Bruce, service dog

Local Veteran Reunited With Missing Service Dog
By Geena Martinez, NewsWest 9
Posted: Jan 30, 2013

MIDLAND - The service dog for a local Afghanistan veteran who went missing earlier this month has been found. The dog was gone for more than three weeks and it's a homecoming miracle that no one could've predicted.

Watch the video story

"Overjoyed, just so happy that he's home," Teresa Tuttle, said.

Tuttle is speaking on behalf of a veteran named Brian.

On January 2nd, his dog Bruce got out of the backyard.

It happens all the time but for Brian, it was life changing.

He was diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder after serving in Afghanistan.

"When Brian starts to feel anxious or overwhelmed, Bruce is there just with a touch to help Brian focus on something other than the anxiety," Tuttle said. "The dog brings his blood pressure down."

Day after day, Teresa got calls about possible sightings of the four-legged friend.

"He'd get his hopes up and eventually I just stopped telling him about the calls because it was just too hard," Tuttle said. "It was never Bruce."

But on Tuesday, Brian had a surprise visitor when he got home from work.

"As he stepped out of the truck, Bruce came running from the other side of the car and jumped into his arms and cried and cried because he was home," Tuttle said. "They both cried, they were just so happy to have each other back."

26 days after Bruce first went missing, the curious canine found his way back home.

"He is 15 lbs lighter than he was," Tuttle said. "He has some damage to his paws, being out on the road for as long as he was. He's got some holes all the way through from thorns."

Bruce is recovering and Brian is rejoicing.

"He's seen the worst of humanity and he came back feeling, bringing a lot of that with him," Tuttle said. "He said up until the point when the dog went missing, he had lost hope in humanity and because of all the support and love from everyone, it has really given him his hope back."

Source (with video): http://www.kwes.com/story/20876324/local-veteran-reunited-with-missing-service-dog

Bowzer, bassett hound

Bowzer the Bassett Hound
Lynn Miraglia
January 29, 2013

Bowzer the basset hound went missing from his home on January 14th. Sadly, this happened on the day that a family member succumbed to an ongoing illness, so the family was preoccupied and grieving that loss when Bowzer slipped out.

It’s hard enough to find a lost dog under the best of circumstances;to have it happen at a time like that provided the family with an even bigger challenge to find Bowzer than if it happened when they were not dealing with that death in the family.

As it turned out, Bowzer was quickly found by two women in a white truck, near his home the very same day he went missing. They spoke with a neighbor of the family and asked who the dog belonged to. The neighbor pointed to Bowzer’s home. They knocked on the front door, but of course no one was home.

The women took the dog to the county shelter to check for a microchip, and they reported the dog as found. They took the dog with them, which is common operating procedure at most animal shelters. Found dogs are sometime fostered by the finder rather than left at the shelter when they come to file a found dog report.

Bowzer is much loved by his family, and when they arrived home and found out that he was gone, they set out to find their friend and family member. On January 25th, they finally saw the Found Dog report on the BrevardLostPets.com website, and obtained the contact info for one of the women that had picked up the dog.

The family began calling the finder, and initially got no answer. They found her on Facebook, and messaged her with a photo of Bowzer. After letting the family know that she had indeed rescued a dog, and acknowledging that it was the same dog, she stated that the dog’s condition – dirty, long nails, etc – led her to decide to adopt him out to a good family to take care of him. She refused to reveal where Bowzer was, and after that, she no longer responded to any calls or emails.

The family wisely realized that this was a matter for the local police, and they filed a report. We don’t know the details on what the officer said or did, but he did get the information on Bowzer’s location from the finder.

On January 28th, two weeks after he went missing, Bowzer was brought back home by the officer. The case was closed within hours of contacting the police.

Thanks to Brevard Lost Pets for submitting this story and photo.

Pooka from Kentucky

Dog stolen from Kentucky found in New Mexico
Military family’s dog stolen in 2011
By Tanya Mendis
Jan 28, 2013

The dog, Pooka, was stolen out of the family’s backyard in 2011. Two weeks ago, Pooka showed up at a shelter in Espanola.

