Charlie, black lab

Black Lab Escapes From Groomer, BTB Contributor And His Dog Finds Him
by Jim Branson (posted By Scott Schaefer)
March 16, 2010 @ 9:42 pm

On Monday (March 15th), David and Rene George received a harrowing call from a dog groomer near Five Corners in Burien: their beloved black lab, Charlie, had somehow escaped.

David and Rene searched and put up fliers, but they didn’t really know the best way to look for their lost dog until they contacted the Missing Pet Partnership.

David George, Charlie, and Kelsy

My dog Kelsy and I have been volunteering for MPP for a couple of years, and we have been trained to work as a team to find missing dogs. Kelsy, a black lab who looks very much like Charlie, has learned to follow the scent trail of a dog, and my job is to read her body language and help her find the dog. Actually, my main job is to hang onto the end of the leash while Kelsy drags me along on the search.

Tuesday morning at dawn, I obtained a scent article from David and started Kelsy on the trail, beginning at the groomer. Kelsy followed the scent trail from Five Corners to the library, to Firestone, down past Albertson’s, down Ambaum to 174th, and then back up First Ave to about 163rd, where she found Charlie hiding in the bushes!

I never would have seen Charlie, even if I was looking right at him. Kelsy’s nose alerted us to his hiding place in the brambles.

Charlie, the missing black lab, was found by Kelsy, hiding in these bushes.

Charlie didn’t want to come out, even with the lure of food. I called Rene, and she took a little time off of work to come get Charlie. When Charlie heard her voice, he came right out of the bushes to her. David and Rene are very glad to have Charlie home safe, and Kelsy has her reward of finding the missing dog. Plus some treats and a belly rub.

Source: http://www.b-townblog.com/2010/03/16/black-lab-escapes-from-groomer-btb-contributor-and-his-dog-finds-him/
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Max, Jack Russell Terrier

Max the runaway dog reunited with owner after surviving bitter winter
By Bob Shaw, pioneerpress.com
Updated: 03/06/2010 10:38:05 AM CST

"He's my baby. Since the first time I brought him home and he puked all over me," said Kristin Glanz, 21, March 5, 2010, as she reunites with her dog, Max, a Jack Russell Terrier, who had been lost since July 2009. Her mom, Julie, is in background. (Max puked all over her when she bought him because his stomach was upset from a hilly car drive from a farm in Hastings.) Max — a Jack Russell terrier from Woodbury — is one tough puppy.

The dog ran away in July, and somehow survived a bitter winter — until he was joyfully reunited with his owner Wednesday.

"I am so happy," gushed 21-year-old Kristin Glanz, as she took the dog to a veterinarian for a checkup Friday.

Max seems to be OK, except for a case of Lyme disease. For a confirmed house-dog who hated being outdoors, his survival is almost miraculous.

"When I finally picked him up, I just started bawling," Glanz said. "We sat for half an hour in the car, just hugging and kissing."

The saga of the Dog Who Wouldn't Die began with a family vacation. In late July, Kristin's family left Woodbury for northern Minnesota. They dropped Max off at a friend's house in River Falls, Wis., where Glanz attends college.

As soon as Glanz left, Max wriggled through the railings on a deck and disappeared. For the next month, Glanz and her friends posted notices and patrolled the neighborhood.

"We kept getting calls — here he is! Here he is!" said Glanz's mother, Julie.

"We searched for him all day and night," Kristin said. The panicked responses involved at least one 4 a.m. drive to River Falls. They tried setting a live trap.

"But he was too smart," Glanz said.

She came heartbreakingly close to saving him one night in October. After dashing to River Falls, she saw Max sitting on a street corner. She called to him, but the dog was too frightened. Glanz couldn't get near him.

"I remember I was sick that night, and my voice might have sounded hoarse to him," she said.

As the weeks dragged on, the calls started to feel like Elvis sightings. Kristin started thinking the unthinkable — that Max might be dead.

"She wanted closure, if nothing else," Julie Glanz said.

But the calls kept coming. In December, a woman called — but there was no telling if the dog in her yard was Max.

In January, another woman called, saying she'd been feeding a little dog in her yard. She even set out a kennel with blankets for him. Glanz responded — and failed again.

Then, on Wednesday, someone called to tell her about a notice on a River Falls food-store bulletin board. "It said, 'I am feeding this dog, but I can't catch him,' " Glanz said.

