Kyuubi, a brindle-colored dog

Ouch, the way this dog was "lost" is horrifying! In the end, once again, a microchip saved the day. Enjoy the story.
Man reunited with dog dumped by W.Va. interstate
April 04, 2009 @ 01:30 PM
MALINDA REINKE, The Dominion Post Herald-Dispatch.com


FAIRMONT, W.Va. (AP) — The big brindle dog with the yellow eyes hesitated only for a moment as a familiar voice called his name. “Kyuubi! Come here, Kyuubi!” Then he started running.

Isaac Rodriguez, 23, grinned, early Tuesday evening, as the pet he thought he would never see again raced into his arms in the backyard of the Creekside Kennels, in Fairmont.

Rodriguez and a couple of childhood friends had driven nonstop from California to West Virginia so that Rodriguez could be reunited with the lost 2-year-old Labrador-pit bull mix pup he hadn’t seen since mid-January.

“He looks good,” said Rodriguez, smiling and rubbing his dog’s back just the way he always liked it. “He looks huger!”

The reunion, organized by Pet Helpers Inc., a pet rescue group based in Fairmont, was witnessed by about a dozen volunteers and well-wishers.

According to Rodriguez, Kyuubi (pronounced QB) who Rodriguez had adopted at about 3 months old from a shelter in Los Angeles had been living with him and his girlfriend in Bellview in Marion County.

“In December of last year, she said she needed a break,” Rodriguez said. “So I moved back to California and I told her I’d have Kyuubi shipped out to me. She said she would take care of him for me.”

But a few weeks later, Rodriguez said, the woman texted his cell phone to tell him she was going to abandon the dog along Interstate 79.

What exactly became of Kyuubi for the next month and a half is unclear.

But on the morning of March 9, Bea Dotson, 25, spotted a big, skinny, brindle-colored dog in the front yard of her Pruntytown home. When he didn’t wander away, she went out to investigate.

“He was a little shy,” Dotson said. “I called him, I said, ’Hey, buddy, come here,’ and he actually came up to me. He had these very light brown and yellow eyes. He was really scared and very dirty, but really friendly. I think I fed him almost 10 cups of food, he was so hungry.”

But the thing that most disturbed her, Dotson said, was the dog’s paws. “He was limping. And he had sores on every (pad) of his feet.”

Dotson called Joe Gribbon, owner of Creekside Kennels, who advised her to call Pet Helpers. Terry Buretz, a board member and volunteer for the rescue group, ran a notice about a lost dog for five days on Web sites Fido-finder and Pet911 and Marion County Humane Society’s E-Lert. No one called.

And when they brought the dog to the vet for treatment, they got a surprise — a scanner revealed a microchip. One of the names on the chip was Isaac Rodriguez. It was a defunct phone number, and it took some investigating, but Buretz found another phone number and left a message.
Her phone rang two minutes later.

“Are you missing a dog?” she asked the caller. “I am,” Rodriguez said.

At the kennel in Fairmont, with Kyuubi in his arms, Rodriguez said that, in January, he had called the local humane society and police departments to help find his dog, but no one could help him. He thought Kyuubi was gone from his life.

“This is awesome,” he said, thanking Dotson and Pet Helpers for all they’ve done.

Kyuubi, named after a character in the Japanese anime TV series “Naruto,” seemed content to romp around his master, and everyone around them smiled.

“I’m happy for him, of course,” Dotson had said before the reunion. “But Kyuubi was with us for three weeks and we were getting close to him.”

After the excitement died down, she and Rodriguez stood together with Kyuubi.

“You should have brought them flowers,” Dotson said of Buretz and the others from the rescue group.

“I know, I’m sorry,” the young man said. “But I have hugs.”

“Kyuubi says, ’Where have you been?’ Don’t lose him again.”

“Oh, I won’t,” he answered.

The Pet Helpers volunteers were just happy to witness one of their rescued pets go home.

“When you see those eyes on that dog,” Buretz said, “you wonder how anyone could have ever put him out.”


Source: http://www.herald-dispatch.com/news/briefs/x955384987/Man-reunited-with-dog-dumped-by-W-Va-interstate

Also see: http://pethelpersinc.org/helpinghands1.aspx

Rocky, a toy poodle

This dog's people did get a trap and set it up, but they also laid out a sweater of the owner's in another nearby location, on the advice of a rescue person. When they went to check the trap which was baited with food, the dog hadn't been there, but he was lying on the sweater.

