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.)
Beagle Found in Woods, Reunited With Family 41 Days After Disappearing
By Pei-Sze Cheng
Friday, Feb 1, 2013
Forty-one days after Clyde the beagle went missing on Long Island, the beloved pet has been reunited with his owners, who were displaced by Sandy.
On Long Island a family is celebrating the return of a missing member. The family dog disappeared in the chaos caused by Sandy, but tonight he's exactly where he should be.
Christina Yevoli and her son Alfonso were staying with Yevoli's mother in Levittown after being flooded out of their Massapequa home during Sandy. Clyde jumped the fence Dec. 18 and never returned.
The 10-year-old mixed beagle-hound had jumped the fence once before in their old Massapequa house but came back within minutes. This time, because he was in a new home, he may have become disoriented, said Yevoli.
"After three or four days, I didn't think we would find him," said Yevoli. "I thought maybe someone took him in for themselves or worse -- that he got hit by a car. But I never gave up. I just kept going and going."
Yevoli posted missing dog posters and went to neighboring towns to do the same. But it was her Facebook page, Bring Clyde Home, that got the attention of people who could help.
Lisa Dwyer saw her page and joined in the search, enlisting the help of her cousin Denise May, a dog rescuer.
"When we think of scent, we think he's smelling for his owner," said May. "But each town has its own smell, the streets smell different. I think he was trying to find something familiar to him."
Once Clyde became lost, he may have tracked his way back to his familiar old home in Massapequa. A few days ago, a dog tracker was able to locate Clyde in the woods near the Southern State Parkway in North Massapequa, not far from his pre-Sandy home.
Forty-one days later, and 20 pounds lighter, he is now getting reacquainted with his family.
"I couldn't have done it by myself," said Yevoli. "People who I don't even know are still calling me. I can't believe the amount of people who have called me and cared about a dog."
Family Reunited with Dog Lost for 8 Weeks in Bunker Hill Bogs
Posted by Phil Stilton
Friday, March 23rd, 2012
Family members today report that Maple, a dog reported lost on February 8th along the Bunker Hill Bogs Purple Heart Trail, has been reunited with her family after spending 8 weeks in the wild.
On February 8th, Maple was being walked with two other dogs when one, a greyhound mix got loose, dragging 14 year old maple through the trails.
The other dog was found later, wet and covered in mud, but Maple was not. On Thursday, Maple’s owner, Gail, said that the 14 year old terrier was spotted by a man living in the development, cowering under his deck.
Gail’s husband and daughter rushed over to be reunited with their dog.
“Maple was extremely timid and guarded after wandering around alone for six weeks; furthermore, she lost nine pounds,” Gail said.
“A full third of her previous body weight. It’s wonderful to have her back and we are praying for her full recovery. Happy endings like this are a such rare thing. Her homecoming is truly a miracle for us!”
Lost Dog Back Home After 44 Days; Found 33 Miles Away
By David Greisman
March 10, 2011
After an Ellicott City dog went missing in January, he was able to return home more than six weeks later thanks to a group effort and the power of technology.
Found: Cockapoo.
Answers to "Winston."
Ran away from his Ellicott City home on Jan. 21.
Picked up March 6 – from a house 33 miles away in Gaithersburg.
The search for Winston included old-fashioned methods – feet on pavement, fliers on post – and new-media assistance from Facebook, Google Maps and, in the end, the classified ads of Craigslist.
And so when Janet Lynn West announced that Winston was home, her exclamations of gratitude were directed to many beyond those who had given her dog temporary shelter.
"We did it! We all did it!" West wrote on Facebook. "We found him!"
It had been a long time. And it had been a long journey.
'Will be dirty'
The fliers were seemingly ubiquitous, attached to posts and poles around Columbia and Ellicott City.
"LOST DOG," they read. "WINSTON white cockapoo with beige markings. Will be dirty..."
He had gone missing early in the evening on Jan. 21 from West's home off Route 103 in Ellicott City. His owner figured he must have followed some neighborhood kids.
The search soon began.
West called in Dogs Finding Dogs, a nonprofit organization that, as its name suggests, uses trained dogs to track down lost pooches.
