-reunites-naples-owne

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Polly, chow mix

Dog rescued from icy creek reunited with owner
By Trent Faris
Jan 05, 2010

YORK COUNTY, SC (WBTV) - A dog in Fort Mill who was rescued from an icy creek earlier this week has been reunited with its owner.

A 13-year-old female chow named Polly was trapped in the frigid water in Sugar Creek for 24 hours. The conditions were so bad, most humans would have barely survived.

When Chris Bennett walked down to the creek behind his home on Sunday, he thought he heard an injured dog in the woods.

"I started walking up the cliff, I looked over and saw the dog buried in the mud," said Bennett.  He got into the water and attempted to remove Polly from the water.

"It was absolutely like liquid ice," said Bennett. While trying to lift her out, Bennett almost got stuck in the mud himself. So, he ran back to his house and dialed 911.

For more than two hours, crews with Fort Mill Rescue pried Polly from the creek.

Animal control officers said Polly ran away from her home in Lancaster County because she was frightened by fireworks on New Year's Eve.

Neighbor David Yarns caught the rescue on video. The dog's hair was so badly matted, it was waterlogged and frozen.

Since Polly did not have an identification tag or microchip, the staff at Palmetto Veterinary Medicine in McConnell's temporarily named her "Jane Dog."

"I don't think in my 21 years of practice I've seen one this badly matted," said Dr. Karen Stallings.

It took veterinarian technician Kristi Sutton two and a half hours to shave Polly down. Without the extra hair, the dog weighed 73 pounds and the pile of shaved hair weighed 36 pounds. Altogether, Jane Dog weighed close to 110 pounds.

Dr. Stallings said Polly weighed 150 pounds soaking wet. Stallings says it's hard to classify Polly as abused due to the matted hair because she was well fed.

"It should never get to this extreme," said Dr. Stallings.

The hair could have been a blessing because it probably kept Polly warm enough until she was rescued.

According to York County Animal Shelter Director Chris Peninger, Polly belongs to a senior citizen in Lancaster County. Peninger said the woman loves the dog, but she was unable to lift Polly to take her to the vet or groomer.

The woman was reportedly beside herself when a family member said they heard on the news the dog was found.

The woman was brought to the shelter Tuesday morning and paid to have Polly microchipped, her shots updated, and groomed. She even made arrangements to have Polly taken to a vet in Lancaster County for further observation.

"When you have an animal that old who has been with someone that long, it's always a great feeling so they can go home," said Peninger.

The animal control says pet owners should check to make sure their pets have a collar or microchip. They say its very important to have both to ensure an owner is reunited with their lost pet quickly.

Source: http://www.wbtv.com/Global/story.asp?S=11767402
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Another version of the story:

Rescued Dog Reunited With Owner
A dog that nearly froze to death in an icy creek over the weekend is back in a warm house with a very happy owner.

Lavinia Harper, 75, of Lancaster County came to York County animal control Tuesday morning, and picked up her lost and very lucky chow, "Polly."

Through tears she told Eyewitness News how grateful she is.

"We’ve been together for a long time, and I thought she was gone forever," Harper said.

Eyewitness News learned Tuesday that "Polly" is 13 years old, blind and deaf. Harper last saw her Friday, before she wandered away from home, and ended up nearly submerged in Sugar Creek in Fort Mill, three miles away.

The dog's old age and lack of hearing and sight led rescuers to believe that she fell down an embankment, and couldn't get out of the frigid water.

She became stuck in thick mud. Volunteers from the Fort Mill rescue squad worked for an hour to free her, after a neighbor heard a yelping sound from his backyard and called 911.

The dog's fur was so heavily matted with mud and weighed down with water, she couldn't get out of the creek.

"That is one lucky dog," animal control director Chris Penninger said. After being taken to a local vet, "Polly" was found in good health.

"There was no frost bite, no hypothermia, no injuries. She's doing great," she said.

Harper heard the story on local newscasts and came to animal control Tuesday morning. She has had "Polly" since the dog was a puppy.

Penninger said it was clear the lost dog had found its true owner.

"She described her dog to a 't' right down to the sty in her eye, right down to a small clip in one ear, so there's no doubt in my mind that this is her dog," she said.

Harper is legally blind herself, and her granddaughter drove her to York to pick "Polly" up. She jokes that she and her dog share some of the same infirmities.

"She’s just like me," Harper laughed. “She’s gonna stay home in the house now."

Harper is grateful to the alert neighbors who helped, and the volunteer rescue teams that braved terrible weather and icy water to save her dog's life.

"I’m thankful for every single one of them. May God bless them," she said.

Source: http://www.wsoctv.com/news/22142821/detail.html
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Kelso, German shorthaired pointer

Lost dog reunited with owners
Kelso was in Waco
By Kate Burke, Staff Writer
Thursday, January 7, 2010

Kelly Michaels and Chadd Priefert were happily reunited with their lost dog, Kelso (center), on Monday, Jan. 4. Kelso ran away when the family vehicle was involved in a crash on I-80 near Waco on Christmas Day. Also welcoming him home are Peetie (left) and Fez. All of the dogs are German shorthair pointers.

WACO — “I just got up and I had to come out to the living room and see, is he really here?”

Kelly Michaels was very happy on Tuesday morning. Ten days after her dog ran away from a car crash on I-80, Kelso, a German shorthair pointer, was found and returned.