She drove to the address, about a mile from where Max had initially disappeared. She spotted her dog, watching her warily from the side of a house, then saw him run away.

Max circled back 15 minutes later and stopped and stared at her, keeping his distance.

He ran off again. Glanz got into her car, slowly went down the street — and watched in horror as Max was nearly hit by a passing car.

"I got out, yelling. He was freaked out," Glanz said. The dog was walking in circles, confused. Finally, he approached her, slinking — the dog-posture of surrender.

"He was whimpering. He knew who I was," Glanz said. "He smelled horrible. He reeked."

She took the stinky dog for an overnight visit to the At Home Animal Clinic in Stillwater.

There, veterinarians speculated how a pampered house-dog like Max could have rediscovered his inner wolf, like Buck in "The Call of the Wild."

Dr. Christina Shivers said even a short-haired dog like Max grows a warm undercoat of fur in the winter. Max might have found burrows to hide in during the 20-below nights.

He could have found mice, rabbits and squirrels to eat. But the dog stayed in one area for eight months, she said — a hint that he might have found a steady supply of food from neighborhood dog lovers.

The biggest surprise, said Shivers, was that Max was not killed by a car.

Shivers wasn't worried about rabies, because it is mainly transmitted by foxes — which a dog like Max would avoid. Max had no intestinal parasites.

He did, however, have Lyme disease. He will get treatments — along with an entirely new level of pampering and love.

"This has been," Julie Glanz said, "quite the adventure."

Source: http://www.twincities.com/ci_14522303?source=most_viewed&nclick_check=1

Gigi, sheltie

Gigi's Story
Washington DC
March 2010

Gigi, a beautiful Shetland sheepdog who had been a wandering stray in the middle of Virginia when rescue by Northern Virginia Sheltie Rescue, had been in her new home only three days when she got out of the gated kitchen while Nancy went to collect the mail. Nancy and Jim immediately launched a huge campaign to find and recover Gigi, and gained a large number of supporters and volunteers over the next several weeks while she was missing.

Sightings being called in showed that she was spending time some blocks away from home, in the area behind the Sweden ambassadorial residence. So Nancy called there to see if they could gain access to their grounds. The Swedish Embassy provided the personal cell number of the ambassador’s wife, Eva Hafstrom, who went on to play a critically important role over the next week while Gigi spent time behind her home.

One of Gigi's sighters is friends with the owner of the home that backs to the rear of the Swedish embassy grounds, a doctor named Lee Monsein. As it turned out, Lee is passionate about dogs – certainly about his own boxer, Rave – and he’s also a hi-tech enthusiast. He agreed to train his “Ravecam” on the humane trap that was now set up on the back of the Swedish embassy property, for the time being, rather than use it to keep an eye on Rave when he wasn’t home.

Over the next several days, Eva at one end of the property and Lee at the other were able to establish Gigi's schedule. So in a real sense, Gigi was no longer "lost". Nancy and Jim knew just where she was. Eva and her own dog Nalle would see Gigi nearer the residence in the morning hours from 5am to 7:30 AM, and Lee reliably saw her from around 10PM to 3AM. Eva also would see Gigi in the evenings, and Jim also saw her in the mornings.

The humane trap borrowed from Sam Connolly of Pure Gold Pet Trackers was catching a fat orange tabby and a fat raccoon, and the mangy fox who lives on the grounds was following Gigi around, as reported by both Lee at one end of the parcel of land, and Eva at the other.

Lee came up with the idea to use his dog run, which had a gate that opened onto the residence grounds, as an enclosure trap. Unlike a small trap, the roofless run might well prove less scary to little Gigi. On his own initiative and with his own money, Lee purchased a motion detector and aimed it at the gate, which was left partially open. 100 lb rope was tied to two points on the gate which was physically close to a window in Lee’s home. Lee then ran the lines through the window from which he had removed the screen, and he closed the window. When the motion sensor detected movement, it rang an alarm in the house, so Lee could come and pull the gate shut.

The bait used included fried chicken, raw ground beef, and a t-shirt donated by Gigi's foster mom, Nancy Tisdale, with her scent on it. At 1 AM the next morning, the alarm rang. Lee observed Gigi enter the run. He then pulled the rope to close the gate. But the food hadn't placed the food far enough from the gate, and Gigi turned quickly and slipped out.

