Happy ending lost dog tales! Read stories about dogs that have gone missing and were later reunited with their families. Learn from the stories, and if you are missing your own dog right now, hopefully you will be encouraged by the successes of others before you. (If you just like happy ending stories, that's what you will find here.)
For recent stories, visit Lost Dogs Found on Facebook. (Sorry, I'm not posting stories here as much, and am posting a little more often to the Facebook page.)
No more waiting for Rosco
By Mary Milz
Dec 18, 2013 6:09 PM EST
Christmas came a week early for a Fountain County girl who got her missing dog back.
Wednesday, 10-year-old Madison Pritchard was reunited with her beloved dog Rosco, one month after he disappeared during the tornado that swept across the small town of Mellott.
Kyla Robinson says her family was at a baby shower in Crawfordsville when the tornado struck. They rushed home to find their home damaged and Rosco gone.
"The night it happened, (Madison) was devastated and just fell to the ground," Kyla said of Madison.
Rosco had been tied to a long chain that allowed him to sit on the front porch. The chain was broken.
"We looked in the barn, under the house, everywhere, just in case he was somewhere safe," Kyla said.
Rosco didn't have tags or any identification, so a man took him to the Clinton County Humane Society, 45 miles from home. Five days later, he was adopted by a woman looking for a companion for her senior dog.
The reunion is something Madison's mom feared she'd never see until several calls yesterday.
Madison and her family continued to look for Rosco, but feared he was dead. Then a neighbor posted his picture online and they were able to track him down, but his new owner initially didn't want to give him up.
The woman said she had lost her husband and another dog in the past year, so she's been having a tough time. Her children had already bonded to Rosco, making the decision even tougher.
"I'm just so thankful she understands how much my daughter loves Rosco that she's willing to give him up," Kyla Robinson, Madison's mom, said. "I understand why she wouldn't want to give him back because I would struggle too, but I'm so glad she did."
For Madison, the reunion couldn't come soon enough. Rosco greeted her with enthusiasm and doggy kisses, and obviously had never forgotten his family.
"I wish he could talk to me and tell me what happened," Madison said.
Eyewitness News rode with the family part of the way home. Rosco seemed to know exactly where he was going. Since Madison took the day off from school, they have all day to play.
Robinson did agree to reimburse the woman the $275 she paid in fees and other costs associated with adopting Rosco. She said she's not upset with the woman nor the Humane Society. She's just happy to get Rosco home and in time for Christmas.
The Humane Society is working with the woman who adopted Rosco to help her family find another pet.
Family reunited with lost blind dog
By Matt Fritz
Published: Monday, December 17, 2012
Cory Hannan gives Lizzy her favorite belly rub after he was reunited with the dog on Saturday.
MICHIGAN CITY — On Friday night one La Porte family got a very special message from Santa Claus.
It was a letter regarding their little lost dog Lizzy, a blind rat terrier missing since mid-November.
“I was checking my naughty and nice list in your neighborhood,” Santa said in the note, “and I saw a little dog who was lost. It was very cold so I took her with me in my sleigh to keep her warm.
“Because I’m so busy I brought the dog to the Michiana Humane Society,” he continued, “maybe you can go check and see if it is Lizzy.”
And that Saturday morning, Dayna Young took her children, Emma and Tyler, and her fiance, Cory Hannan to the animal shelter in Michigan City, and there they were reunited with their long lost pet, who scampered and begged and jumped in their arms for kisses.
A dog still alive thanks to the efforts of a surgeon who donated his time to operate on her, a bus driver who found her and brought her to the shelter and the Humane Society staff who refused to give up on her.
The story of Lizzy’s ordeal began shortly before Thanksgiving when, taken out for a walk by Emma one night, she bolted. Dayna ran up and down the streets calling for her to no avail.
And Dayna held out little hope the lost dog would find her way back since she was blind.
Dayna had brought Lizzy to her household in early September when the dog’s previous owner sold her. Dayna said she and Emma fell in love with her at first sight. Lizzy seemed completely normal at her first home, excitedly chasing after balls and running all over the place. The only thing odd was a haziness over one eye, which her owner assured Dayna was no big deal and common to Lizzy’s breed.
But Dayna realized something was seriously wrong when Lizzy was brought to her new home and kept running into furniture and walls. Then it came to her: Lizzy was blind.
Two weeks later Lizzy’s other eye started clouding over.
“I didn’t mind (about the blindness),” Dayna said in aletter. “We loved her so much and she was part of our family,”
Then Lizzy went missing and the family was grief stricken.
It was a bus driver who ended up finding Lizzy. The dog was alone, without a collar, wandering the streets. The bus driver brought her to the Michiana Humane Society on Nov. 27 where the staff immediately noticed one of her eyes was bulging from its socket and obviously infected.
Two veterinarians said the eyes would have to be removed, at a cost of roughly $1,000. They said the dog was also in pain because of the infection. Shelter co-manager Karen Edwards said the society had to make a decision: Could it justify spending that much money on a dog who most likely could not be adopted? The answer was no, originally.
“And we took her into the back room,” she said, “but she started giving us kisses and we just couldn’t.”
So they started posting on Facebook, asking for donations to cover the costs. Then an anonymous surgeon volunteered to do the work himself at no charge.
He removed Lizzy’s eyes and sewed the sockets shut to prevent any further infections.
