Penny, Boston terrier

Piedmont Family Reunited With Lost Pet
Michael Konopasek, News9
Posted: May 31, 2011 11:09 PM EDT
Updated: Jun 01, 2011 11:10 AM EDT

PIEDMONT, Oklahoma -- One week ago Tuesday, tornadoes tore apart some Oklahoma families.

Even amid the destruction, one family near Piedmont never gave up hope they'd be reunited with their lost loved one.

The Evans family home is no longer standing. Thankfully, they were not home when Tuesday's tornadoes plowed through, but one special member of the family was and until today the search for her never stopped.

"I can't believe it," said Dennis Evans, tornado victim who found his dog. "It's amazing. I just can't believe she's in such good shape."

Tuesday was a day to rejoice for Evans after finding his Boston Terrier who had been lost for seven days. And although she is just a dog, to Evans she is a member of the family.

Last Tuesday, shortly after a tornado ripped through the Piedmont area, Evans returned to nothing but a foundation and debris with no dog in sight.

Ever since that moment, for ten hours a day, the search was on, to find Penny!



After a week, many people may have given up, but not the Evans family. Seven days after the tornado hit, someone spotted the spirited black dog.

For Penny and her owner it was joyous occasion. And, although Penny has some ticks after her journey in the wild, Evans says she is doing remarkably well.

Penny and her family are, of course, enjoying each other's company. On the agenda for Wednesday is a visit to the vet's office to get those ticks taken care of.

Source: http://www.newson6.com/story/14773947/piedmont-family-reunited-with-lost-pet?

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Ella, chihuahua mix

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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Neiko, Havanese

Little Lost Dog...
LA Reid

Lost Dog is the true story about the day Neiko ran away. Finding a missing pet is worse than looking for a needle in a haystock. Needles don't know how to hide - dogs do. And they do it so well.

Neiko was soon to become a miracle dog - the hard way. He was just over one year old and I was going out of town for the day. A friend took him overnight and was going to drop him at my office in the morning. I was driving back home when I learned Neiko was not at the office. I called my friend and she started crying hysterically. She couldn’t even talk. Not a good sign. Fear gripped me immediately. I knew it was about Neiko. Was he dead – what had happened? I called my daughter and asked her to find out what was happening.

In seconds, my cell phone rang. My daughter said my friend’s husband left a door open and Nieko ran out. He had been gone for over six hours. They lived close to the interstate and all streets in their area were very heavily trafficked. My heart sunk. I knew how hard it was to find a run away dog. I had previously owned one and it was a nightmare. Perhaps that experience prepared me for what I needed to do.

I drove as fast as I could, probably faster than I should have but there were only a few daylight hours left. After dark it would be impossible to find him. If Neiko was still alive, he would never survive overnight in that area. It was full of swamps and alligators. The "if he was still alive" was pounding in my head. It would be dark in three hours.

When I arrived at my friend’s house, I was told they saw Neiko go straight down the street. I went to the nearest neighbor’s houses, literally begging them to please watch for him and call me if they see him. I needed flyers quickly. I really needed help so I called my son-in-law. He and my 11 year old granddaughter joined in the search. She made flyers and posted them throughout the area. They stopped cars, talked to walkers and knocked on doors.

I also stopped every car that I could. One person said they had seen him around noon, heading down a very heavily trafficked street about a mile away. I went to the first subdivision off that street, knocked on doors, talked to drivers and walkers. Then I went to the second development. Two young girls were riding on a golf cart. They stopped in a driveway and went into the house. I knocked and went inside. I explained the situation to their mother and the girls said they would ride around the area and let me know if they found him. Time was slipping by too fast and there were no real leads.

My daughter, Bo's mom, worked long distance. She started calling all the homes in the neighborhood. Every effort was made to find Neiko. The sun started to set and my heart was pounding so hard I could barely breathe. There were only minutes left. I called the girls who had the golf cart and asked them if they could please take a drive around again. They said they would. By then I was crying and everything seemed so hopeless. There were huge fields of underbrush where he could lie down and disappear forever. Traffic, miles of roads and wild animals. He was just a tiny baby, lost and afraid. Lost dogs tend to run on the streets then hide. The success rate is very low in situations like this.