The team worried that she would remember, and possibly avoid the run at all costs. Over the next 48 hours, she did approach both trap and run numerous times, but never entered either one. She was clearly hungry. At 3:30 AM on Friday, as Gigi was approaching the trap, it blew over, despite being chained to a tree. This was observed by Lee, who was by now getting very little sleep.

That day, Gigi's foster mom Nancy remembered how much Gigi loved playing with a kickball, and suggested that the one that Jim had brought home the very evening Gigi escaped be taken to the area around the humane trap. Jim was dubious, but he dropped off the kickball when he took the fresh chicken to the trap on Friday.

Later that day, Lee observed Gigi playing by herself with the kickball – as if she were in a soccer match of one. She would push it forward with her head or bat it with her paws, chasing after it. So at the suggestion of Sam the pet tracker, Lee placed the kickball along with the food in his dog run, with the motion sensor detector aimed at the gate, and the ropes running through the windows. The detector sounded an alarm in Lee's house if anything approached. So Since he had placed a second motion detector aimed at the humane trap, and since Gigi was very active, approaching both the trap and dog run numerous times, Lee got little sleep as the alarm in his house repeatedly woke him up.

Finally, at 3:30 AM, Gigi, entered the dog run - with the kickball in it. Lee slammed the door shut at which time Gigi went ballistic. She started to leap the height of the six-foot fence. Lee was afraid she might bounce over the fence and once again take flight. Quickly entering the run and picking Gigi up, Lee took Gigi into his downstairs den and called Nancy and Jim at 3:47 AM. Ten minutes later, they walked into the basement room where Gigi, cool as a cucumber, was being petted by Lee.

None of the foods that the many Gigi fans suggested (KFC, Popeye's, lamb tripe, roast beef) did the trick. It was a rubber ball and the promise of play!

What makes this so extraordinary is that Jim works for the national profit which advocates for the importance of play in children's lives -- KaBOOM! In fact, it was a KaBOOM! kickball that lured her in. We know that play makes children healthier, physically and emotionally. And in Gigi's case, play literally helped to save her life.

More information: http://gigishope.blogspot.com

Megan, sheltie

Lost Sheltie: Never give up hope...
May 31, 2007

Last Saturday, we took the Cub Scouts on an outing at Camp Roosevelt (the Scout camp in Eddington about 20 miles from Bangor, ME). We decided to take Megan with us, and let her run around out on the ice. The boys were building igloos, and we figured she'd stay right near the group.

Wrong. She trotted across the lake, would not come back to us when we called, and headed up into the woods. Ed tracked her up through the woods up the side of Blackcap Mountain to an old logging road, where her tracks then led down to the camp's main access road.

That's where the trail ended, and that's the last we saw of Megan.

We made two trips back into the woods on Sunday, with no luck. We printed off a reward poster and placed it in the local stores, stuffed mailboxes and placed an ad in the Bangor Daily News. Megan's breeder even came up from Waterville with four other Shelties to try and lure Megan out of the woods, but there was no sign of her. We received a few phone calls (one of which sent Jeanne on a 40-mile goosechase down route 9), but nothing came of the leads.

On Friday morning, we got a call from Kim, the coordinator of a youth group who were staying at the camps. Kim had just seen Megan on the main access road, but the dog had scampered off into the woods when approached (Shelties are a very skittish breed, and spending all that time in the woods makes them even more spooked). We headed into the camps immediately, along with Jeanne's brother Larry and his wife Elnora. The plan was to set up a live trap if we couldn't call her out of the woods.

Shortly after we got there, Elnora slipped on the icy road, and down she went. Larry brought her to the hospital for an X-ray, where they discovered that she had broken her ankle AND sprained her thumb in the process. So now she's wearing TWO casts. She said it would all be worth it if only we could find Megan (in Elnora's words, "the first thing I'm gonna do is kick her a@#!").

After four hours of calling for the dog and snowshoeing up the hill, we decided to call it a morning. Ed went back to work for a few hours, and Jeanne went home to nap and to pack up the van for us to spend the weekend at Camp Roosevelt. We knew our puppy was out there, and we had to get her back to safety.

We arrived back in camp prepared to rough it for the weekend.