Then the Humane Society staff started advertising Lizzy’s availability for adoption. That’s when La Porte County Convention & Visitors Bureau Community Relations Manager Jane Daley wrote an article about her, which was printed last week in The Herald-Argus.
“From the moment she came in here, her personality was so warm and loving,” said communications Coordinator Simpson O’Brien, “we just had to help her.”
Eventually Dayna got a call from her mother, who saw the newspaper article, and Dayna went Friday morning to ascertain whether the dog was indeed Lizzy.
“And she came out of the door and I couldn’t believe my eyes,” Dayna said. “I wanted to just come in and pet her.”
When she did, the staff there developed the Santa letter and sent it off to the Young family, where it was presented to the children. They picked Lizzy up Saturday morning where doggy treats, hugs and kisses, and plenty of attention were given freely to the pet.
Staff members noted that hazy eyes are not necessarily an indicator of infection. They said the dog could easily have gotten her eye infected by bumping into objects when she was lost.
Hard work, KFC help reunite dog with owners
Sheltie back home after more than a month of searching ends in live trap baited with chicken
By Justin Glawe of the Journal Star
Aug 18, 2011
Cheyenne the Sheltie
PEKIN — After more than a month of sightings, stakeouts and a Kentucky Fried Chicken lure, Dwight and Connie Morgan finally have their dog back.
Judith Schmider of Groveland, who owns Aunt Jude’s Pampered Pet Care, reunited Cheyenne, a skittish 3-year-old Sheltie, with the Morgans.
Cheyenne was found in a humane animal trap about 7 a.m. Wednesday, a month and three days after disappearing.
“I’m just a pet lover. I was never going to quit, this is like a child to me,” Schmider said.
Dwight Morgan, 80, of Morton is happy Cheyenne is finally home and back to her habit of waking him up every day at 5:30 a.m.
“When we let her out of that cage in my backyard, she jumped almost three feet in the air to get to me,” Morgan said. “She’s been at my feet ever since.”
The Morgans left Cheyenne with Schmider to attend a family reunion in Florida.
“Usually, we leave her with a family member, but all our family was down there,” Morgan said. “The next reunion is going to be in the Peoria area.”
The dog’s stay with Schmider didn’t last long. Shortly after taking possession of the dog, Schmider pulled into her garage and let Cheyenne out of the car without realizing the garage door was still partly open. The dog bolted through the opening and began its monthlong hiatus.
After more than 50 sightings, according to Schmider, she and other searchers were at wit’s end until they talked to Annette Long, 72, of Normal, at Central Illinois Sheltie Rescue in Bloomington.
“You’ve got to use K Fried Chicken because of the odor. Dogs are drawn to it,” Long said Thursday. “And it’s just common sense to use a live trap.”
The trap was provided by Tazewell County Animal Control. The Kentucky Fried Chicken was provided by Schmider.
“Something kept telling me we were going to get her,” she said. “So, all day Tuesday, every two hours I would put a fresh piece of chicken in the trap.”
Early the next day, Schmider arrived to find the door of the trap closed.
“At first, I thought it was a small animal in there,” she said. “When I saw it was her, I fell to my knees sobbing.”
Cheyenne is believed to have survived on scraps from area restaurants as well as the food being left out by Schmider. The dog was taken to a local veterinarian who found that she had lost three pounds, had fleas and bruised paws and was, of course, very dirty.
Dwight Morgan praised Schmider.
“This lady put up signs all over the place, and we had nine or 10 people that said they spotted her and I’m sure more than that called in,” Morgan said. “When she (Schmider) found her, she was crying, she was just so elated that she had finally found her.”
“We’re going to have a welcome home party for her,” Schmider said. “There’s so many people that helped out and they want to get a chance to finally pet this dog.”
A community effort to find missing dog pays off in the end
By George Austin, Editor
July 27, 2011
A schnauzer mix dog has done a lot of traveling recently from Tennesse up to New England to a Somerset home and over to Swansea. But "Annie," the dog that ran away after a day and a half at a home on South Street in Somerset, finally is back home after an intense search by people from the area over the last four weeks.
Annie, a schnauzer that had run away from a Somerset home that had adopted her, has been found and is back living in a foster home.
The dog had ran away on June 20 and was found on July 19 after Have a Heart Traps were put out in an area where Annie had been spotted. Joann Bentley, the Somerset resident who had adopted the dog, had a lot of messages that Annie had been found on her cellular phone after coming out of a meeting last week.
"I just like burst into tears," Ms. Bentley said of her reaction to finding the dog. "I was so happy."
Ms Bentley said the dog was owned by a man in Tennessee who was a hoarder and had about 80 dogs. The dogs were sent to shelters through an organization called Paws New England. Annie was put into a foster home for 5 1/2 months before Ms Bentley adopted her. But shortly after Ms Bentley took the dog in, it ran away.
In trying to find the dog, Ms Bentley put posters up around Somerset and searched the woods. She said people would call her and say they saw Annie. She said putting up a lot of posters really helped to get the word out so that people would call when they saw the dog.
"We knew she was around," Ms Bentley said. "We were always just one step behind, but we finally got her."
Ms Bentley received a call that Annie had been seen at Simcock Farm. Owner James Simcock told Ms Bentley that he had seen the dog, but she looked too afraid to get close to him. She said posters of Annie were given to customers at the farm's ice cream stand in case they saw her. People communicated on Facebook about the search effort to find the dog.