Then my cell phone rang. The girls said they spotted Neiko and a friend of theirs was trying to catch him. They gave me directions and I headed to the area. When I got there, no one was there. I called them again, and they said Neiko had run away from their friend but he was still trying to catch him. Then I heard screams. They had found him! I was praying so hard that it was Neiko and not some other dog.

As I sped down the road, I knew this was my last chance. If it wasn’t him, he probably would never be found. As I pulled up to their house, a boy was holding what looked like a scraggly brown dog. I jumped out of the car and ran toward him. It was my baby. Filthy, bleeding and crying, but alive. The thanks yous for saving his life would never be adequate. I gave them what cash I had as a reward and they seemed as thrilled as I was just to have found him.

I drove home while holding him tightly. I bathed him very carefully. He had worn the pads completely off his feet and could not walk. His fur was matted with mud, burrs and sticks and he smelled terrible. But he was alive.

The next morning he went to the vet. They ran blood work and checked him from stem to stern. His feet had to be bandaged and treated for infection. His bandages made him look like all four legs were broken. He needed antibiotics, more pills, powders and lots of TLC. For the next two weeks, he hobbled on his little sore feet. The medication kept him sleepy and he had no energy but it was amazing how well he adjusted. It was about two months before he fully recovered and the experience made us even closer than ever.

Update June 2009. I received a phone call from AKC. The operator was very excited when she told me someone had found my dog. At the time, Neiko was sitting next to me so I drew a blank. The AKC operator gave me the name and phone number of the person who thought they had my dog. When they said Apopka, Florida I had just been in that area a few days earlier and my daughter lived near there.

I called my daughter and before I could explain what happened, she was crying and said Bo, her little dog ran away and she thought he had been killed. I told her no he hadn't, realizing the dog reported to AKC was Bo, but she hung up before I could tell her. So I called the people who thought they had Neiko, they said someone just came to their house - it was my daughter. I thanked them profusely, as did my daughter. Bo was safe and AKC came to the rescue. I highly recommend obtaining an AKC identification for your dog. They have operators on duty 24/7 in case you lose or someone finds your dog.

Source: http://www.rhinestonepuppydog.com/lost.html

Zeb, Australian Shepherd

Zeb, come home: Dog crosses 520 bridge in rush hour
A dog is home safe after a harrowing trip on foot across the 520 bridge.
By Susan Gilmore, Seattle Times staff reporter
Originally published Thursday, February 3, 2011 at 11:38 AM

Zeb is home safe after a trip on foot across the 520 bridge

Good thing he didn't make his break this spring. He might have faced a hefty toll.

It was rush hour, after all, when Zeb made his escape across the Highway 520 bridge.

Zeb, an Australian shepherd, was back home Thursday in his Madrona home after his owners found him across the lake in Hunts Point, two days after he fled the Eastlake home where he was being cared for while his owners were out of town.

Owner Megan Ferestien said she thinks Zeb, who's 6 years old, was trying to get home. "He should have taken the Arboretum exit, but missed it," she said.

Friends who had been caring for him posted notices on Craigslist and received reports of him crossing the 520 bridge on Tuesday afternoon, weaving across the eastbound and westbound lanes. Drivers reported that cars on the bridge were driving defensively on Zeb's behalf, slowing down to protect the wayward pooch as he made his way east.

The Washington State Patrol tried to capture the dog, but he eluded troopers by jumping over a jersey barrier. Reports kept coming in to Craigslist. The State Department of Transportation tweeted that a dog "walked entire length of 520 bridge!"

The dog was spotted in Medina. Friends searched for him Tuesday night through Wednesday, before Ferestien and her husband, Dana, found Zeb about 8:30 a.m. Thursday hiding in Hunts Point.

He was starving, said Ferestien. He smells bad and has a torn paw, but otherwise seems healthy.

"Both my husband and I are now firm believers in the power of social media," Ferestien said. "Without friends spreading the news through various networks and strangers responding to Craigslist postings, I don't know if we would have been able to narrow our search and bring him home.

