Mitzy, beagle-pointer

Lost dog finds her way back home
By Robert Linnehan
June 28, 2012
 
It’s not exactly “The Incredible Journey,” but if Mitzy the beagle pointer mix could talk, she would have some amazing tales to tell.

The two-and-a-half year old rescue dog disappeared in Evesham Township on Saturday, May 19, after running away from her owner and into the woods behind Georgia O’Keefe Way.

After more than two weeks on the lam, the frightened dog was found on Wednesday, June 6, on William Feather Drive in Voorhees Township.

Mitzy was hanging out at a friend’s house, one that she had only been to on a handful of occasions.

No, seriously.

Her owner, Dina Greenblatt, said she believes that Mitzy caught the scent of her dog friend Molly – a golden labradoodle – while she was running through the woods behind Sturbridge Lakes in Voorhees Township. Mitzy and Molly are both fans of the dog park in John Connolly Park in Voorhees Township and play there frequently while their owners chat.

“The only other people outside of the four members of our family that she trusts are her dog friend Molly and her mommy Maryanne,” Greenblatt said. “It was unbelievable. She had only been to Molly’s house twice before during our two-year friendship.”

The rescue dog is extremely nervous and skittish, Greenblatt explained, and was most likely abused before the Voorhees Township family adopted her. The family had been visiting relatives in Evesham Township when Mitzy disappeared on May 19.

After spending hours in the woods looking for Mitzy – and having to be rescued herself by the Evesham Township Police after she got lost – Greenblatt returned home and immediately went online to see what could be done.

Greenblatt started a Facebook page and posted a listing on Craigslist urging all residents in the area to call if they saw the dog running through their neighborhood. They posted her information on a pet tracking website called FindToto.com as well, which sent out a phone message blast about Mitzy to registered users.

After only a few hours, calls started to pour into their home. Sightings of Mitzy were happening all over Evesham Township.

“We were so distraught when it happened. By the time I would get anywhere after people spotted her she would be gone. We were out every single day looking for her; we were getting sightings around Kettle Run mostly, people I didn’t know were calling us and texting us with sightings, it was crazy,” Greenblatt said.

An hour after she ran away, the Greenblatt’s got their first call. The escaped dog was spotted on Kettle Run and Hopewell at 5:30 p.m. on May 19. The next day she was spotted standing on the front lawn of a residence in the same neighborhood, but ran away before she could be caught.

Later on that night, a resident called and said she saw Mitzy on Kettle Run Road and Clearfield Avenue, but the dog ran away during the phone call.

For the rest of the week, Greenblatt said the dog completely disappeared. False sightings were being called in, she said, and she wasn’t positively identified again until Wednesday, June 6, some 17 days after her last appearance.

An employee from a dog chipping service called Greenblatt and excitedly told her that he had spotted Mitzy in the Sturbridge Lakes area in the township. He tried to corral her, but the dog ran away, and he and Greenblatt spent the rest of the day riding around in his truck looking for Mitzy. While looking for her they got another positive sighting of Mitzy at Egret Road in the township later on in the day, but she was gone when they drove over.

With so many close calls and no results, Greenblatt said she was ready to give up hope.

But she received one last phone call on the same day from her friend Maryanne, informing her that Mitzy was in her backyard barking her head off with Molly.

Maryanne said she had heard Molly barking like crazy a little after 9 p.m. on June 6, and she was surprised when she heard another dog join in. She was even more elated when she recognized Mitzy, Molly’s best dog friend from John Connolly Park.

Her home is about three-and-a-half miles away from the location where Mitzy had been last spotted. She had wandered through the woods in the Sturbridge Lakes area of Voorhees Township to get to the home.

All told, Mitzy traveled almost six miles from Marlton to Voorhees during her 17-day adventure.

And for her troubles?

Mitzy is now the proud owner of “doggie GPS” which allows the Greenblatt family to monitor her location 24 hours a day.

“Ultimately, the power of puppy friendship was stronger than all the human searching that we could muster. Mitzy showed up at her BFF’s (Best Furry Friend’s) house in Sturbridge Lakes 17 days after running away,” Greenblatt said. “People went out of their way to help us. We’re so grateful.”

Source: http://sj.sunne.ws/2012/06/28/lost-dog-finds-her-way-back-home/

Charlie, chihuahua

Missing Chihuahua reunited with owner
By Clare Huddleston
Jun 20, 2012

A missing Chihuahua has been reunited with his owner. Charlie survived ten days wandering the streets of downtown Birmingham looking for food, water, and shelter.

Charlie (L) and Chip happy and back together

Laird Foret says Charlie went missing Friday, June 1. 

"He went missing from an office party on Beacon Parkway and we chased him on foot. Me and my employees chased him as far as we could go but he ran down some hills and into some woods," said Foret.

Days later Foret got a phone call from a woman who said she saw Charlie running towards George Ward Park. In fact, she told Foret two men in a pickup truck stopped traffic on Greensprings Highway so Charlie could cross safely.

Foret searched that area, but couldn't find Charlie. The next Charlie sighting came in Glen Iris.

"He actually went into the Idle Wild Circle area and some people tried to feed him and approach him but he's shy and so he's not easy to approach but they described him as a small white dog who was visibly shaken," said Foret.

Visibly shaken and hungry. Maybe the smell of barbeque lured Charlie to his next sighting at Dreamland. After that he made his way towards UAB and that's where police cornered him in some bushes until Foret arrived and coaxed Charlie into his arms. It's something he'll never forget.