West and others went with the rescue dog for more than two hours on Jan. 25, looking near Route 29, Old Columbia Pike and Route 103 in Ellicott City.
"Winston's scent led us in a few different directions," West wrote on Facebook.
There was the inside of the firehouse. There was Veterans Elementary School. There was no sign of him. Some people had seen him earlier, but nobody knew where he had gone since.
"We are hopeful he didn't cross over to the other side of 29, but we can't be sure," West wrote.
Across Route 29 – And Beyond
New sightings were seemingly being reported each day. Descriptions of where and when were posted on Google Maps, lines crisscrossing first around Ellicott City east of Route 29, then shooting west of the busy highway and farther away from home.
Jan. 24: "Somewhere on Toll House Road."
Jan. 25: "Heading west on 103 across 29."
Jan. 27: "He seemed to be traveling northbound on Columbia Road. Every time I got closer and tried to talk to him, he'd run."
More days, more dots on the map. The dots kept moving west along and around Route 108.
Finally, on Feb. 17, there was what, for some time, was referred to as the last sighting: "Green Dragon Court. Columbia. Sighter saw Winston running northwest."
And then a call came in.
"A woman called ... and has in her possession a white poodle mix with a blue collar that is thin like a cat's," West wrote on Facebook on Feb. 17. "Pray it's Winston! She is in Ellicott City on Main Street."
It wasn't Winston.
But several days later there would be this entry into Google Maps, all the way over in Gaithersburg, near Damascus:
"Lady found a dog that looks like Winston on Marsh Point Court."
Found?
Denise Harris is an employee at Camp Bow Wow, a day care and boarding facility for dogs in Columbia. She had never met Winston before he went missing. She did not know West.
She was one of nearly 260 people who had joined a Facebook page dedicated to helping find Winston.
"He kept tracking farther and farther away. He was moving really fast. And then there was nothing for about two weeks," Harris told Patch earlier this week, a day after Winston returned home. "If he’d continue to move at that speed, he’d be out of Howard County if he continued to move up Route 108."
Route 108 led to Montgomery County. Harris logged onto the Craigslist site for people living in and around Washington, D.C., and checked the "found" listings.
"I sent the lady an e-mail just saying, 'We are looking for a dog who disappeared from Howard County. It’s been a while. Do you have a picture of the dog?' " Harris said.
"She sent me a picture. I looked at the picture and thought: 'I don’t think that’s Winston.' "
Despite that, Harris gave the woman a link to the Facebook page.
"I looked through the pictures and called the numbers listed," said the woman, Katy Cox Engels, writing on Facebook. "I live too far away to [have seen] any of the fliers. It really was a miracle we connected."
On March 6, West headed to Engels' house to see if this dog was Winston.
A friend waited for West to call with the news.
Nearly 260 people waited in suspense for an update on Facebook.
Found!
At 11:06 a.m., they had confirmation: "IT IS HIM!!!!!!"
Video of West's reunion with Winston can be seen above.
"They were thrilled," West said of the Engels, writing on Facebook. "They had been looking for the owners for 7 days.
"We hadn't heard [of] a sighting in two weeks, and I was getting stressed thinking, 'Hopefully that means ... someone has him!' " West wrote.
The fliers can now come down.
"I never expected him to run off. He never had," West wrote. "He is certainly a survivor. I was most afraid of him getting hit by a car, but he kept proving over and over [that] he was making it through the weather conditions.
Source: http://columbia.patch.com/articles/friends-salute-winston-the-lost-cockapoo-that-found-his-way-home-with-video#photo-5295108
Printer-friendly version of another article here
Oceanside Family Reunites With Missing Dog
The Rawlings Family Says Buck Was In Desert For 6 Weeks
March 21, 2011
OCEANSIDE, Calif. -- One North County family has been reunited with their dog after he was missing in the desert for six weeks.
The Rawlings family was on an off-roading weekend in January when their beloved pet pug-mix Buck was spooked in the desert.
Steve Rawlings was off-roading with two of his daughters and their dog in Johnson Valley, Calif., when their jeep crashed. Buck then jumped out of the jeep and ran away.
"He didn't dart off, but little by little, he got further and further away," said Steve.
As day turned to night, there was still no sign of Buck. Steve said he began to wonder if Buck would ever return.