"This is a feel-good story," she said. "He's a special little guy. It's a miracle he made it across 520."

She later joked about it all.

"It's a good thing we won't get a ticket in the mail because he crossed without his transponder."

Source: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2014119359_dogescape04m.html

Jesse, yellow lab

GOING TO THE DOGS: ‘Tail’ to tell after being lost.
By Jerry Elsden, GateHouse News Service
Posted Oct 27, 2009 @ 08:00 AM

Lewkowski, the Rhodesian Ridgeback, left, found Jessie, the 12-year-old yellow Lab, right, 16 days after she became lost in Wompatuck State Park on Oct. 14.

Hingham — What’s better than a miracle, long after you’ve given up hope finding a lost dog?

On Wednesday, Oct. 14, we found Jessie, a 12-year-old yellow Labrador retriever, who has cataracts and mast cell cancer tumors on her body.

Jessie was found alive 16 days after she had vanished east of the parking lot opposite the Wompatuck State Park Visitors Center on Monday, Sept 28, around 3:15 p.m., near the N2 side trail.

I’ve been Jessie’s dog walker since 2003. So, I was looking for her body when I took four Labs and a Rhodesian Ridgeback named Lewkowski (who I walk only on Mondays and Wednesdays) into Wompatuck on the same trail I had last seen Jessie. I remember thinking that her beautiful body would be more visible as winter approached. The “lost dog” posters that I had taped everywhere were a sad reminder of the horrific day she disappeared. I was no longer calling out for “Jessie.”

I took the dogs on the paved road past the waterfall and toward Triphammer Pond, onto the old gravel railroad bed (from when Wompatuck was the Naval Ammunition Annex). On that trail Accord Brook runs swiftly through a culvert on its way to the pond. Over the last two weeks I’d walked that trail several times looking for Jessie, as did many others, calling her name, and whistling.

Suddenly, the Ridgeback hung back, sniffing the ground and air. She barked as if to say, “Pay attention here.” This dog has never barked with me when I walk her. Something was up.

Lewkowski rushed down the 45-degree sloped underbrush area and I followed, hanging on to Sonny’s leash. Leila and Tango barked. I saw a yellow Lab body, knew it was Jessie, and my heart leaped. Was she dead, or barely alive?

Jessie raised her head, and tried to recognize me, but couldn’t, her old eyes glazed. The Labs licked her face. She could not stand up. I thought her leg was broken, but a nasty long briar stem had twisted around her belly. I wished I had my jackknife, but instead broke the stem with my prosthetic right foot. She didn’t even whimper. I clipped a leash on her collar but it slipped off, she had lost so much weight. I think I grabbed the back of her neck, and got Jessie up the slope onto the trail. I was so overjoyed I thought I was dreaming. That dog actually walked back to the car, although I was prepared to call the park ranger to open the gate and get her. The other dogs pranced around, knowing she was OK, especially Lewkowski. Jessie drank lots of water in my car, and at my house she ate some kibble. God only knows what she ate for 16 days. The rainfall kept her from dehydration, which is worse than hunger for any creature. I wanted to grill her a steak, but knew her tummy had to have what the vet recommended.

After contacting Jessie’s pet parents by cell phone, I whisked her off to Roberts Animal Hospital in Hanover for what the vet called “a head to toe” check-up. Her pet parent’s daughter met us there. Jessie weighed 60 pounds, down from 76 pounds in June. That’s a pound for each day she was lost. Other than some scrapes and scratches, and a few ticks, the old girl was stable and could go home, after the tech gave her some subcutaneous fluids and a de-wormer. We took home special canned food and medicated shampoo. I cherished that reunion of Jessie’s to her home. She was safe, warm, fed and happy. The next day she went to Doggie Style Salon in Quincy, where Ryan Lamb, of Hingham, removed 12 more ticks and gave her a professional grooming. “She earned it,” said Lamb, whose family has been in the insurance business in town since 1952.