“Somebody saw her wandering and took her into the shelter,” Melanie Lopez said.

Lopez wound up taking Pooka in. It was her 29th foster dog.

After Pooka’s microchip was scanned and her owners were called, Lopez learned that Pooka had been stolen from Kentucky.

“It’s a really scary feeling. They're a part of your family, so it's like losing a child,” Lopez said.

On Wednesday, Pooka’s original owners will fly from Kentucky to Albuquerque to take her home again.

“It just shows that there's always hope. Even a year later, a year and a half later, you never know when your dog might show up,” Lopez said.

Pooka’s original owner, Mandy Smith, is able to fly to Albuquerque thanks to a local pet advocate who donated frequent flier miles.

Workers at the Espanola Valley Humane Society said Smith was thrilled when she heard Pooka was safe. Smith told them losing her was the worst day of their family’s life.

Source: http://www.ksbw.com/news/Dog-stolen-from-Kentucky-found-in-New-Mexico/-/1852/18305118/-/1k601d/-/index.html

Maisie, cairn terrier

Middleton: Dog survives astonishing eight days lost in the snow
By Lauren Everitt
Monday, January 28, 2013

WHEN Maisie the Cairn Terrier vanished for eight days on Dunwich Heath in sub-zero temperatures, deep snow and bitterly cold winds, her owner feared the worst.

As the search went on, the mercury plummeted to -15C in parts of Suffolk and it seemed hopes of finding her alive had all but gone.

But, miraculously, Maisie was discovered after more than a week in the wilderness - freezing cold but apparently unscathed, with her lead caught on a tree, tethering her to the spot.

The three-year-old hound has now been reunited with her owner Margaret Charles in Middleton, and tucked up in her warm basket.

Maisie had panicked and run off after Mrs Charles slipped on black ice while walking her on Dunwich Heath on January 16.

After unsuccessfully calling out for Maisie, Mrs Charles, who was left bruised after the fall, was forced to seek help to find her.

She said: “Maisie is always walked on a retractable lead because I’m scared she’ll run off and not come back but I let go of the lead when I fell and she ran off immediately.

“It was already getting dark so I ended up going back to the coastguard cottages and asking for help from the National Trust.

“A chap came out with me but it was dark and we couldn’t see very well so we had to stop.”

Overnight temperatures plummeted and a worried Mrs Charles, who lives in The Street, said the search resumed the following day with groups of people coming from all over to look for Maisie.

“The weather didn’t get any better, in fact it got worse, but everyone just kept hoping for the best.

“I rang vets and the dog warden but nothing happened and I started thinking ‘how will she survive?’”

A few days later Mrs Charles was contacted by Jenny Brown, a volunteer with Dog Lost which helps trace missing dogs, saying she was bringing her tracker dog Tigger up from Kent to join the search.

Mrs Charles, who has had Maisie since she was nine months old, said: “Jenny came the following day on Thursday and Tigger sniffed Maisie’s coat to get her scent and a few hours later I had a call to say that Tigger had found her.

“I was trembling and crying and didn’t know what to do with myself but managed to get into my car and drive to where Maisie was.”

“She was found not far from where I fell but her retractable lead had got caught a tree meaning she couldn’t walk any further but the main thing was she was okay.”

Maisie was taken to the vets and given a clean bill of health.

Mrs Charles added: “Maisie keeps putting on the sad puppy eyes but we’re not going to overdo anything.”

Dog Lost volunteer Jenny Brown said: “It was worth coming up from Kent to help find a missing dog.

“A lot of searches had already been carried out in a difficult area and in difficult conditions with the snow and temperatures.

“I think Margaret thought she wouldn’t see Maisie ever again and she took some convincing that we had found her and she was absolutely fine.”

Source: http://www.coastalscene24.co.uk/news/middleton_dog_survives_astonishing_eight_days_lost_in_the_snow_1_1829701

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Another version of the story and more pictures at http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/dog-survives-eight-days-out-1561221