"I would go out every hour or so and call for him, thinking he would come my way, but it didn't happen," said Steve.
The family posted fliers near the camp site, searched the Internet and even called San Bernardino radio stations for help.
The Rawlings received about six leads. None were promising, so the family began to lose hope.
"I thought coyotes… I figured the weather couldn't be good for him," said Steve.
But last Saturday night, which was six weeks since Buck had disappeared, family received the phone call they were waiting for.
"[The caller said,] 'It's a boy, red collar, blue tags' and that's when I knew it was him," said Michelle. "I was screaming."
A woman who runs a dog rescue in Twentynine Palms, which is more than 50 miles away from Johnson Valley, called the family to say she spotted a stray dog on her property. It took her two weeks to gain the dog's trust until she could get close enough to see the number on his collar.
"When we saw him – actually saw him – it sunk in," said Steve.
The family said their reunion last Saturday night was special, even for 7-year-old Sabrina, who was afraid Buck had forgotten her.
"It was exciting because he remembered us," she said.
The Rawlings family is extremely thankful to the San Bernardino family who reunited them with Buck and said it is a miracle that he is home.
Source (with video): http://www.10news.com/news/27272048/detail.html
Video HERE
Another (longer) version of the story is at: http://www.nctimes.com/news/local/oceanside/article_62683fa4-a511-576f-929a-96ba5a05a3e6.html
Printer-friendly version HERE
Big Mack Attack
Kat Albrecht's Pet Detective Blog
February 13, 2011
When most people hear the word “attack” in the same sentence as the word “pit bull” they assume the worst. While the story I’m about to tell is about a pit bull named Mack, the word ”attack” in this story refers to the aggressive efforts of a Missing Pet Partnership volunteer who made it his personal mission to recover one lost dog. The recovery story of Mack highlights Missing Pet Partnership’s vision for community-based lost pet services–volunteers who do everything in their power, even when it takes weeks, to reunite a lost companion animal with their family. Here’s how it began:
Mack (left) and Rocco (right)
On December 12, 2010, two male blue pit bulls who lived and played together escaped from their yard in Federal Way, Washington. Mack and Rocco were naughty dogs but as we all know, dogs escape from their homes on a daily basis. What made their case unique was that their owner, Nick, was overseas, serving in Iraq. The housemate who was watching the dogs made an effort to find the dogs but failed. Several weeks passed without either Mack or Rocco showing up at the local animal shelter and hope began to fade.
On January 10th, MPP volunteer Ryan Gamache found two stray brindle pit bulls. As in all cases when our volunteers find a stray dog, we all THINK LOST, NOT STRAY and therefore assume it is a lost (not stray) dog and attempt to find the owner. Ryan posted a Craig’s List Ad that read “Two Found Pit bulls: Call To ID.” This is how Nick’s family, who lived back east, first heard about Missing Pet Partnership. They called MPP to say their two blue pit bulls, Mack & Rocco, had been missing for nearly a month. They were crushed to hear that the two pit bulls that Ryan found were brindles (who were reunited with their owner). That meant Mack and Rocco were still missing.
But now Mack and Rocco were on Ryan’s radar. He communicated with Nick via e-mail and and realized just how much Nick loved his dogs and how worried and helpless he felt to be in the Middle East, fighting for our freedom while his two dogs were missing. Ryan made it his personal mission to find Mack and Rocco, no matter what it took.
Tragically, and without going into detail, Ryan discovered that Rocco had been killed and that Mack fled. But at least we had a sighting and an area to start searching so Ryan got to work. He posted giant, neon posters that read ”LOST BLUE PITBULL BLUE COLLAR” along a major roadway in Federal Way near where Rocco was killed. Immediately, leads came in. Yes, a blue pit bull with a blue collar was seen just a few days ago in this neighborhood. Then another lead, he was seen over there.
The next day, January 17th, the hottest lead of all came in–a blue pit bull with a blue collar was coming around one man’s house. Ryan immediately responded and with the home owner’s permission, set out a plate of dog food and wildlife camera to see if we could capture pictures of the dog.
Wildlife Camera Confirms The "Stray" Is Mack!