A call came in to Ms Bentley that the dog was seen in the Hailes Hill Road and Dillon Lane area in Swansea. Looking at the pattern of where the dog had been spotted, it was figured out that Annie was following a stream in the area and so Have a Heart cages were set up along the stream at three locations at Simcock Farm, Hailes Hill Road and Dillon Lane, and that is how the dog was found and brought home.
The traps were provided by Swansea Animal Control, Paws New England and from the town where the dog's foster mother lives. The traps are cages that are two feet wide by three feet long and two feet high. The cages have a trigger inside so that when an animal goes in to get food the door is shut.
"It was just a real community effort," Ms. Bentley said of finding the dog. "Everywhere I went, people would say, did you find your dog. Everyone was great helping to try to find Annie."
When Annie was found, the dog had lost 16 pounds from what had been a 35 pound body. The dog's foster mother brought Annie to a veterinarian who said other than the weight loss, the dog was in good health. Ms Bentley decided to give the dog back to the foster mother who lives in Needham. The dog at Simcock Farm, named Rascal, came from a Paws New England shelter. Ms Bentley said Mr Simcock and his wife, Beverly Simcock, were a big help in finding Annie.
"She would want someone to do that for her fur baby if she ever got lost," Ms. Bentley said of what Ms. Simcock said to her about helping to find her dog.
Source: http://www.southcoasttoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=%2F20110727%2FPUB05%2F107270354%2F-1%2Fpub05
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Gran Alacant's Luna found safe after month on the run!
19th July
Gran Alacant's Richard and Aline reunited with their dog who went missing for over a month
Gran Alacant's Website received very good news from the owners of missing dog Luna.
'Richard and I have very good news! We have found her last night! After more than one month looking for her each day, and with the help of very big part of Santa Pola/Gran Alacant Luna is again at home :) She is fine, with a lot of vermin but the veterinary this morning told us she is OK.'
Richard and Aline found her on Monday night after searching for her every day since she went missing whilst playing on the Carabassi beach. She was later spotted all over Gran Alacant; the Gran Vista Urbanisation, GA Centre and even on the other side of the N-332.
The couple also expressed their thanks to the users of Gran Alacant's Website...
'We want to thank Gran Alacant's Website MYgranalacant.com and every person who called us to inform where they saw her because that was the key to catch her.'
The missing dog banner image with a link to download the lost dog poster was positioned in a prime position highly visible on the front page of Gran Alacant's Website.
MYgranalacant.com is very pleased that the Gran Alacant's Website helped play an important role in capturing Luna.
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10th July - Update: 'Yesterday we got a call from a person who saw her last Tuesday! It is nice because we know now she is well but she is moving a lot! And now, we have to look for her in a bigger zone because the last news is that she crossed the main road (Santa Pola - Alicante) to go to drink water in ...the depuration central. Now we know where to look (because we spent lot of time without any news) we are trying again to catch her. I want to thank you to have placed Luna in the first page with the link to the document because when people ask us for information, we send them directly to Gran Alacant's Website, mygranalacant.com.
I hope soon I can send you an email with good news and picture with Luna and us together! Thank you again for your help.
29th June - Update: 'Thank you a lot for your help. We have seen her 2 days ago, at 2 o'clock in the morning near the Chinese restaurant Gran Dragon and after that, in the morning down near the beach, down of Gran Vista urbanization. ...We hope Luna will soon at home! And I am sure with your help and the help of everyone who see her, we will "capture" her. Many thanks again, it is very visible in the Web page and I am sure it will very helpful.'
Plucky Dog Survives Month in Charred House
Susanna Baird
Mar 23, 2011 – 12:01 PM
A bleating truck alarm led a Boston woman back to her dog, who was believed lost or perished after a Feb. 23 fire but was actually surviving inside the burned-out house.
When Terisa Acevedo’s house burned down, it wasn’t the loss of her belongings that broke her heart – it was the loss of her one year old Dachshund, Lola. Acevedo was sure that Lola had either burned to death in the fire, or had escaped and was wandering, lost, in her Hyde Park, Massachusetts neighborhood. In the freezing cold February weather, that would have been a death sentence for a little dog like Lola.
EMT and college student Terisa Acevedo, 24, wasn't at home in her Hyde Park duplex when a electrical short circuit started a two-alarm fire, but her 1-year-old long-haired dachshund, Lola, was.
The two-family home was destroyed and Lola was missing.
"The police had sniffing dogs come and go through the house," Acevedo told The Boston Globe. "There were no signs of her at all."
Acevedo papered the neighborhood with fliers and contacted animal shelters, but heard no news, good or bad, until Monday night, nearly a month after the fire.
"Yesterday, late evening, my neighbors were complaining about the truck alarm going off," she told the Globe. Acevedo has been living with family since the fire, and drove with friends back to her now-condemned home.
"I stood on the porch just to look at my house and say, 'I can't believe I lost everything,' just so sad about it, and I just heard something scratching at the door and it was Lola, so we tore down the door," she said.
Once substantial, Lola was skinny after spending 27 days in an ash-filled hovel, but she sustained no visible injuries and was happy to see Acevedo.
"Her tail was wagging. She jumped on me," Acevedo told the Boston Herald. "I was crying, and I just didn't want to let go."