Sept 28 was a beautiful early fall day, the sun was drying up the rain from the day before. I took the dogs to Wompatuck because the tide was low at Bare Cove Park, which was business as usual. Jessie hung back from me and the dog pack, which she often does, and I called to her to catch up. She did, but she had a crazy look on her face. My black Lab Duchess had picked up an apple that someone had thrown on to the trail, and she was playing with it. I thought it cute, looked back for Jessie about 15 seconds later, and she was gone. I turned around and called Jessie’s name, went to the parking lot, walked other trails, yelled her name until dark (6:30 p.m.) I called her pet parent. By this time I had corralled the other dogs into the car with water and biscuits. I notified Hingham Police. It was around 60 degrees.

The next morning I was in the park with cooked bacon, searching for Jessie, for about five hours, near the N2 trail. I consulted a dog physic who told me she was alive but west of where I last saw her. With Jessie’s pet parent and other volunteers, we searched that area, near Woodpecker Pond, to no avail. The daytime temperatures were around 60 degrees and nighttime temps were around 45 degrees, in Jessie’s favor.

A friend owns a bloodhound, so I took Jessie’s blanket (so painful to gather) to have the hound sniff if and off she went. But bloodhounds must be trained to find people or dogs for it to work. My daughter helped with the search. I banged a stainless dog dish with a spoon as I walked everywhere on day three. The temps remained warm, giving us hope. We told everyone about Jessie, to look for her. The Wompatuck Park Rangers were really helpful, and sympathetic.

Sept 30 and Oct 1 were search days, but we were getting discouraged. Fellow dog walkers from Bare Cove Park came in to look for Jessie. I printed posters and dropped them at houses all along Lazell Street. I met some nice people.

Saturday, Oct 3 it rained all day. I was losing hope, as did Jessie’s pet parents. A woman called me about a yellow Lab seen near the High School. I printed more posters and taped them all over Hingham Center. I offered a $100 reward.

As the days dragged on with no sign of Jessie, we all assumed she had died. The notion set in that maybe her mast cell cancer had spread and she was feeling awful and wandered off to die. People told me to stop beating myself up, which fell on deaf ears. I took the dogs to Bare Cove Park, could not deal with Wompatuck. Her pet parents took down Jessie’s crate.

But in the back of my mind stuck the words of a woman who walks her Bassett Hound at Bare Cove every day. Her name, ironically, is Jessie and she said “dogs have been lost for weeks in that park, and coyotes are not really a problem.”

The lesson here of course is that Jessie should be leashed always, which I do in parking lots and on her street to the car.

Jessie, you have a new lease on life, thanks to your buddy Lewkowski. And I think, the Dog God.

Jerry Elsden is a below-the-knee amputee who was involved in a serious automobile-pedestrian accident. She is a dog walker, freelance writer and former editor of The Hingham Journal. The names of the dogs in this column have been changed to protect the identities of their owners.

Source: http://www.wickedlocal.com/hingham/news/lifestyle/columnists/x665149614/GOING-TO-THE-DOGS-Tail-to-tell-after-being-lost

Piper, tan dog

Kingsport family's lost, sick dog returns for Christmas
By Phillip Murrell
Published: December 24, 2010

A Kingsport family has been searching for their sick dog since Saturday.

The Nelson family went on vacation, leaving Piper at her local animal hospital.

While an employee walked her, she accidently slipped off her harness.

The Nelsons and the animal hospital have been looking for Piper, hoping to find her so she could get her medicine for her illness.

She has a disease that causes inflammation of her spinal chord.

Thanks to dozens of flyers and a helpful neighbor, they found her.

Larry Lyon looked through a wooded area in his neighborhood of Preston Forest, and found Piper laying down at the bottom of a hill.

An 11 Connects crew captured the moments leading up to a Lyon finding her.

"Oh...Merry Christmas to the Nelson family. This is great! I've got to call everybody," exclaimed Marsha Nelson.

Piper is doing well tonight - she's set to receive chemo treatment for her illness on Monday.

Watch the video above to see the amazing reunion.




Source: http://www2.tricities.com/news/2010/dec/24/kingsport-familys-lost-sick-dog-returns-christmas-ar-735553/?referer=http://twitter.com/&shorturl=http://tricities.com/ar/735553/