Josie, border collie mix

Dog Missing for Nearly 2 Months is Found, Reunited With Owner
By Tracy Bloom & Kimberly Cheng
June 21, 2014

A pet owner who was devastated when her dog went missing for nearly two months after escaping from a Culver City boarding facility got the happy ending she had badly wanted: a reunion with her precious pooch.

Lori Tritel was reunited with her dog “Josie,” a Border Collie mix, about two weeks ago after an exhaustive search that ended up costing her thousands of dollars, she told KTLA on Saturday.

Josie went missing on April 18 after she jumped over a 12-foot-high fence while in the care of Doggie Central.

Tritel, who was at the facility at the time in another room and had watched in horror as her dog jumped the fence, was devastated when Josie escaped.

“She ran toward their back fence. I started screaming,” Tritel tearfully told KTLA after her dog went missing. “We just have a bond. I think people with animals know that bond… and I just want to bring her home.”

Desperate to get her beloved dog back, Josie hired a team to find her. After seven weeks of following tips, handing out fliers and searching for her beloved pet, all of the efforts paid off — Tritel and Josie were finally reunited.

Josie
Josie went missing on April 18, 2014, after escaping from the Doggie Central boarding facility in Culver City. (Credit: Lori Tritel)

“I reached out, I held more chicken out for her, and she came right into my chest. It was amazing,” she said, her eyes filling with tears.

Tritel spent about $7,000 of her own money to hire the team of experts and to pay for the cost of supplies that led to Josie being found.

And while she is overjoyed at having Josie back, Tritel — who blames Doggie Central for losing Josie in the first place — said she believed the facility should reimburse her for the expenses related to locating the dog.

“What I want is compensation, I want reimbursement for the cost of the search,” she said. “I think it’s a dog facility’s responsibility to have a fence that cannot be jumped.”

However, Faith Mantooth, the owner of Doggie Central, disagreed that the facility should have to cover the full cost.

Mantooth, who is billed as the “Chief Cuddler” on the company’s website, also contended that the facility had proper precautions in place designed to prevent dogs from escaping.

“She went out the back and scaled a 12-foot fence with barbed wire on the top of it,” Mantooth said.

Mantooth told KTLA in April that no dog had ever gotten over it before Josie did. .

“We’ve never had a dog ever go over that fence, that’s the reason it’s so high and has barbed wire on it. I was in shock,” Mantooth said.

But on Saturday Mantooth said similar situations have happened four times.

“We have been a business 16 years. We have had hundreds of dogs here. To have four dogs get over or out the fence, especially in the beginning years … is to me a perfect track record,” she said.

One of those dogs was killed after running out the facilities front door in 2007 and getting hit by a vehicle.

Mantooth told KTLA on Saturday that she had added additional safeguards to the facility. She also said she has apologized.

Doggie Central has shelled out $2,000 to Tritel, and Mantooth said she did not believe the facility should have to pay her any more than it already had.

KTLA’s Ashley Soley-Cerro contributed to this report.

Source: http://ktla.com/2014/06/21/dog-found-reunited-with-owner-nearly-2-months-after-escaping-from-culver-city-boarding-facility/

Fonzie, greyhound therapy dog

Angus family finds missing dog five days after tornado
By Cheryl Browne, Barrie Examiner
Monday, June 23, 201

After nearly a week of searching for her best friend, even Master Seaman Roxanne Cronk admits she was beginning to wonder if she'd ever see him again.

Cronk's dog, Fonzie, took off running out the front door of their home on Banting Crescent when an EF2 tornado blew through Angus last Tuesday evening, taking most of the second floor of their home with it.

Roxanne Cronk, of Angus, is glad to have 'Fonzie', her nine-year-old greyhound, back home after he went missing for five days after a tornado struck their home last Tuesday.

Cronk was hustling her partner Master Cpl. James Wood's children down to the basement as the twister hopscotched down the street wreaking havoc on more than 100 homes in their neighbourhood.

“The door burst open and he ran by us out the front door,” Wood said Monday afternoon.

Resting on the back lawn of CFB Borden's emergency housing unit, which was provided to the young couple after the tornado, Cronk rubs Fonzie's ears as if to reassure herself he's still there when she talks.