The staff at Boston's Angell Animal Medical Center found that Lola was several pounds too light, but also discovered food in her stomach, indicating she had eaten recently, perhaps finding her way to cat food in the other side of the duplex. After ruling out smoke damage to Lola's lungs, a three-pronged team of emergency and critical-care specialists, internists and nutritionists is now assessing how best to start Lola back on food.
"She's currently being treated for what's called re-feeding syndrome," Brian Adams, medical center spokesman, told AOL News. Because Lola was nearly starving for a month, her body can't handle a full-on reintroduction of food.
"Lola received her first meal to begin her new feeding regimen late this morning. She is currently being provided with 16 grams of wet food, equivalent to one teaspoon, every six hours as her body once again becomes accustomed to nourishment," Adams said.
If subsequent feedings go well, Acevedo could take Lola to her temporary home Thursday.
Adams said Lola's story marks her as a plucky, and lucky, survivor.
"For a dog, what we usually see is that dogs can survive several days without water. They can survive several weeks without food as long as they have water. For Lola to have survived nearly four weeks without a regular source of food and water is amazing," he said.
"The miraculous part is that Terisa never gave up, Lola never gave up and through this rare occurrence of the car alarm going off and hearing some scratches, they were reunited. It was really an amazing story," he said.
Lost dog found after a month
Owners spot pup in place they lost her
Kristen Duwe/Times Record News
Friday, February 18, 2011
It was miraculous timing and the unmatched loyalty of man's best friend that allowed Lanham Lyne and his wife to find their family dog in the exact place they last saw her one month earlier.
Lyne, former mayor of Wichita Falls and current Republican member of the Texas Legislature, and the two family dogs, Ella and Nash, were making their way back to Wichita Falls from Austin about 9 p.m. Jan. 19. Lyne pulled into a rest area between Stephenville and Hico to give the dogs some time to stretch their legs, drink some water and "do their thing," he said.
A few minutes later, Ella and Nash took off running to explore a nearby creek bed. Lyne was able to retrieve Nash, but Ella, a Chihuahua and terrier mix, was nowhere in sight.
"We don't know if something caught her eye or what," said Lyne's wife, Sharla.
Lyne searched the area for more than an hour and called his wife to break the news. She immediately made the journey to the rest area and arrived around 1:30 a.m. They stayed all night at the rest area in hopes of seeing Ella.
Realizing the first winter storm was about to bring ice and snow accumulation, Sharla Lyne spent the rest of the morning and early afternoon searching, talking to nearby residents, placing newspaper ads and contacting the Humane Society. When the sun started going down, she headed home.
"I knew I had to leave and come back home before it got dark," she said. "I cried all the way from Stephenville to Wichita Falls."
Over the following weeks, Lanham and his wife repeatedly stopped at the rest area, hoping for a glimpse of Ella. As the second winter storm blew through and wind chills dropped into single-digits, hope for a reunion faded.
Sharla tried to maintain faith that Ella was with caring people who took her in, fearing what the alternatives were, she said.
"There was a lot of crying and mourning and grieving," Lanham Lyne said. "We gave up hope on ever finding her."
As Sharla was on her way to Austin on Monday, 26 days after Ella went missing, she started saying a prayer as she approached the same rest area.
"I wasn't ready to give up yet," she said.
A black object caught her eye. That "object" was Ella, sitting on the other side of a fence which surrounds the rest area.
"She never moved," Sharla said. "She sat there looking at me."
Not wanting to scare Ella off, Sharla inched closer to her and called her name. She was greeted by a wagging tail. Sharla tried to find an opening to the fence, but Ella laid down and cried each time she tried to walk away. Sharla then simply began digging under the fence, pulling up grass and dirt until Ella was able to crawl under it.
"The dog was a little bit confused about where she was but she knew the voice," Lanham said.
"I felt like I was in a movie," Sharla said. "She jumped in my arms and that's pretty much where she stayed for a while," Sharla said.
Lanham and Sharla Lyne still cannot believe how a small dog survived on its own in such cold temperatures.
"She's real skinny, but other than that, she's in good health and survived these two extreme cold spells. I don't know how," Lanham said.
Ella was always an inside pet and "I don't know how she survived the zero degree temperatures that we had," Sharla said.
After being home for a few days, Ella is still trying to adjust.
"Other than being really weak and thin, she appears to be OK," Sharla said. "She's getting a little stronger everyday."
Ella is still a "little skittish, which is to be understood," Lanham said.
Lanham and Sharla find it hard to think of the situation as anything less than a miracle.
"It was a godsend," Sharla said. "There's just no other way you can look at it."
"I'm still on a cloud," Lanham said. "It's just great"
"She was sitting at the fence at the exact time I showed up," Sharla said. "It's just one of those given miracles in life."
Source: http://www.timesrecordnews.com/news/2011/feb/18/lost-dog-found-after-a-month/?partner=yahoo_feeds
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YC dog found alive month later in Roseville
By Nancy Pasternack/Appeal-Democrat
2011-01-15 00:31:46
She hadn't turned up at a local animal shelter, or been spotted during neighborhood searches, or found dead on a highway.
Nevada, a seven-year-old black lab was reunited with the Poland family after being missing from Dec. 9 to Jan. 8. Savannah, 9, from left, Bailee, 13, Melissa, Samantha, 8, and Cody, 15. Cody is holding Miley. Photo taken Friday, Jan. 14, 2011, at the Poland's Yuba City home.
Nevada, a 7-year-old, gray-muzzled, black Labrador retriever, had wandered from the southwest Yuba City yard of her owners — a family with four kids — and had not been home in four weeks.