Wrong again. We were taken in by the weekend Campmasters, Skip and Judy M., in the warm, heated Health Lodge building. We had oil heat, a microwave oven, and a flush toilet and shower to top it all off. We set the live trap, and also set up Megan's kennel near a small pumphouse building where we had seen an abundance of tracks earlier in the day.

Ed went to check the trap before going to bed (it was Friday night, so he stayed up until 9:15). When he went to have a look at the kennel, he heard some barking in the woods. He crouched down and waited, calling Megan's name out and offering her some of her favorite treats. After about five minutes, she finally got close enough for him to latch onto her and place her in the kennel.

Jeanne was absolutely speechless when Ed walked into the cabin with Megan in tow. Her prayers had been answered, and God had brought her puppy home to her. This little fourteen pound dog (actually eleven now) had survived for seven days and six nights in the Maine woods. She made it through an ice storm on Sunday, twenty-below zero windchills on Tuesday and Wednesday, and Lord knows how many predators. The area is teeming with coyote, great horned owls, fox and bears.

After a visit to the vet, Megan is perfectly healthy. She lost three pounds and seems exhausted, but she seems none the worse for wear. She has no sign of frostbite, malnutrition or animal attacks.

Unbelievable? You can say that again.

In the words of the late coach Jim Valvano, "DON"T EVER GIVE UP!"

Ed & Jeanne

Source: http://sheltienation.com/2007/05/lost-sheltie-never-give-up-hope.html

Fesgahi, Australian shepherd

Dog lost at airport reunited with owner
ELUSIVE: The Australian miniature shepherd slipped out of his kennel at airport.
By James Halpin, Alaska Daily News
07/02/09 10:28:47

An Australian miniature shepherd that escaped from its kennel at the airport and dodged authorities for two days was recaptured about 2 a.m. Thursday and reunited with its owner, according to the Department of Transportation.

This 10-month-old Australian miniature shepherd male puppy was found at the Anchorage airport after being missing for several days. The owners had placed a plea for help on Craigslist, along with this photo, in their efforts to find the dog.

Airport police and wildlife officials had been on the lookout for Fesgahi, who also goes by "Feski," and found him in some brush near the airport's fire station, spokesman Roger Wetherell said.

The dog was reluctant to come out, so officials called the owner, who came to the scene and coaxed the dog out from his hiding place after about 15 minutes, he said. It was unclear where or how Fesgahi spent his time at the airport, but he appeared to be in good health, he said.

"No injuries, just probably hungry and a little scared," Wetherell said.

Anchorage Ted Stevens International Airport officials had been watching for the dog since it slipped out of its cage while airline employees were handling it Monday afternoon. The dog was being off-loaded from an Alaska Airlines flight about 3 p.m. when the kennel opened up and the dog escaped along Tug Road.

Alaska Airlines spokeswoman Bobbie Egan said the kennel popped open, allowing the dog to escape, when an employee lifted it because of how the kennel was constructed.

Fesgahi was skittish, and ran away from would-be captors trying to reunite dog and owner, Wetherell said. Airport officials spotted the dog several times during his jaunt but couldn't catch him, he said.

The dog's owner posted an ad on Craigslist on Wednesday asking for help finding the 10-month-old dog, which was running free in the south terminal cargo area. She wrote that the kennel had either been dropped or came apart while being unloaded.

"Fesgahi does not respond to his name, but he does know the commands "good boy" and "bad boy." He is about 10 inches tall, and belongs to a little 5 year old girl who is heartbroken that her puppy is missing," she wrote.

His owner did not return calls or an e-mail seeking comment Thursday.

Source: http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/story/851396.html
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Luna, American Bulldog

Missing deaf dog "Luna" found safe
By: Erin Connolly
January 12, 2010

She had been missing for more than a week. But now Luna, a deaf dog, has been found and reunited with her owners. Oddly enough, bacon may have been the trick to bringing Luna home. Our Erin Connolly explains.

LATHAM, N.Y. -- Everyone is breathing a sigh of relief tonight now that Luna has been found safe and sound. She escaped from Shaker Veterinary Hospital in Latham more than a week ago and since then, had been braving cold temperatures, as dozens of volunteers searched for her. There had been a few unconfirmed sightings, but no luck until Monday.

Ralph Rataul, Luna's owner, said, ''She's a huge part of the family and now we can feel complete again. It's really exciting.''