"I didn't realize how connected to these two little animals I was. They're my family. They just happen to be dogs," said Foret.

Charlie's brother, Chip, was also devastated when Charlie went missing. Forest says Chip would search the house looking for his brother, only to be disappointed. Foret says he too would have been disappointed had it not been for help from complete strangers.

"It's a story about the kindness of strangers and the community at large that came together through prayers, words of encouragement, their stories and helpful tips. I never would have been able to recover Charlie on my own or by myself," said Foret.

Foret hopes no one else has to go through what he went through with Charlie. That's why Foret wants his software company, Isotope Eleven, to develop an app that would alert you on your cell phone if there's a missing animal in your neighborhood.

Source: http://www.myfoxal.com/story/18841078/missing-chihuahua-reunited-with-owner

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Oliver, pug

 Blackburn boy reunited with his stolen pug
Friday 22nd June 2012

A SIX-year-old boy is celebrating the return of his dog after an appeal in the Lancashire Telegraph.

Levi Elliott, of Infirmary Street, Blackburn, made a plea to the two thieves caught on CCTV calmly walking off with seven-year-old pug Oliver after stealing him from the family’s back garden on Monday afternoon.

After the article was published a 20-year-old man contacted police after finding Oliver wandering near the Leeds Liverpool Canal in Ewood.

Dad Mark Elliott, 37, said: “I was at the police station anyway, going through the CCTV, when they brought Oliver back.

“I got on the phone to the school and told Levi, and he’s overjoyed. He’s been very concerned, as have the rest of us, because Oliver doesn’t like going out much if it’s very rainy or very sunny.

“He seems okay physically, but he’s a bit startled and he’s not eating properly.”

“Without the Lancashire Telegraph, I don’t think we’d have got Oliver back so soon. I think someone’s seen the front page, panicked, and dumped him by the canal.

“It might seem nothing to them to steal a dog, but he’s everything to Levi, and I’m so relieved and pleased for him.

“I hope they catch whoever has done this. It serves as a warning to anyone else who thinks it’s okay to steal a dog.”

Mr Elliott, a student at Blackburn University, said he will be buying CCTV cameras for his back garden and will be monitoring Oliver more closely.

No arrests have been made in connection to the case, and police inquiries are ongoing.

Anyone with information is asked to call police on 101.

Source: http://www.thisislancashire.co.uk/news/9777718.Blackburn_boy_reunited_with_his_stolen_pug/
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Samson, cocker spaniel

Pennsylvania Woman, B.J. Ross, Cremates Beloved Dog
Only To Be Reunited With Long-Lost Pet On The Same Day
Huffington Post
06/22/2012

Returning home on her lunch break earlier this month, Altoona, Pa., mom B.J. Ross was heartbroken to discover that her beloved 15-year-old cocker spaniel, Bigsby, had died in her absence.

"She was my absolute best friend and soul mate," Ross, 36, told The Huffington Post. "She used to do everything with me."

Gathering Bigsby into her arms, Ross drove to the Central Pennsylvania Humane Society with her mom to get the dog cremated.

Ross told the Altoona Mirror that Bigsby's death was the second loss she'd had to endure in the past year.

Her other cocker spaniel, Samson, had gone missing last July near her former home. Ross said Samson's loss had come as a terrible blow.

"I hung up pictures, I called the humane society and the radio station, but I couldn't find him," she said.

Sitting in the waiting room at the humane society almost a year later, Ross was faced with another painful goodbye.

"I was really distraught. I was just crying and crying," she said, adding that she was so overcome with emotion that she barely noticed the man with a brown-and-white cocker spaniel who was in the waiting room with her.

Thankfully, her mother, who was by her side, was paying attention.

"My mom overheard the man say that he found the dog about a year ago in Juniata," said Ross, referring to her old neighborhood. "She got up to take a look at the dog and said, 'That's Samson!'"

Ross said she was stunned when she took a look at the dog herself.

"I was like, you gotta be kidding me. It's been a year and there he was, it was him," she said. "I'm just crying and crying, and my mom asks me, 'Are you crying because you're happy or sad?' and I said, 'Both.'"

John Aurandt told the Altoona Mirror that he had found Samson in a parking lot.

"Me and my boy went up and down the streets trying to find the owner," he said. "I thought he was stray, but my boy wanted to keep him."

Aurandt said he was reluctantly giving Samson up because he didn't get along well with his other dog.

"They were aggressive toward each other," he said. "I just couldn't keep him."

After showing staff members pictures of Samson to verify her claim, Ross was permitted to take her lost dog home.

"The timing was just amazing. Just five minutes later and he would've been surrendered," Ross told The Huffington Post. "And if my mom hadn't come with me, I never would've seen him."

Humane Society Volunteer Coordinator Tammi Ingham told the Altoona Mirror that she was amazed by the improbable reunion.

"I get the goosebumps just thinking about it...There are odd things that happen here, but nothing like that," she said. "It sure made my day."

Ross said Samson has not left her side since his return and her two young children are over the moon that he's back in the house.

Though she admits she's still deep in mourning for Bigsby, she said her reunion with Samson has been nothing short of a "modern-day miracle."

"That day was so surreal. I had just lost my best friend but I was so happy to have my dog back," she said. "You know, I wasn't looking for a dog, but as my mom said, maybe he was looking for me."

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/22/bj-ross_n_1619056.html