Fonzie, aka Cocktail Decoeyes, was adopted by Cronk through the Greyhound Pets of Atlantic Canada five years ago as a retired racing dog when she was stationed at CFB Greenwood in Nova Scotia.

Now nine-years-old, the calm, well-mannered greyhound has a grey muzzle and the gentle disposition needed to be a St. John Ambulance therapy dog at the Riverwood Retirement Home in Alliston.

The tall, long-legged greyhound walks shakily across the lawn and sits down, tired but composed after a week on the lam as Cronk tells the tale.

“I was out driving around Sunday since about 6:30 a.m. and a few hours into it I called James blubbering. It was so late in the week and everybody was looking for him and nobody had seen him in days and I just couldn't take it anymore,” Cronks grins through her tears as she remembers the desperation she felt Sunday.

“And I said, 'it's OK, come home',” Wood said, and then they laughed.

“And just then I saw him and yelled, 'There's Fonzie',” she said.

Just ahead of her, Fonzie could be seen loping down the 25 Sideroad, near the 7th Line, as if out for a jog.

Two cars were pulled over to the side watching him, and as Cronk ran after him and called out to her dog – who kept running – one driver offered to drive her closer to the frightened pet.

“He looked like the Littlest Hobo,” Cronk said of the 1980s TV show of a dog who travelled alone from town to town.

“I yelled 'Fonzie stop!' and he finally slowed down. I said, 'Come on Fonzie', and he turned and put his head down but his tail was wagging and he came back to me,” she said. “I just hugged him crying and I think I've been blubbering with relief ever since.”

Another kind stranger drove them back to her car and her brother Rockwell Cronk – who'd arrived from CFB Trenton and had been looking for Fonzie since Friday night – arrived with Wood and his sons for the family reunion.

A quick check by a Mill Street veterinarian found that he'd lost about three pounds and had a stiff leg, but was otherwise in good condition considering he'd spent five days alone in the woods just a few kilometres from home.

As Cronk and Wood set up their temporary home at CFB Borden, they want to express their gratitude to the hundreds of people who participated in the search for their missing dog.

“So many people did such great work looking for him, it was just a fluke she found him running along that road,” Wood said.

Seniors and staff at the retirement home were passing along the information to their friends and family, another friend had set up an Facebook account, as well as a Twitter tag #helpfindFonzie, while posters were made and shared by Angus residents.

An Ontario greyhound organization was sending out updates about the missing canine, and police and hydro workers were keeping a lookout for him as well, Wood said.

“People took days off work to look for him. It was amazing,” he said.

“We had a call from a woman in Oakville this morning, asking if we'd found him yet. We told her we had and she was so thrilled. Another woman wrote an e-mail and said her daughter wants to come meet 'the dog who is a hero'.

“It's just incredible the amount of support we've had.”

Source: http://www.thebarrieexaminer.com/2014/06/23/angus-family-finds-missing-dog-five-days-after-tornado

Lily, min pin

Lily's story shared from her Mom & Dad's perspective
Posted to the Lost Dog Advocates FB Page
June 21, 2014

"I want to start off by saying I truly thank all of you for your help in getting Lily home, whether it be by prayer, sharing, looking or watching, and calling in when you spotted or thought you spotted you. You all are a big part of us getting Lily home.

This was a very long 33 days of heartache, worry, tears, high emotions, and low emotions: long and hard miles of searching, and tracking her scent.

After the first of searching we realized we could not possibly do it on our own. There was just too much wooded area to cover. Lily was scared and in hiding.

In our search we came in contact with a very special lady (Liz) who told us of a lost dog tracking service out of Geneva. We contacted Lost Dog Advocates right away and hired them for their help.

Amy came with her scent dog, Debbie, and we started at Jessica and Tim's house where Lily went missing. Debbie picked up Lily's scent in the back yard where she had of course been, but the next place she went after getting scent from the scent article was right where our grandson Timmy had told me Lily went after leaving the garage. I never told anyone that Timmy had showed me that area so I knew that Debbie had in fact had Lily's scent.

We immediately put out a lost dog amber alert in the area she was last spotted about a mile away from Jessica's. We set up equipment to track if Lily came into that area and a Catch and Release Trap.

Amy (Lost Dog Advocates) had been through this entire process on a personal level because of searching for and locating her own dog. She was always there guiding us and checking and tracking every day.

With the help of everyone calling us when they spotted or thought they spotted Lily we were able to see the path Lily had taken and try to guess where she may be headed so we could get ahead of her.

She is a very smart dog and the same thing that kept her alive in the woods is the same thing that made it very hard to locate her. She is a survivor and learned real quick what she had to survive on her own.

After Lily was spotted on Rte. 193 in Kingsville, Ohio Amy did a Track with Debbie. We had already gotten a positive scent so the next step was to track. This led Amy and Debbie down the tracks and into the woods again.

They then picked up scent in a Wheat field in the 3000 block of Creek Rd in Kingsville where we did what is called a push. When I learned Rich thought he seen Lily in the Wheat Field chasing a Turkey I believed we would catch her.

Again, thank you all who answered my plea for help and came out to that location.

We spent a few hours in that location with Debbie and Amy tracking. Lily must have slipped by all of us and went into the woods again. Our hopes of bringing Lily home were crushed yet again. We came home that night without her.

Amy had received a text from a girl on South Ridge Rd in Kingsville, Ohio that Lily was playing in the yard with her dog. Even though it was pouring down rain and looking like a tornado might hit, Amy collected the Safe Trap and moved it to the new location.

We could not get positive scent because of the severe storm and Debbie being exhausted from the push. We could do nothing but pray and wait again.

Rich and I put another Lost Dog ad in the paper, bought more posters to put up and also bought 2 more safe traps to help catch her.

We went to the location where the girl had seen Lily and talked to her sister as she was at work. It gave Rich and me joy to know that Lily was playing with her dog.

We then had to come home to tend to our 13 year old Black Lab who is blind and has diabetes. Amy called and wanted to meet us at the location of the last sighting so we headed back there when we were done tending to Jenny.

On the trip back to that location Amy called and asked that we meet her at Liz's house, it was very important. We didn't know if she had gotten Lily on camera, seen Lily in person, found her alive or dead. We were on pins and needles.

When we arrived at Liz's house Amy was not there yet. Liz acted like she did not even know Amy wanted to meet there. Liz called Amy and then asked us to have a seat. That made our hearts sink.

Liz said Amy was on her way and needed a phone number from Liz. She should get the actress of the year award by the way.

When Amy got there she came in the house with little expression on her face and said that she had told us she would never quit looking for Lily until she found her alive or dead. Then she said she quit. That hit us like a brick. We asked excitedly "Did you find her?" and " is she alive?". Amy responded with a YES!

I took off out the door for Amy's vehicle like a lightening bolt. Lily was in the safe trap in Amy's car. I did not want to open the trap until we had her safely enclosed in the garage. Lily recognized our voices and was just as excited to see us. We all hugged Lily and Thanked God for bring Lily home. I will ad pics later today. Thank you all!!!!! "

Murphy, golden retriever

Dog emerges from Tahoe forest after 2 years, is reunited with family
By Caitlin Owens
June 19, 2014

Almost two years after a golden retriever went missing on a camping trip in Tahoe National Forest, the thin, frail dog has been reunited with her family after being spotted at a campground emerging from the woods.

Nathan and Erin Braun were camping in October 2012 when they became separated from their 5-year-old golden retriever, Murphy. They posted fliers and set up a Facebook page for her, but even though they received no responses they held out hope.

Then, earlier this month, a camper at French Meadows Reservoir saw the dog five miles from where she had gone missing. Upon being notified, the Brauns immediately drove from their home in El Dorado Hills to the site.

After several days of searching proved unsuccessful, the Brauns left Murphy's old bed and some of their clothing with the campground host, hoping the dog would respond, according to a Facebook post written by the couple.

The plan worked. A week later, the Brauns received a call from the host telling them Murphy had been sleeping on the blanket and clothing they left behind, the Brauns wrote. Not only that, the host had been able to coax her into a kennel.

"The very first night I laid it out I heard some movement," Jason Smith told KXTV-TV of Sacramento. "There was Murphy, sleeping on the blanket. And right there I knew, that's Murphy. That's their dog. It was curled up with its head on the hat."

The dog -- described as thin and frail, but recovering -- was "happy to be home with her family" after a Father's Day reunion, the Brauns wrote.

"As you can imagine we are completely shocked and amazed with the miracle of her surviving this long," they said.

Source: http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-dog-missing-two-years-reunited-20140619-story.html