"She doesn't like to be away from us," said Melissa Poland, who, along with her husband, exhausted themselves searching and worrying, and eventually, resigning themselves to the likely fact that she was lost forever.
Meanwhile, in northwest Roseville, animal control officers had been frustrated in their attempts to trap a shy, graying black Lab that had been spotted by a driver on Dec 9 — a mere three hours after Melissa Poland first began to get the word out that her dog was missing.
On Friday, a skinny, freshly bathed Nevada relaxed in her Yuba City living room, surrounded by her favorite pack of humans.
Her constant canine companion, Miley the Chihuahua, nuzzled her and settled in nearby.
The mystery of how Nevada wound up in Roseville, and the gratitude over her return still is overwhelming for the family, said Melissa Poland.
"I think she got in the back of somebody's truck," said Samantha Poland, 8, who, like everyone else in the family, has considered a number of scenarios to try and resolve the question that is unlikely to find resolution.
One of Samantha's sisters suggested someone might have taken Nevada deliberately.
During the dog's absence, the parents tried to convince them — and themselves — that someone had simply fallen in love with Nevada and had taken her to a new, loving home.
Miley "was very sad and depressed," in Nevada's absence, Poland said. "She hid under the kitchen table. She didn't want to go out. She had been Nevada's shadow."
Her 15-year-old son, she said, was devastated.
He had received Nevada as a puppy to keep him company after difficult surgeries related to his cerebral palsy.
"Cody was the most upset of all," said his mother.
But three weeks after Nevada left home, the situation seemed hopeless. The family's search for her, after all, had been epic.
They had posted photos and descriptions and checked Craigslist and Petharbor.com., scoured all nearby neighborhoods almost obsessively, and checked local animal control.
Melissa Poland also called the office of the veterinarian where Nevada had first been microchipped to provide an updated address and telephone number.
In the end, it was one stranger's determination to find Nevada's owner that got her home safely.
On Jan. 7 — four weeks to the day since she left home — the dog was successfully trapped.
Hungry and exhausted, she had finally given in to the temptation of food in a baited cage.
Though the dog was no longer wearing her collar, Roseville Animal Control Officer Laura Morin knew she had a home, according to Melissa Poland.
She checked the frightened animal for a microchip — a move that met with success and relief.
But a call to the Yuba-Sutter Veterinary Hospital, where Poland had recently updated her dog's address, produced nothing of value.
"They told Laura that the dog had been chipped there, but that they had no idea where the owners could be located," Poland said.
Undaunted, Morin scoured the Internet for a match, and that did the trick, Poland said.
"She kept Nevada with her the whole time. She even fed her KFC for lunch," Poland said.
The family had been at a birthday party in Lincoln when they got the call.
Skepticism led to joy when they arrived at the Roseville Police Department and saw their long lost dog.
"We were shocked that she survived," said Poland. "She's spent her life indoors, and she's such a home body."
There were smiles all around on Friday, one day after Nevada finally seemed caught up on sleep and showed a hearty appetite.
"She's the dog with nine lives," Poland joked. "If only she could talk."
Source: http://www.appeal-democrat.com/articles/gray-103107-southwest-animal.html
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It has been some time since I posted, largely because this blog is for me a place to chronicle my successes and provide a boost--to myself and other dog trainers and dog fanatics--when we sorely need them. When the news is not so encouraging, the inspiration leaves me. Which is all a way of saying that Lars' adoption did not work out, Lars moved to another foster home, Lars escaped from that foster home, and Lars has been on the run in Rosedale, MD ever since--for a month now!
The good news is that his most recent foster, Gigi, has shown a heroic level of dedication to getting him back, and that we continue to get calls and emails from people who say they've seen him. The sightings are concentrated along Route 7 near 695 in Rosedale, and he is apparently eating the deer carcasses left near the salt dome by transportation workers and the food we've left in the area. The entire town of Rosedale seems to be involved in the search and concerned. Both Gigi and I have seen him, or at least what we think is him--but he didn't come to us, just kept running.
We are hoping that at some point he'll get tired, or he'll fall in love with another dog like he did with Fozzie and stick around.
The situation depressed the crap out of me for a while. I felt I had failed him. This scared dog who needed protection from an unfriendly world was all alone, fending for himself again. All those months of stress, the fights with Lamar, the endless anxiety over whether there was any human in the world with the patience and the lovingkindness to be able to stick with Lars for the long haul, see in him what I saw in him, but have the space and the calmness of temperament and the right amount of other dogs to be really at peace with who Lars was.....all that, only for Lars to end up on the street again.
What was the point of it all?
Well, we have learned a lot about tracking lost dogs.
The most important thing is to put up signs in the area where the dog was last seen. Harness volunteers and put up as many as possible, focusing on highly visible intersections. Put down food where he's last been seen.
Leave scraps of clothing that smell like the people and dogs he loves.
As others recommended to us, hire a tracking dog. The scent tracking dog can verify sightings, show you where the dog has been, help you concentrate more sign-posting efforts. If the dog is moving slowly enough and hunkers down somewhere, the tracking dog can lead you right to him.