It was a day Ralph Rataul and his wife Shelley of Rensselaer had been waiting for. It was a day that couldn't come soon enough.

Rataul said, ''It's been hellish. It's been really, like you said, an emotional rollercoaster that didn't really seem to have an end point.''

It all started in the early morning hours of January 2nd. Surveillance video from Shaker Veterinary Hospital where Luna was boarding shows not only did Luna manage to escape from her crate, she opened the front door, setting off the building's alarm.

Ken Wolfe of Shaker Veterinary Hospital said, ''Police officers arrived on the scene within five minutes, actually saw her and tried to get her. We've come close many times in the last week.''

Close, but no cigar, until just after noon on Monday. A couple living in the Springwood Manor area near Siena College noticed the dog in their backyard. Luna had apparently smelled some bacon that had been cooking. Rataul came right away to get his four-year-old American bulldog mix.

Rataul said, ''It looked like she was going to bolt at any moment. I was so anxious. Then I said ok, let's try kneeling, lets trying being less of an intimidating figure and within another minute, she came over very slowly, started barking and started jumping all over me!''

It was a group effort to bring Luna home safe and sound. This past weekend, dozens of volunteers gathered at the Crossings Park in Colonie. Some hung missing posters with Luna's picture on it. Others used their own dogs to try to sniff out Luna.

Rataul said, ''It's been awesome. If only we could muster up this type of response for every lost pet.''

Luna's a hungry girl after vets say she lost 12 pounds while missing. Otherwise, she appears to be healthy and that's all an owner can ask for.

Rataul said, ''I'm just so happy to have her back. This is awesome.''

Luna had been boarding at the hospital while the Rataul's were away over the holidays, but now they say they're not taking any more chances. Luna is coming back home. As for the hospital, they've added a deadbolt lock to the doors to make sure this doesn't happen again.

Source:
http://capitalnews9.com/capital-region-news-12-content/top_stories/492769/missing-deaf-dog--luna--found-safe

Sketcher, blue heeler

Story of lost dog ends well: 'Sketcher' found under North Cohoe porch
By Joseph Robertia | Peninsula Clarion
Friday, July 24, 2009

Sometimes all it takes is time and a little bit of luck, and fortunately for Hollyn Smith of Homer, both were on her side this past week, as she has been reunited with her lost dog Sketcher.

"I got him back," said a jovial Smith on Thursday, in regard to her 12-year-old blue heeler that ran away on Sunday after if had been frightened at the Kasilof River mouth by people shooting off fireworks.

"A gal that lives on North Cohoe found him under her porch this morning, and when she went to work someone told her about one of the posters," Smith said.

The women drove up to the Kasilof Post office, where Smith had hung a "lost dog" poster. She believed the dog she had under her deck matched the dog in the picture, so she called Smith's friend, Nicole, who lives locally.

"Nicole went to her house and lured my dog out from under her porch with multiple pieces of beef jerky. Meanwhile, another friend of mine, L.B., had driven up to take a look for me," Smith said.

Since Smith's two friends knew the dog, but didn't actually own it, they wanted to be sure they had the right blue heeler before they claimed it.

"I was on the phone with both of them and they were describing him. 'He's got black ears? White on his forehead?' It sounded like they were pretty sure it was him," she said.

Just getting off work from the Salty Dog on the Homer Spit, Smith raced up the Sterling Highway and met L.B. in Anchor Point.

"Sure enough it was Sketcher," Smith said.

She called to thank the woman, who ended up being Marie "Meezie" Hermansen -- a veterinarian at Soldotna Animal Hospital -- who had found her dog, and learned she had cared for it while it lived under her home.

"The dog found me I guess, but since I'm a veterinarian, I guess he picked the right house," Hermansen said.

Smith said Harmansen took care of Sketcher like he was her own.

"When I called to thank her, she told me she'd given him food and water. He'd mostly been interested in the food. My friends had also both brought luring treats they were carrying with them in case they found him. So, consequently, Sketcher was not hungry when we arrived home," she said.

Rather than wanting to eat, Sketcher seemed worn out from his several days on the lam.

"He was very tired and got lots of love from myself and my daughters. When I hugged him he seemed tense, but soon relaxed and fell right asleep. He's tired from his three-day adventure and seems quite happy to be home," Smith said.

Hermansen said she did not want the reward that was offered, and instead suggested Smith put the reward money toward getting the dog a microchip or some other form of permanent identification.

"At the very least, Sketcher will soon have a new collar with an ID on it," Smith said.

Smith said she also wanted to thank all the people who called with sightings of Sketcher before he was found. It gave her the hope she needed to believe she would get him back.

"If it weren't for people seeing and paying attention to the posters, I may not have gotten him back so quickly. Thank you for your time," she said.

Source: http://www.peninsulaclarion.com/stories/072409/new_360743852.shtml

Buddy, a beagle

Buddy the Beagle is rescued!
By Jamie Biesiada
Dec 10, 2009

MANASQUAN — Christmas miracles really do happen, and the Kelley family just received the best gift possible — Buddy the Beagle, their beloved dog who had been missing since Aug. 31, was returned to them and reunited with his family.

Buddy, a four-year-old beagle, was reunited with his New Jersey family on Monday after 98 days spent on an uninhabited New Jersey island.

After months during which his owners undertook a massive search effort in the area surrounding Fisherman’s Cove, here, where he went missing, Buddy was returned to owners Edie, 66, and Charlie Kelley, 67, on Monday night, Dec. 7.

Throughout the grueling three months without Buddy, the Kelleys said they never gave up hope and always thought they would find Buddy safe and sound. Their diligence had residents throughout the southern Monmouth County and northern Ocean County area talking about Buddy at football games, family dinners, bars, in school and on the Internet. In the Manasquan and Brielle area, Buddy’s picture could be seen on lost dog flyers posted on dozens of telephone poles.

“We just kept at it,” Mrs. Kelley said. “We’ve been coming down every day since he was lost.”

Now that Buddy has been reunited with his family, “we’re just ecstatic,” Mrs. Kelley said. “What a great Christmas present!”

Their son, Patrick, 46, and granddaughters Alyssa, 16, and Shannon, 12, are equally overjoyed to have Buddy back.

“Muskrat” Jack Neary was ultimately responsible for finding Buddy after he set out several safe traps on Gull Island County Park and Conservation Area in Ocean County. Mr. Neary is the animal control officer for the borough of Point Pleasant Beach. He got involved with finding Buddy after speaking with Mrs. Kelley, telling her if Buddy was on Gull Island, he would find him. Mr. Neary volunteered his time and expertise to help locate Buddy.

Gull Island is a 48-acre island that lies in the Manasquan River between the Manasquan Inlet and the Route 35 Bridge, just north of Channel Drive and Broadway in Point Pleasant Beach.

The Kelley family, along with an anonymous donor who came forward and offered to match the Kelley’s reward of $500, were preparing to present Mr. Neary with the $1,000 reward for Buddy’s return yesterday.

Though 4 year-old Buddy lost 16 pounds during his ordeal, Mrs. Kelley was happy to say he is in good health otherwise.

The saga of Buddy began when he was lost on Aug. 31, when the Kelley family, of Eatontown, last saw him at Fisherman’s Cove in Manasquan. Fisherman’s Cove, often called the “dog beach,” was where Buddy broke away from his leash after something “spooked” him when he was coming out of the water after swimming, Mrs. Kelley said, and he took off running.

From Fisherman’s Cove, Buddy ran onto Third Avenue, and then onto Brielle Road, running toward Brielle and away from the Manasquan beach. The Kelleys have been searching for Buddy in Manasquan, Brielle, Wall Township and on Gull Island ever since.

Throughout November, the Kelleys received several phone calls from fishermen who reported seeing a dog running on the beach on Gull Island. One of the fishermen, Brian Newman of Wall Township, brought the Kelleys to Gull Island by boat to search, but they did not find Buddy that day.

Nearly a week later, the New Jersey State Police, Marine Patrol Division, Point Pleasant, sent a search team to the island, as well, after receiving a report of a lost Beagle there.  The Coast Guard, with a station nearby in Point Pleasant, had also reported seeing Buddy on security cameras pointed in the direction of Gull Island. They reported the sightings to Mr. Neary.  The day after Thanksgiving, the Kelleys, along with friends and family, headed to Gull Island.

“We parked at Gull Island’s parking lot on Broadway, and walked along the railroad tracks until we found a man-made clearing through the weeds and marsh,” Mrs. Kelley said. They made their journey at low tide.