It was Mack! The next step was setting up the humane dog trap. So Ryan dragged the dog trap and set it up, along with the camera. A day passed. Nothing. A few more days passed. Still nothing. A full week passed by without Mack showing up on camera, let alone entering our dog trap. Ryan was discouraged, but not about to give up. On January 26th, Ryan and two MPP volunteers, Chris DeLaRosa and Dianna Stacy, went out and posted new LOST BLUE PITBULL BLUE COLLAR posters close to the last sighting. The next morning, leads began to flood in! At around 11:00 a.m. we received a fresh sighting–Mack was seen an hour earlier in the caller’s front yard.
Since the humane trap had failed and we had learned that Mack loved other dogs, I offered to use my magnet dog Kody and my stainless steel (65″) Snappy Snare (a technique we’ve pioneered at Missing Pet Partnership and use to capture hard-to-catch-dogs) to capture Mack. Now that we had a fresh sighting of Mack, I called Ryan, grabbed Kody and my Snappy Snare, and headed to the sighting.
Ryan and I spent over an hour looking for Mack but we didn’t find him. As luck would have it, as soon as I left and arrived home I received a phone call. A woman named Karen saw our neon sign and called MPP to say she was a passenger in a car that WAS FOLLOWING MACK AT THAT MOMENT! I kept her on the line which enabled me to call Ryan on my cell phone and direct him where to go until he found Karen’s car and Mack.
Ryan had a catch pole and treats and tried to entice Mack, but Mack wouldn’t have any of it. I lived about 5 minutes away. By the time I arrived and pulled around the corner I could see Ryan, a 1/2 block away and Mack, who was standing in the middle of the street about 5 houses down from me. I knew I would have just enough time to open my car door, walk to the back of my SUV, open the hatchback, grab my Snappy Snare, let Kody out of her crate (her long leash was attached to her harness), and Mack would be right there.
And that’s exactly what happened! Right as Kody hit the ground and I walked her from behind my SUV, Mack was a few yards away. But he immediately began to wag his tail and walked right up to sniff noses with a tail-wiggling-Kody. My Snappy Snare was positioned over Kody’s nose so that when they sniffed noses, I could move it over Mack’s head, release the ring, and catch Mack. It was a textbook capture and we had Mack!
My biggest disappointment was that we did not get film footage of this capture. However, if you’d like to see video footage of another case where I used magnet dog Kody and my Snappy Snare to capture a another skittish pit bull on a different MPP recovery case, watch this video HERE
Mack was on the run for a total of 45 days. Ryan took him to the vet plus fostered him until Nick came home a week later. While I missed the live reunion between Nick and Mack, I stopped by a few hours later.
Ryan has his own pit bull named Karma (she’s one of our wiggly cat detection dogs) who had fallen in love with Mack. I enjoyed watching Nick and Ryan and their dogs interact. I snapped a picture as Nick massaged Mack’s ear as he told us about how he’d wished we could have met Rocco.
Friends (Nick & Mack and Ryan & Karma)
The night ended with my taking a portrait of Nick and Ryan, two new friends posing with the dogs they loved. The best news is that Nick came back to the states because he and Mack are moving into a new place (with a secure yard) in California. Like so many families who MPP has helped recover a beloved lost pet, Nick was grateful to Ryan and to Missing Pet Partnership. And Ryan was rewarded with what keeps our volunteers at MPP passionate about the volunteer work that we do–the joy of making a difference.
Source (and more pictures and hyperlinks): http://katalbrecht.com/blog/?p=936
Lost dog finds way back home
By Donathan Prater
Published: August 31, 2010
He came home a few pounds lighter and a shade darker.
Fortunately, those are two things a bowl of dog food and a good bath could fix for Nicky, a four-year-old Shetland Sheepdog, that had been missing for nearly six weeks since being lost from an Auburn animal hospital in July.
Shortly after going missing, Nicky’s owner, Christy Hines, 33, offered a $500 reward for his safe return home.
It turns out that all that while, Nicky didn’t actually find his way home; he did the next best thing by showing up at Hines’ mother Charlene Hines’ home at approximately 7 a.m. Thursday.
“As my mother pulled into her driveway, he came up the car, she opened the door and Nicky jumped in the car,” Christy said.