But what if the dog doesn't want to be found? What if the dog is already semi-feral, is skilled at surviving on the streets, has always had mixed feelings about humans, and is a fast little devil on top of it? In the case of Mallory, my foster dog who got lost years ago, the tracker dog led us clear to the opposite side of town from where she was eventually found; Mallory was recovered because diligent sign-posting led to calls which led to a feeding station and volunteer presence that were in the right place at the right time. In the case of Lars, the tracker folk gave up on getting us anywhere close to him because he is covering so much ground.
Next steps, we will try to pinpoint a location to place a live trap with really good food in it. Will Lars go into a trap? Good question!
Lars, please remember how you once enjoyed your crate
Can we get a sharp-shooter with a tranquilizer gun to the right place at the right time? Maybe we'll try!
These questions remain, but despite them, I am relatively at peace with Lars now. My heart still longs for him and prays for him but part of me has surrendered. It happened on the last day that I went up to Rosedale to help with the search.
This was the fourth time I had spent all day driving around, putting up signs, leaving scraps of my clothing and piles of food, hiking through streets, streams, woods, and people's yards to leave my scent for him, urinating wherever I could get away with it, and encouraging Fozzie to do the same. This was the time that I went to the salt dome where the carcasses are, was walking with Fozzie along the utility line, coming up a hill, when ahead of us a large....white....dog ran up the hill and in the opposite direction, barely stopping to look.
Fozzie and I followed those pawprints in the fresh snow for the next 3 hours along heavily traveled trails and through silent, pristine woods, watching, in heavily trafficked areas, for the pawprints that were heavier and darker in the snow, and spaced out in a line rather than plotted in a rough trapezoid like those of dogs on a relaxed leashed stroll with their owners. I kept thinking, maybe he'll get cornered in a yard or on a porch, then he'll see me and stop running. Maybe he'll remember life with humans has its perks.
When that failed to happen--when bone tiredness set in and I realized it was time to buy Fozzie some pepperoni and call it a day--I found myself for the first time in a state of peace. Lars--in both appearance and temperament--is so close to his lupine forebears. Far closer than someone like Fozzie, with his floppy ears and his addiction to human contact, or Lamar, who is never more content than when he is sprawled across his humans' queen-sized bed and getting an ear rub. Lars is getting the exercise, the mental stimulation, the challenge and excitement of finding his own food that come naturally to wild dogs. And he is surviving.
Which is not to say that if given the chance, I wouldn't wrap his fuzzy body in my arms and kiss his nose for the rest of eternity. Come home young man!
UPDATE BY EMAIL
Subject: Lars is found
Date: Monday, February 7, 2011, 6:27 AM
After a month and a day of running around Parkville and Rosedale, after we put up signs and hired a tracking dog and rolled around and urinated in the woods to leave our scent and hiked for miles with his best doggie friends and set a trap on private property and got yelled at and threatened with arrest :), Lars was lured to safety by a kind woman who saw him around the past few days and tossed him meaty snacks until he came inside.
After doing nothing but running and evading capture all those weeks, he is now curling up contentedly on his blankie and playing with his doggie friends, as if he had never left!
I believe it was someone on this list who passed my first email on to contacts in the Baltimore area, who forwarded and crossposted it, which led to an amazing outpouring of support from that community with seemingly everyone in Rosedale looking out for him and calling and emailing with sightings, which led to whatever combination of magical circumstances allowed him to finally approach someone who then called us. We cannot thank you enough!
Dog lost for 32 days became Loudoun woman’s Christmas miracle
by Alex Withrow, Times-Mirror
Thursday, Jan. 6
Part of the team that helped find Sage, who was found secure after 32 days on the lam
Carrie Reilly-Greiner had already touched down in Florida when she received a call that would drastically change the course of her holiday season.
On Nov 23, just two days before Thanksgiving, Reilly-Greiner, who was in Florida with her siblings, received a call from Shadow’s Retreat dog boarding facility in Leesburg. Sage, Reilly-Greiner’s 13-year-old Shepherd mix, had jumped two fences surrounding Shadow’s Retreat and was nowhere to be found.
“I was a little confused as to how an elderly dog could jump not one but two 4-foot tall fences, when she can’t even jump 25 inches up into my car,” Reilly-Greiner said.
Officials with Shadow’s Retreat said they were just as shocked as Reilly-Greiner to find that Sage had gone missing.
“We’ve never had any dog jump our fence,” said Carla Robey, who works at Shadow’s Retreat. “We show every dog owner the fence that lines our perimeter and ask them if they think their dog would be able to jump it.”
Reilly-Greiner boarded a plane back to Virginia. Once in Loudoun, Reilly-Greiner, who volunteers with Loudoun County Animal Care and Control, began the necessary motions to find Sage.
“We created a new plan every day,” she said. “A dog tracker identified an area very close to the facility that Sage left from, so we went off that. We had a huge search party, two trackers, dozens of volunteers and their families. The community effort was really quite humbling.”
Despite the countless hours contributed by every Animal Control volunteer and officer on staff, Sage remained lost.
After several days, Reilly-Greiner switched the perspective of her search.
“I became convinced that we needed to change the focus from active search to more of an outreach,” she said. “That’s when we went very heavy with putting up flyers in the area where she was lost.”
But after weeks of snowfall, harsh winds and freezing temperatures, Reilly-Greiner still had no leads.
Then, on Dec 23, Reilly-Greiner received her first message of hope in more than a month. She received a call from a woman who lives in the area where they were searching.
“She told me that her son and a friend had seen a dog matching what they saw on the flyer,” Reilly-Greiner said. “After speaking with her for a few minutes, I knew they had spotted Sage.”
Shortly after 10 am on Christmas Eve, while patrolling near Route 15 and Trail Race Road, Reilly-Greiner spotted Sage feeding on a deer carcass. Despite gentle calls to her dog, Sage did not respond to her owner.
“She didn’t recognize me or my voice,” Reilly-Greiner said. “The wind was blowing against me, so she couldn’t pick up my scent, either. There was no recognition. I was a stranger to her. I called Animal Control, who came out and set up a few humane traps. By 7 pm, no one had seen her.”
After 32 days of no solid leads, Reilly-Greiner was aggravated but inspired by her fleeting moment of hope. Hours later, at 10:30 pm on Christmas Eve, Reilly-Greiner received what she calls her Christmas miracle.
“I got a call from Amy at Animal Control, telling me they had found my baby girl,” Reilly-Greiner said. “It only took me a few seconds to get out the door. Once I was in front of her, a very strange thing happened. Dogs have serotonin in their brains, which makes them act domesticated. And when that serotonin dissipates, as it does very rapidly when a domesticated dog is out in the wild, they revert to survival mode. Once I was reunited with her, I could literally see the serotonin kicking back in. She began to lick me and cry and wag her tail. It was quite a remarkable moment.”
According to Animal Control staff, Sage and Reilly-Greiner’s reunion was heartfelt for everyone involved.
“I honestly don’t remember too much about making that call to Carrie. I think I was in such a state of shock,” said Amy Seymour, who found Sage on her day off. “Everyone, especially Carrie, put so much hard work into this search. And to see Carrie and Sage reunited, it made it all worth it. It was really very special.”
Animal Control Officer Chris Brosan said the reunion was something he’ll never forget.
“Sage had been gone so long, and at her age … you start wondering what her fate is,” Brosan said. “But the moment the two of them were reunited was just incredible. It truly was unforgettable.”
Minutes after locating Sage, Reilly-Greiner called Tom Jones of Ashburn Veterinary Hospital, who opened his doors at 11 pm on Christmas Eve to treat a very malnourished Sage.
“Her lab results came back with her having a very common parasite, which is easily treatable,” Reilly-Greiner said. “She lost 32 percent of her body weight, but she’s getting back on track.
“I rescued Sage when she was 3 months old,” she said. “I know her, and I honestly think I would’ve felt it if she was gone. I wasn’t able to accept that she was gone – I knew she was still here. Owners looking for their dogs just need to follow their instincts. Be realistic and don’t give up.”
A week after her rescue, Sage confidently pranced around the grounds of Loudoun Animal Control, secured by a fluorescent-colored pink leash held tightly by her owner. It was the first time Sage had been reunited with many of the people who spent a month searching for her.
After catching up with Animal Control staff, Reilly-Greiner looked down at Sage, who was standing obediently by her side. As she patted Sage’s head, she said the same thing to her as she did during their reunion.
“Come on, baby girl,” Reilly-Greiner said. “It’s time to get you home.”
Lost sheepdog turns up safe in Salford
Paul Britton
October 16, 2009
Reunited: Midge with Jean Bradley
A border collie who ran away from the countryside to the bright lights of Salford has been reunited with her owners after they mounted a desperate search.
Midge vanished from her home in Salterforth, near Barnoldswick, east Lancashire, leaving owners Robert and Jean Bradley devastated.
The couple embarked on a search for their 10-year-old pet, clocking up 600 miles and putting up 300 appeal posters in the area around their home.
Eventually, they placed an advert in the M.E.N. The ad was seen by neighbours Christine Clough and Janet Riston, who had found a collie collapsed near their homes in Leicester Road, Broughton, three weeks earlier and taken her in.
They had nursed the dog back to health and given her the name Jordie, splitting the job of caring for her between them. The neighbours responded to the advert and an emotional reunion followed.
Midge is now home, but mystery surrounds how she travelled from her home to Salford, nearly 40 miles away.
Owner Jean, 55, said the kindness shown to her pet by the two Salford neighbours had 'restored her faith in human nature'.
She said: "Only Midge really knows how she got there. It is just amazing and a miracle to have her back. If it was not for the M.E.N. and the two ladies then she wouldn't be here. We can't thank them enough because it was like losing a family member. We feel blessed to have been so lucky in finding her, although we have aged 10 years."
Midge disappeared from a house Jean's husband Robert was working on in Chatburn, Clitheroe, on September 13.
She said: "It is not like her but we think she was looking for me. She is always with me." The family searched surrounding roads and villages and an advertising campaign followed. They even put up a huge sign appealing for information on a main road.
Jean said: "We rang every dog warden and vet as far as Blackpool and Preston. We were also talking to kennels. People were ringing up but it was never Midge. We were very worried because she is quite a timid dog and was on medication at the time. I could not sleep and it was terrible. We were just hoping she would turn up and the advert was the last resort."
Midge was spotted by friends who had been invited to dinner at the home of Janet Riston. Janet, 48, a civil servant, said: "The poor dog was collapsed in the street. We thought it was dead at first because it wasn't moving.
"Christine has dogs so she stayed with me. I fattened her up and she was quite lively in the end and was running around the garden. "We knew it was possible that it was the same dog in the advert so we got in touch.
"She was a really lovely, affectionate dog. I thought that I might end up keeping her but we did the right thing. I've never regretted it because I would hate to think of someone keeping my dog."
Janet sent Jean a photo and Robert arranged to collect her. Janet said: "The man was overcome. It was quite something to see." Jean told how they thought the call was a joke.
She added: "The wait for Robert to return was the longest of my life. It was unbelievable. I was just stunned when she came home and couldn't believe what had happened. We just want to say a big thanks to everyone.
"Midge is fine and at home wondering what all the fuss was about. We just don't know how she got to Salford but we are glad she did. "They took great care of her and it was like someone had given us a million pounds."
Local Woman Reunited With Lost Dog
Reported by: Patrick Fazio
Friday, March 30 2007
Thanks to WTWO viewers, more than $15,000 was raised during a telethon for the Terre Haute Humane Society Monday night. The money will help the animal shelter pay for items it needs to care for new animals and strays.
The telethon not only paid off for the humane society, but also for one local woman in a way she could never imagine.
Hundreds of people called in during the WTWO/Terre Haute Humane Society Telethon. Janice Brown of Terre Haute was one of them.
"I had turned the television on to watch the telethon and we were going to donate money." Some people called to adopt an animal, but Janice Brown just wanted to give money because she still missed her dog who ran away a month ago.
"I prayed a lot and looked at his picture and he has a sleeping cage, and I would often refold the blanket in there and go by and touch it and say his name. "I would just say you are coming home some day big guy."
But before Janice could get to the phone to donate, "The camera began to show the dogs I recognized the dogs ear. It is checkered and it is very rare." Janice realized her dog, Perry, was alive and well.
"I can't describe it. Overjoy. Just gratefulness that someone was kind enough to take him there."
And everyone there at the Terre Haute Humane Society was just as grateful, including the manager, Patricia Farnsworth.
"This woman you could tell, she says she lives for her animals, and it was... well I can go home tonight and sleep soundly knowing that Perry and his family are reunited."
Patricia Farnsworth does not usually sleep much most nights because many missing pets never get reunited.
"We hold the animal for 5 days and when you are really pushed for space, sometimes you know you have to make decisions on who stays and who does not." Patricia says the overflow of animals means some of them have to be put to sleep. "Sometimes I wonder how many animals we have euthanized that are Perry, and I mourn, I mourn that." That is why Patricia is so happy when a story like this comes along.
"I am so grateful you got your dog back." It gives her hope and that is what kept Janice going. Hoping to one day find Perry and thinking about what she would do when she would bring him home. "Feed him and then probably give him a good cold drink of water and then we are going to get him down and roll him over and love him."
Janice hopes other missing pets get reunited with their loved ones. That is why when she went back home, she called the telethon again. This time to give money, more than she had planned.
The Terre Haute Humane Society recommends microchips in pets and reminds owners to keep pictures of pets in case their pet gets lost. The humane society also recommends getting your pet spayed or neutered so they do not run off when in heat and make sure you call local animal shelters with specific information about your pet if they are missing.
City dog, lost on Staten Island for over a month, reunited with owner
Contributed by Stephanie Slepian
October 09, 2008
Angie's a city dog, but she has the instincts of a country hound. The 11-pound, silky-furred Shih Tzu from an East Village pad persevered in the wilds of Clay Pit Pond State Park Preserve for 32 days. And despite the lice and the ticks, Angie is back to being Angie. Not bad for the runt of the litter.
Angie with her owner, Paul O'Neill and his sister, Doris O'Neil Cabrera.
Angie, an 11-pound Shih Tzu, was able to survive on her own for 32 days in Clay Pit Pond State Park.
"She's so bony and skinny, I don't know how she survived out there," said Paul O'Neill, her Manhattanite owner, who had dropped Angie off for dog-sitting at his sister's Rossville home before a vacation to Puerto Rico.
O'Neill spent a few days with his sister, Doris O'Neill Cabrera, before saying his goodbyes to Angie, and her mother and father, Amy and Archie, on Sept. 2.
That evening, Mrs. O'Neill Cabrera took the dogs, along with her own, into the backyard, where Angie manifested a new trick: She could go underneath the deck and come out the other end. That also might have been the means for her great escape.
"She lives in a small Manhattan apartment," Mrs. O'Neill Cabrera said. "She doesn't get outside much. Her only freedom is in my backyard. I had them in the grass in the backyard. She was so happy."
Mrs. O'Neill Cabrera went inside for about 10 minutes, and when she returned, Angie was gone.
Her brother raced back from Manhattan and 25 neighbors banded together with flashlights, searching the neighborhood and its woods. Over the next few days, they put up posters on utility poles, in supermarket windows. The entire community became invested in finding the lost dog. But there was no trace of Angie.
Heartbroken, O'Neill went on vacation, convinced he would get a call that "his baby" had been found. He returned home, but Angie didn't.
He never lost hope -- and on Friday, his phone rang.
"This is your Angie," said the voice on the other end. Three men -- who recognized the dog from the missing posters -- had pulled her out of a thorn-filled ditch in Clay Pit Pond State Park and brought her to the Animal Care and Control shelter in Charleston.
She lost about 3 pounds, her coat had to be shaved to remove the ticks and lice and she was running a fever, but she knew O'Neill in an instant.
"When she saw me, she got really excited," he said. "When I started calling her name, she came right to me."
If only she could tell him how she did it.
"That would be something," O'Neill said. "If she could just point out where she went and where she stayed."
Either way, she answers to a new name now: Angie Angel.