Little dog lost, then found using unique tactic
By Olivia Damavandi / Staff Writer
Tuesday, May 19, 2009 8:56 PM PDT

Rocky, a toy poodle, was lost for three days in the mountains. His owners found him by placing a sweater with their scent on it on a trail near where he went missing.

Tony Alti and son Michael had lost their little dog, but then Michael, following the advice of an animal rescue agency, used a unique tactic to find the toy poodle, which survived three days in the mountains.

After a relentless two and a half day search, Tony Alti, owner of Colony House Liquors, and his son, Michael, were shocked to discover that their four-year-old white toy poodle, Rocky, had survived three frigid nights and the jaws of predation in the Santa Monica Mountains last month.

"I don't know how he did it," Tony said in a telephone interview. "This is a dog who's used to eating at Gelson's and drinking Fiji water.

"After three nights of cold, mountain lions, rattlesnakes and coyotes, I said, 'Even a man can't survive,'" he continued. "And don't forget he's a white poodle, it's difficult for him to stay camouflaged."

With dusk approaching and two miles left of their 11-mile hike along the Backbone Trail one Saturday last month, Michael asked his friend, Ray, to hold Rocky while he hurried to get their car. But, wanting to follow Michael, Rocky jumped from Ray's arms and dashed quickly out of sight.

That night, a team of family, friends and their dogs helped search for Rocky until midnight. With no sign of the toy poodle, Michael and Tony started the five-hour hike again at 1 a.m., seeing only two rattlesnakes and hearing the howls of coyotes. Tony despaired of finding the little dog.

"We hiked 13 miles Saturday night, from 11:30 p.m. to 7 a.m.," Tony said. "I had two special jackets for hiking and I was cold so I thought, 'How can Rocky do it?'"

A glimmer of hope surfaced early the next morning when Michael, while standing on the edge of a small hill, spotted Rocky 50 feet below him. Though the dog ran out of sight again, the knowledge he was still alive added fuel to the search. But by the end of the day, people began to give up.

"Local rangers of the Santa Monica Mountains recreation area refused to help search for a lost dog, and a cop [who] pulled by at the time said, 'We have murderers, mountain lions, bobcats and coyotes in this area, just give it up,'" Michael said in a telephone interview. But the father and son persevered in their search.

"You have to follow your gut and tune out the negative comments that are unproductive and useless," Michael said.

After searching all morning and afternoon on the third day after losing the dog, Michael set up a humane trap with chicken bait along the trail in the evening where they had hiked the Saturday before. He also decided to follow the advice of a rescue agency and leave his sweater in a little opening between some bushes, with the hope that the scent would draw the dog.

"I went to check on the trap and monitor the site again [the next morning], and there he was, lying on my sweater looking straight at me," Michael said. "I didn't want to scare him so I got on my knees, but he ran up and licked my face.

"Dogs like your smell, they're comfortable with that," he said, adding that the same rescue tactic had helped his friend find his dog a few months ago.

In spite of more than 35 tick bites, Rocky was physically healthy at the time of his rescue, Michael said. The dog is, however, now afraid to be by himself, especially in the dark.

"He's physically attached and won't leave your side," Tony said. "He's better, but I guess it's going to take some time for him to get back to normal, if he ever does. Three nights in this cold darkness is scary for anybody."

After hiking 55 miles in two and a half days, Michael said the experience has taught him to follow his instincts, and to "never give up and keep trying, no matter how bad a situation looks."

Following the publication of this article, this update was posted to the comments by Michael Alti on May 20, 2009 1:53 PM:

" Rocky's rescue was thanks to a large group effort: both on and off the trail. Above all, many thanks go to Hala Alti and my wonderful girlfriend Susan. Hala was actually the one who set up the humane trap and came up with the idea of leaving out our clothing. Hala followed her intuition and refused to give up. She was amazing during the ordeal. I greatly admire Hala's love of and devotion to animals. Susan was extremely dedicated and supportive. She joined my dad and me on our 11-mile hike in the dark that first night, stayed up 24 straight hours assisting the search, did not sleep, encouraged my family to remain positive, and missed spending Easter with her family. The readers should also know that Rocky has fully recovered and is 100% back to his normal loving and happy self! "

Source: http://www.malibutimes.com/articles/2009/05/20/news/news3.txt

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Emmy, a Jack Russell Terrier

It's more common than you might think for dogs to go missing because they were not secured by a seat belt when an auto accident occurred. If people use seat belts, why not dogs? For all the same reasons, they should. But enough about that . . . Repeat after me: Craigslist Craigslist Craigslist. Use Craigslist whether you've found a pet or lost one. That's what brought about this reunion. Enjoy the story.

