Tasha, a Schnauzer

For weeks I kept an eye, via Craigslist, on the search for a sweet little lost dog in my area, unable to help but wishing I could. I'm happy, though frankly also surprised, to be able to tell her story on my blog -- since she was recovered after about six weeks.

My local Craigslist – the Lost & Found and the Pets sections – has been carrying several postings a week from the mom of a lost schnauzer named Tasha.

Tasha’s mom takes a lot of care in posting so often, changing the subject line, the photos included and the wording of the ads so that no two are alike. If you saved every ad or remembered everything you learned from them all, you might eventually have collected a lot of details of whatever happened that she went missing. As I recall, something spooked her enough to run off, and that was it. She was gone, and has been gone since then. And her mom never stopped renewing the word she was putting out on Craigslist.

When I saw the first few postings, I did what I normally do, which is resist the temptation to reach out to the lost dog’s mom. I know that folks who post their lost pets on Craigslist get plenty of email. It’s obvious when they post that they found their lost pet that lots of people were writing to offer encouragement and advice. I figure it takes up so much time that it’s a serious challenge, so I don’t add to it.

I also don’t offer to help, which I always want to do, because I’ve learned that pretty often, people posting to Craigslist want to spread the word, but they don’t accept offers of help. And that was true in Tasha’s mom’s case, which I found out because I did eventually reach out to her. She didn’t want to impose – never mind that I’d offered, and that I tried to assure her that I would not spend time I didn’t have on it. Other than saying that and also that she was going to give up the search because it was so hard on the family, she didn’t really clarify why she would not let me help. It was very sad, but I’ve seen the response before, both from my offers to help and also others who have offered to help Craigslist posters. So I retreated after a few emails. And I continued to see Tasha postings on Craigslist despite her saying it was too hard to continue.

I also would see Tasha’s postings on other lost and missing pet websites. I know that the family tried FindToto robo calls, some fliering, check petharbor.com daily, and they considered a tracking dog but ultimately rejected that idea. I thought it was an OK effort overall, but not great and not what it needed to be. Tasha was, from what her mom had described to me, just a little spooked, not enveloped in mortal terror. She was a well adjusted pampered pet, had lived with the family in that home forever, had never fended for herself before, and her grooming level was such that anyone who found her when she was maybe scooting through the neighborhood couldn’t possibly have mistaken her for a dumped dog. I felt that a media blitz was needed to flush the dog out of whatever home she was in. But I’m pretty certain that the family never went that route. I thought that was sad, too.

Imagine how tickled I was to sign on to Craigslist today to find that I missed a posting from 2 days ago – Tasha made her way back home! My guess (and Tasha’s mom’s guess too) is that she was in a nearby home the whole time (six weeks?). She probably could have found her way home any time, but was confined and unable to do so until she somehow managed to get out. It’s easy to believe that whoever was keeping her was doing so intentionally when they could have returned, and that’s probably the case . . . but then they may also have been oblivious, and innocent. Anyway, now, today, Tasha and her family don’t care. She’s home where she belongs. It will most likely never be known where she was or just what went down, but she got back home and on her own. Here’s how her mom told the story:

So, this morning, lying in bed (windows were open) I hear a familiar howl/barking and sure enough... Tasha found her way home to us at 6 a.m. this morning. Needless to say it was a very happy, surreal reunion. She had put on some weight and the collar was on, but tags had been removed... so I think she was waiting to make her "get-a-way" to find her way back to us... this is the first sunny, nice day in awhile and she was waiting for the right time to "escape" from whoever was keeping her and find her way home. It's truly a miracle and the best Mother's Day Gift anybody could ask for! Thanks to all of you who have put up with my non-stop postings about finding our missing Tasha... look no more... she is HOME!