The time between the call from her mother that Nicky was OK and when she drove over to her mother’s home to get him was an emotionally tense one for Christy.
“When I saw him for the first time, I just started crying tears of joy and relief at seeing him,” Christy Hines said. “I pulled him into my lap, held him for a while and gave him a hug and kiss on his nose.”
With the recent string of hot days and being alone, Hines at times feared the worse for Nicky.
“I was afraid that he had not been able to survive, but he’s obviously much tougher than I gave him credit for,” Hines said.
Later that same morning, Hines took Nicky to the veterinarian where other than being treated for a few bug bites and given an IV for dehydration, he was given a clean bill of health and a much needed bath.
Over the last few days Nicky has been getting reacquainted with his favorite toy, a stuffed owl and catching up on his sleep, which he enjoys doing at Hines’ feet.
“The (Nicky) stuffed owl is his favorite toy, but he pretty much likes anything that squeaks,” said Hines, who continues to be grateful for all those who spent time looking for him and kept him in their prayers.
Comment Posted by chines on Sept. 1, 2010 - 8:36 a.m. I would like to thank everyone who spent their time looking for Nicky, posting flyers, and keeping him in your prayers and thoughts. I was overwhelmed at the generosity of people who were strangers, but were offering help and support. That meant more to me and my family than you could ever imagine. I have lived here for 3 years, but I truly understood the meaning of Auburn family over these past weeks. Thank you all from the bottom of our hearts!
Man’s search for beloved pet pays off
Crystal Rhyno - Herald-Tribune staff
Six weeks after his dog Tucker went missing, a Bonanza-area man’s relentless search ended Monday when a man returned Tucker and claimed a $10,000 reward.
The Bonanza resident who put up an astounding $10,000 reward for his missing pooch was reunited with his dog, Tucker, Monday afternoon.
Lance Hingley, 54, said he got his life back when Tucker jumped into his arms after he handed over the reward to the man whom he believes snatched his 15-month-old dog.
“I am so happy,” he said. “When I put that reward up of $10,000, I said it would be anonymous. I am not going to give the man’s name out. He’s going to have to live with that.”
Two days before Christmas, the miniature Shi Tzu-American Eskimo went missing near Dawson Creek, B.C., when Hingley, a bulk fuel agent, had stopped for a quick bite to eat.
Since losing his beloved pet, Hingley launched a mind-boggling search and rescue quest, including creating a missing dog website and Facebook groups, to track down his abducted dog.
Missing dog posters were plastered all over the B.C. interior, from Kamloops to the Peace Country.
“I just wanted my dog back,” said Hingley, who travels quite frequently with his work.
On Jan.30, he was in Kamloops putting up posters when he received a tip from a caller.
The caller said he had Tucker. Hingley said the caller described Tucker to a “T” so Hingley got his hopes up. When he asked where the caller was, the line went dead.
Hingley redialed the number from his call display on his phone but the number came up private.
Through a little detective work, including some research on the Internet, Hingley learned the call originated from a phone booth at an Esso station in Peace River.
Monday morning, Hingley headed to Peace River and plastered the small town with more posters.
At 11:40 a.m., he received another call from the same man.
“I said, ‘hey buddy, you don’t hang up this phone. You need to talk to me.’ ”
Hingley told the man Tucker was one of his kids and he wanted his dog back. The man agreed to hand over the dog for the reward. They met a few hours later at the Dunvegan Inn in Fairview.
“I gave him the money and I took my dog,” said Hingley, who estimates he spent up to $25,000 in the search for Tucker.
“He told me he had been sleeping at the weigh scales and woke up to a dog whining. He opened the door and it was Tucker.”
Hingley said Tucker had jumped in the man’s truck because the temperatures were hovering below -40C. The man told Hingley he thought the dog was abandoned.
“His excuse was someone was not looking after him so he kept him but finally returned him for the money.”
Hingley said he will not call the police.
“I am a man of my word and I got what I wanted,” said Hingley. “He needs to sleep at night. That’s up to him.”
Hingley hopes the dog napper will donate half of the reward to SPCA in Tucker’s name.
Source: http://www.dailyheraldtribune.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1420059
Another version of the story at:
