Leo the wandering Border Collie reunited with Portland couple
by Kimberly A.C. Wilson, The Oregonian
Thursday April 16, 2009, 5:13 PM
Nine months and $2,000 after he disappeared in the wilds of southern Oregon, Leo the Border Collie is heading home to Northeast Portland.
Leo at the beach, before his ordeal.
He may appear a bit wolflike now, shaggy and a wild look in the eye. But he was a well-groomed 2-year-old herding dog last Fourth of July weekend, when Jason McNichols, 30, and fiance Marisa Davis, 29, left him with friends while they rafted for an hour on the Rogue River in southern Oregon.
Agility-course trained and keen at playing Frisbee, Leo had never before given the couple a reason to worry. But on that summer afternoon, he suddenly bolted when a friend pulled up to the Graves Creek boat landing to await McNichols and Davis.
"We were heartbroken," said McNichols. The pair posted lost-dog fliers in Galice, the closest hamlet, six miles upriver, and in other towns to the north, where they were camped. Given Leo's distinctive brown, white and black coloring, they figured it wouldn't be long before someone spotted the 50-pound pup. But despite days spent hiking the area during her summer break from teaching at a Beaverton middle school, Davis couldn't find Leo.
After no news for the next eight months, there came Nanette Martin's phone call in early April.
On a break during a motorcycle ride through Galice, Martin spotted one of the Leo fliers. She recognized him at once as a stray that appeared now and then on her property 25 miles south of Galice in Wilderville.
"And when I saw the sign and I thought, 'oh my God, that's that lost dog,'" Martin said.
Turns out, Wilderville residents had been seeing the border collie with a patterned collar darting around town since November. Skittish around humans, he wandered through the woods, pilfering cat food.
"Everybody saw him but nobody could get close to him," Martin said.
After the call, McNichols and Davis took last Friday off and drove south to resume the search. More than once, they spotted Leo at a distance but he would flee. Finally, McNichols called Bug's Inc., a pest control company in Grants Pass that uses cages to trap cougars. He and Davis had to return to Portland, but on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, Martin helped set the trap for Leo on a neighbor's property.
Finally, on Wednesday night, Martin called McNichols and asked if he wanted to speak with Leo, who sat nearby, scared but wagging his tail. Tempted by dog kibble and a breast of chicken from Albertsons, the dog had walked into the cage.
This morning, McNichols and Davis were reunited with Leo. Shaggy and covered in ticks, he seemed to be the pet the couple had lost.
Before heading home for their home in the Rocky Butte area of Portland, they took Leo to the Wilderville Store to formally introduce residents to the dog who wandered through the area all those months.
Agility-course trained and keen at playing Frisbee, Leo had never before given the couple a reason to worry. But on that summer afternoon, he suddenly bolted when a friend pulled up to the Graves Creek boat landing to await McNichols and Davis.
"We were heartbroken," said McNichols. The pair posted lost-dog fliers in Galice, the closest hamlet, six miles upriver, and in other towns to the north, where they were camped. Given Leo's distinctive brown, white and black coloring, they figured it wouldn't be long before someone spotted the 50-pound pup. But despite days spent hiking the area during her summer break from teaching at a Beaverton middle school, Davis couldn't find Leo.
After no news for the next eight months, there came Nanette Martin's phone call in early April.
On a break during a motorcycle ride through Galice, Martin spotted one of the Leo fliers. She recognized him at once as a stray that appeared now and then on her property 25 miles south of Galice in Wilderville.
"And when I saw the sign and I thought, 'oh my God, that's that lost dog,'" Martin said.
Turns out, Wilderville residents had been seeing the border collie with a patterned collar darting around town since November. Skittish around humans, he wandered through the woods, pilfering cat food.
"Everybody saw him but nobody could get close to him," Martin said.
After the call, McNichols and Davis took last Friday off and drove south to resume the search. More than once, they spotted Leo at a distance but he would flee. Finally, McNichols called Bug's Inc., a pest control company in Grants Pass that uses cages to trap cougars. He and Davis had to return to Portland, but on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, Martin helped set the trap for Leo on a neighbor's property.
Finally, on Wednesday night, Martin called McNichols and asked if he wanted to speak with Leo, who sat nearby, scared but wagging his tail. Tempted by dog kibble and a breast of chicken from Albertsons, the dog had walked into the cage.
This morning, McNichols and Davis were reunited with Leo. Shaggy and covered in ticks, he seemed to be the pet the couple had lost.
Before heading home for their home in the Rocky Butte area of Portland, they took Leo to the Wilderville Store to formally introduce residents to the dog who wandered through the area all those months.
Leo the Border Collie poses with friends and family this morning. From left are Nanette Martin, who first spotted Leo; Marisa Davis (holding Leo) and Jason McNichols, Leo's owners; and two workers from Bugs Inc., which provided the trap that captured Leo: Ricky Downes and David Mays.
"It's such a happy ending," a giddy Martin said this afternoon. McNichols agreed.
"Nine months later, and he's fine," he said, after taking the dog to a Eugene vet for a check-up. "All muscle. He only lost three pounds in the whole ordeal. We can't wait to get him home."
Source: http://www.oregonlive.com/news/index.ssf/2009/04/leo_the_wandering_border_colli.html
"Nine months later, and he's fine," he said, after taking the dog to a Eugene vet for a check-up. "All muscle. He only lost three pounds in the whole ordeal. We can't wait to get him home."
Source: http://www.oregonlive.com/news/index.ssf/2009/04/leo_the_wandering_border_colli.html
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