After the crash, a family is reunited
--Tony Perry
May 24, 2008

Emmy is back with her family in San Diego. The 11-year-old Jack Russell terrier was ejected from her owners' car as it crashed and rolled off Interstate 15 early Thursday. MaryBeth Zmuda and her husband, Timon Martin, were not injured but soon became frantic when they couldn't find Emmy.

They searched, they called. Finally they placed an ad, with Emmy's picture, on Craigslist and called KUSI-TV. Complicating matters, the couple has just moved to San Diego and not had time to get tags for Emmy.

A woman recognized Emmy as the dog she had spotted about three miles from the crash site and had called county Animal Services to report. Calls were made, and pet and people were reunited Friday.

"It's really beyond belief, it's heaven," said Zmuda.

Before they took Emmy home from the Animal Services shelter in Carlsbad, Zmuda and Martin got some insurance against her being lost again: a microchip implanted in her skin. If she ever shows up at a shelter, workers can use a scanner to read her address and phone number.

Photo: Zmuda/Martin family album

Source: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/unleashed/2008/05/emmy-is-back-wi.html

Another version of the same story, at: http://www.sdcounty.ca.gov/Portal/News/052308dogreunion.html
Dog and Owners Separated in Crash Reunited
May 23, 2008

A dog that was ejected from a car as it crashed and rolled off Interstate 15 on Thursday was reunited with its owners today at the County’s animal shelter in Carlsbad.

The dog, an 11-year-old Jack Russell named Emmy, made her way to a back yard in Carmel Mountain Ranch – about three miles from the crash site. County Animal Services picked up the dog this morning. Emmy had no tags or microchip. Animal Services had a tough time catching her because she was scared.

“It was really frightened, poor little thing,” said Laurie Joniaux, deputy director of the County’s Animal Services Department. Afterwards, the woman recognized the dog’s picture on the Internet classified site Craigslist – where Emmy’s owners posted her photo.

On Thursday, Emmy’s owners, MaryBeth Zmuda and her husband Timon Martin of Clairemont, were heading south on Interstate 15 when Zmuda lost control of their Toyota Matrix. The car careened off the freeway and into the embankment, rolling over. The couple was safe. But Emmy was missing.

“I was frantic,” Zmuda said. “I knew she wasn’t in the car. My husband went looking for her. Bystanders along the side of the road were looking for her. “

The couple was taken to the hospital and released after being treated for minor injuries. Later, Zmuda and Martin contacted KUSI with their story, and posted Emmy’s picture on Craiglist.

The woman who found Emmy happened to check Craigslist for postings of lost dogs and recognized Emmy’s photo. The woman called Zmuda and the couple went to the Carlsbad shelter to find Emmy.

“It was heaven,” Zmuda said of their reunion. “It sounds cheesy, but it really was. It was very distressing to think I might never see her again. “

Tabby

If only everyone with a lost dog could have such coincidences occur. This family was lucky that the dog's "new" family were willing to give him up; not that they shouldn't but a lot of families wouldn't. But think about it -- it sounds like this dog was living just a few blocks away for all that time. Enjoy the story.

EMT finds her lost dog on run scene
By John Hultgren, Kentucky EMS Connection


MARION — A family dog missing for a year is now back at home after being found living with a patient.
Crittenden County EMS paramedic Richard Turner told us the story that began last Saturday night, Mar. 30.

Turner and his partner, Dana Doom, were working a 24-hour shift when they were dispatched at midnight on a 911 call for chest pain no more than three blocks away.

While Turner was assessing and treating the patient he recalls noticing a "little dog that was very friendly." After transporting the patient to the hospital, "Dana walked up to me and said that the dog we saw was her dog Tabby. She just knew it."

Doom asked the patient's wife where they had gotten the dog, and the wife told them they had gotten the dog from a man in the country.

On Monday Doom's husband went to the patient's house with pictures of their Tabby. The dog responded to its old name, and when Doom's husband told the family their dog had a birthmark on it's belly, the family "turned the dog over and, sure enough, there was the birth mark," Turner said.

After seeing the birthmark, the patient's family was convinced and returned the dog to the Dooms.

"So the Doom family -- Mom, Dad, and their little girl -- are tickled pink," Turner said. "I saw the little girl with the dog Wednesday and she was happy beyond belief."

Source: http://www.hultgren.org/news/02-2/02-0077.html