“We called and called and called,” she said. “But no Buddy.”  The same search was repeated the Saturday and Sunday after Thanksgiving, Mrs. Kelley said, but to no avail. However, the Kelleys continued to receive calls of a Beagle spotted on Gull Island.

On Nov. 30, “Muskrat” Jack offered to put a trap on Gull Island. He was prepared to use several, but after visiting the island and spotting Buddy once, he believed one trap in a strategic location would be enough.

Mr. Neary said when he initially saw Buddy, the Beagle ran by him “like a Greyhound.” But, he then knew for sure Buddy was still on Gull Island.  Mr. Neary’s efforts paid off this past Monday afternoon.

Around 3 p.m., he placed the first trap on the island. He went back later that afternoon, and, a little after 4:30 p.m., he called his wife, Nancy, who was at home with the Kelleys’ phone number, and told her to call Mrs. Kelley and give her the good news.

“‘He’s got your dog!’” Mrs. Kelley recalled Mrs. Neary excitedly saying.  Mrs. Kelley’s reaction, she remembered, was pure excitement.

“Oh my God, he’s got him, he’s got him!” she yelled.

When he first saw Buddy inside the trap, “he looked tired,” Mr. Neary said. He also appeared emaciated. Mr. Neary said, “I got a lump in my throat” just looking at Buddy.

The Kelleys immediately drove to meet Mr. Neary and Buddy in a nearby parking lot on Broadway in Point Pleasant Beach.

“He [Mr. Neary] was phenomenal,” Mrs. Kelley said.

“The dog is a miracle,” Mr. Neary added. “That poor little dog was the one who kept himself alive out there for 98 days. I just offered him a ride home.”

Mr. Neary said there is no source of fresh water on the island, and there is little food for a dog. He heard from the Coast Guard that Buddy was seen dragging dead Sea Gulls over the beach, but Mr. Neary said in his experience with Sea Gulls, they do not have much meat on them.

To lure Buddy into the safe trap, Mr. Neary said, he used special bait. Asked what that bait was, Mr. Neary replied, “It is a total trade secret.”

Mr. Neary and the Kelley family loaded the trap, with Buddy still inside, into a car and drove to the vet’s office. Mrs. Kelley explained Mr. Neary did not want to remove Buddy from the trap, afraid he would be frightened at all the excitement and that he might run off again.

The Kelleys’ vets, Scott Turk and Darren Weisenstein of 4 Paws Animal Hospital, Englishtown, said Buddy was generally healthy, but underweight.  His potassium levels were slightly low and his liver function was a little off, Mrs. Kelley explained, but the vets informed her those issues would work themselves out in time. Buddy has another check-up appointment in three weeks.

“Everything’s fine,” Mrs. Kelley said.

During the months Buddy was missing, he lost a total of 16 pounds. That brought Buddy from his original weight of 35 pounds to a rib-revealing 19 pounds.

“He’s skinny as all get-out,” Mrs. Kelley said. They were advised to feed him several small meals a day so he can safely re-gain weight, which they have been doing, she said.

After his visit to the vet, Buddy finally returned home.

“When he walked in the house it was like he never left,” Mrs. Kelley said. He “trotted” around various rooms, sniffed the Kelleys’ other dogs, and settled down.

Buddy the Beagle was found on Monday afternoon after being lost at Fisherman’s Cove in Manasquan on Aug. 31. He was found on Gull Island by “Muskrat” Jack Neary, and has been reunited with his family

It is still a mystery how Buddy made it to Gull Island. The younger Mr. Kelley said he did not believe Buddy would have swam across the Manasquan River to get there, and guessed that he probably walked across the nearby railroad track bridge that connects Monmouth County’s Brielle to Ocean County’s Point Pleasant Beach, and runs right next to Gull Island.

Mr. Neary said it was possible he walked across the tracks if the railroad bridge was down to let trains cross, but he was not really sure how Buddy made it to Gull Island.

But, Mr. Neary said, “I’m glad it worked out for the dog. It was a happy ending … I’m glad we could end the year on a happy note.”

“I cannot begin to tell you how thrilled that I am that Buddy was found,” the anonymous reward donor said. “It’s a real Christmas miracle!”

Source: http://starnewsgroup.com/weekly/2009/12.10.09/buddy_the_be_12.10.09_34072.html
Another version of the story here