Kelly and her fiance, Chadd Priefert, were driving from Omaha to Hebron for Christmas Day celebrations when they were involved in a multi-vehicle collision during a whiteout on the interstate. Two of the couple’s three dogs were quickly found; Kelso ran off.

Kelly and Chadd contacted the York News-Times with their appeal for help, but before the story even appeared on Tuesday morning, Kelso was found by Pat and Bruce Olson of Waco, who live near the place where he was lost.

They recognized Kelso from a flyer Kelly and Chadd had tucked into their door very early in their search.

“We’d been kind of watching for him,” Pat Olson says.

The Olsons’ own dog, a Great Pyrenees named Quincy, began barking into the darkness on Monday night, Jan. 4. Bruce Olson stepped outside to check the situation, and the stray dog came right up to him.

“I think it’s that pup,” Pat reports her husband saying.

Kelso was ready to come inside, get warm and eat.

“He cleaned out our cat food bowl and dog food bowl, and Bruce fed him a couple of hot dogs,” Pat laughs.

The Olsons contacted the Omaha couple, immediately certain that they had found Kelso.

Kelly and Chadd were in an Omaha supermarket when they got the call they had been waiting for. The Olsons, Kelly says, kindly offered to keep Kelso overnight, but Chadd and Kelly jumped into their vehicle and drove out to pick up their dog. They arrived in Waco around 10 p.m.

“It’s him, it’s so amazing,” Kelly says happily.

Kelso is very thin and shows signs of frostbite on his muzzle, Kelly says, but overall he seems to be in good shape. Chadd and Kelly have plans to get him in for a veterinarian checkup as soon as possible.

Kelso is very tired, Kelly reports. “He tried to jump up on the bed, but he was too weak.”

He is also reluctant to step outside, into the bitter cold, right now.

“If only he could talk . . . what stories would he tell of his 10 days out in the snow?” Kelly speculates.

Kelly came away from the ordeal feeling good.

“I’m amazed by peoples’ kindness,” she says. “It’s okay with us that we didn’t celebrate Christmas because of the accident . . . because we learned and gained so much more: the true gifts of kindness . . . from complete strangers.

“We thank all of you, Kelso thanks you,” she continues. “We promise to pay it forward when someone crosses our path of life in need of help as we were.”

Resource: http://www.yorknewstimes.com/articles/2010/01/07/news/doc4b44fa49c1fcc225289200.txt
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Sketcher, blue heeler

Story of lost dog ends well: 'Sketcher' found under North Cohoe porch
By Joseph Robertia | Peninsula Clarion
Friday, July 24, 2009

Sometimes all it takes is time and a little bit of luck, and fortunately for Hollyn Smith of Homer, both were on her side this past week, as she has been reunited with her lost dog Sketcher.

"I got him back," said a jovial Smith on Thursday, in regard to her 12-year-old blue heeler that ran away on Sunday after if had been frightened at the Kasilof River mouth by people shooting off fireworks.

"A gal that lives on North Cohoe found him under her porch this morning, and when she went to work someone told her about one of the posters," Smith said.

The women drove up to the Kasilof Post office, where Smith had hung a "lost dog" poster. She believed the dog she had under her deck matched the dog in the picture, so she called Smith's friend, Nicole, who lives locally.

"Nicole went to her house and lured my dog out from under her porch with multiple pieces of beef jerky. Meanwhile, another friend of mine, L.B., had driven up to take a look for me," Smith said.

Since Smith's two friends knew the dog, but didn't actually own it, they wanted to be sure they had the right blue heeler before they claimed it.

"I was on the phone with both of them and they were describing him. 'He's got black ears? White on his forehead?' It sounded like they were pretty sure it was him," she said.

Just getting off work from the Salty Dog on the Homer Spit, Smith raced up the Sterling Highway and met L.B. in Anchor Point.

"Sure enough it was Sketcher," Smith said.

She called to thank the woman, who ended up being Marie "Meezie" Hermansen -- a veterinarian at Soldotna Animal Hospital -- who had found her dog, and learned she had cared for it while it lived under her home.

"The dog found me I guess, but since I'm a veterinarian, I guess he picked the right house," Hermansen said.

Smith said Harmansen took care of Sketcher like he was her own.

"When I called to thank her, she told me she'd given him food and water. He'd mostly been interested in the food. My friends had also both brought luring treats they were carrying with them in case they found him. So, consequently, Sketcher was not hungry when we arrived home," she said.

Rather than wanting to eat, Sketcher seemed worn out from his several days on the lam.

"He was very tired and got lots of love from myself and my daughters. When I hugged him he seemed tense, but soon relaxed and fell right asleep. He's tired from his three-day adventure and seems quite happy to be home," Smith said.

Hermansen said she did not want the reward that was offered, and instead suggested Smith put the reward money toward getting the dog a microchip or some other form of permanent identification.

"At the very least, Sketcher will soon have a new collar with an ID on it," Smith said.

Smith said she also wanted to thank all the people who called with sightings of Sketcher before he was found. It gave her the hope she needed to believe she would get him back.

"If it weren't for people seeing and paying attention to the posters, I may not have gotten him back so quickly. Thank you for your time," she said.

Source: http://www.peninsulaclarion.com/stories/072409/new_360743852.shtml