Spirit, a black lab puppy

The saga of Maddy: the lost dog of Montauk
By Carolyn Kormann, the East Hampton Press
Feb 10, 09 8:09 AM

When Montauk resident Kristine Lardner heard that a female black Lab puppy was on a New Jersey animal shelter’s kill list because she was shy, she and her husband, Doug Neitzel, drove four hours to rescue the pup. That was on October 25.

When they returned home, they got out of their car and put her in their fenced-in backyard. Within 30 seconds, Ms. Lardner said, the puppy hoisted herself over the 4-foot-high fence and disappeared into the night.

“No dog had ever done that before!” said Ms. Lardner, who has had black Labradors with her husband all their lives together. They were shocked. They hopped back in their car and searched for her until 5 in the morning, when they finally returning home, devastated.

That night began an epic, all-consuming three months and two days of non-stop searching and worrying for the puppy, named Spirit. But thanks to the Montauk community, a juicy rotisserie chicken, and Max Luetters of East Hampton Animal Control, Ms. Lardner now has her dog back, more than three months later.

After that first night, Ms. Lardner said she called radio stations, took ads out in newspapers, and papered the town with fliers. “Hunting season was upon us and I was terrified for her,” she said.

After two weeks of spreading the word that Spirit was on the loose, she received a call from Pat Wilkinson reporting that Spirit had been seen on Montauk Mountain, a hill near the Second House Tavern on Industrial Road. Ms. Wilkinson had found out about Spirit from Nancy Sandvik at Pampered on the Pond, where Ms. Lardner gets her nails done.

“Nancy told everybody who walked in the door,” Ms. Lardner said.

Ms. Lardner said her real luck began when “this unbelievable, sensitive, compassionate, determined young kid, Max” began to help her out. Mr. Luetters, an East Hampton Town Animal Control officer, was dedicated to the search for Spirit, Ms. Lardner said.

Mr. Luetters was able to draw up almost daily reports of where Spirit had been seen, he said this week. Even though he left for a four-week trip to Japan over the holidays, Mr. Luetters communicated with Ms. Lardner via e-mail, giving her ideas for continuing the search. He even called Ms. Lardner on Christmas to see how the search was going.

On Christmas Eve, Ms. Lardner said that her nephew, who was home from college in West Virginia, sat in a tree with a net for three hours on Montauk Mountain, watching and waiting.

Every morning and night, Ms. Lardner would park next to Debbie Kuntz’s house and climb the hill to bring food, blankets and even squeaky toys, in the hope that Spirit would appear. The food would disappear, and occasionally Spirit was spotted, she said, so they knew she was alive.

“But there were nights when the temperature dropped so low and the sadness was overwhelming,” Ms. Lardner said.

The weeks passed and the word spread that Spirit was still missing. Then, the Saturday after Christmas, she received a call that someone had seen Spirit on Essex Street, near the town skate park.

“I said, ‘That’s impossible! That’s miles from the mountain,’” Ms. Lardner said. But I went over there and spotted her. I chased her and she ran away into the Shadmoor Woods.

“There were so many times I felt that I was going to give up, because it was 5 degrees out, and I thought she had to have passed away,” Ms. Lardner said. “But Max kept reminding me that they knew she had already survived temperatures far below freezing. He’d say, ‘If she can survive that, she can survive anything.’”

In January, Ms. Lardner started getting regular calls from people who had spotted Spirit between the skate park and the library. The problem was that Spirit was too smart to be caught. She wouldn’t go anywhere near the humane trap that Mr. Luetters had set for her.

“Max said that the only shot we had with this dog was to get her in a contained place,” Ms. Lardner said. “And for the first time in my life, I realized that there are no fences in Montauk! The school isn’t even fenced in.”

The skate park was their only hope. They began to realize that she was following a pattern of visiting the skate park in the morning and late at night.

Last Tuesday, Ms. Lardner called Mr. Lueters right after spotting Spirit by the park. “Max said to me, ‘This is it, this is where we have to get her. This is our best shot,’” Ms. Lardner said.

He drove to the IGA and returned to the park with a steaming rotisserie chicken. He made a trail of chicken pieces into the hockey rink, and they returned to their car, where they waited.

“At one point, she was literally next to the right front tire, slowly making her way along the trail of chicken toward the rink. We were holding our breath, so she wouldn’t know we were there,” Ms. Lardner said.

When she entered the rink, Mr. Leutters got out of the car, took off his shoes, ran and jumped over the skate park fence and slammed the fence door. He chased Spirit into the penalty box and slammed its door.

“That was it. We had her,” Ms. Lardner said.

They took her to the vet, but other than being skinny, Spirit was remarkably healthy.

Ms. Lardner said that without Mr. Luetters, she never could have gotten Spirit back. “Max is the hero. It’s all because of him—his professionalism, his dedication and his compassion,” Ms. Lardner said. She also said that she had been completely overwhelmed by the number of people who called when Spirit was lost and who have called since, saying they had heard she had been found wanted to say congratulations. “I’m so very grateful,” Ms. Lardner said.

Ms. Lardner has a French gift shop, At Home in Provence, on Duryea Docks in Montauk. Spirit is going to be renamed Madeleine, after the little French storybook girl who was always getting lost.

Mr. Lueters said that the Lab had obviously been abused before she landed in the shelter in New Jersey. “But with time, she’ll be a great dog,” he said on Monday. “It’ll just take a little work.”

“Turning to the shy pup on its leash, she said, “You ready, Maddy? We’re going home!”

Source:
http://www.27east.com/story_detail.cfm?id=193442&town=Montauk&page=1