Mindy, a maltipoo

Dog reunited with owners after three months
Friday, November 20, 2009

AKRON, Ohio (KABC) -- An Ohio family thought they had lost their beloved Maltipoo on vacation nearly three months ago only to find out the family pet had survived in the wilderness.

See the video for this story here

A trip to Maine turned into the adventure of a lifetime for Mindy the Maltipoo. It began with a stop in a wilderness area of northwest Massachusetts.

"I thought my wife threw the dog in the car and she thought I put her in and we got about 30 miles down the road and made another stop and discovered she wasn't in," explained the dog's owner, John Dunbar.

They went back for Mindy but couldn't find her. But her family didn't give up. When they got home to Akron, they put Mindy's picture on a Web site, AmberPetAlert.com. That was three months ago. Her profile was a week away from being removed when the call came -- Mindy was alive and well.

"At first I'm like this has to be a joke," said Kathy Dunbar. "My dog's dead. She's been gone three months."

When Mindy got home she weighed three pounds.

"They said she had a diet of mainly grasses and roots and bugs or whatever she could scavenge, and she's a foo-foo dog," said John. "The Humane Society said it was so unusual for a little dog to be able to survive for three months. But somehow she did it."

"I can't believe it," said Kathy. "I cried because I was sad, now I cry because I'm happy."

Source: http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?section=news/bizarre&id=7129899
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Also see these reviews of the AmberPetAlert service, here

Mango, a dachshund

This one is rare, but it's a good reminder that it can and does happen: not only are there people that would steal a dog that is unattended but obviously someone else's dog, but there are people that will forcibly take a dog away from another person. In this case, the person that was robbed of his dog was a 6-year old child.

Reunited after thieves swipe puppy from child
By Kristi Patton - Penticton Western News
September 24, 2009 6:00 PM

It was the equivalent of stealing candy from a baby, except in this case it was a five-month-old puppy named Mango.

Six-year-old Abi Sharma hugs his puppy Mango who was snatched away from him on Main Street where the pair were playing together earlier this week. Robin Soper (background) spotted the dog nearby the following day in the care of an unidentified man who agreed to return the pet to the family.

Six-year-old Abi Sharma had his young life turned upside down on Tuesday when brazen thieves snatched his puppy in broad daylight while the pair were playing outside on the 400-block of Main Street.

“I was outside and a lady came up to pet my dog and then she just ran away with him,” said Sharma, who initially was scared to tell his parents that the puppy he got just a month earlier had been stolen.

The boy returned to the Navratan, the restaurant his family owns, without his usual partner tagging along. After confessing what had happened the search began with his mom, Sam Sharma, and others scouring the area. It was believed the thieves took off heading west down Wade Street but even with the help of strangers who were on the street at the time of the puppy-napping, Mango was nowhere to be found.

“My son was so scared and upset, he even said he never wants to play outside again,” said Sam. “Who would do such a horrible thing like this — stealing a puppy from a little boy?”

Luckily the answer to Sam’s question was answered, as the little boy and his best friend were reunited on Wednesday afternoon.

After contacting as many friends as they could to keep their eyes open for the little daschund, the Sharma’s started putting up missing dog posters. Robbin Soper happened to be walking down the alley behind the Three Gables assisting with the posters when she saw a man walking a dog that looked just like Mango. So along with the little boy’s mother, they approached the man who had by now scooped the dog up into his arms and had a shirt tucked around it.

“I walked up and asked him how long he had the dog for and he answered that he has had it for a couple of weeks,” said Soper. “I questioned him again about it, this time saying are you sure you have had it for a couple of weeks?”

After setting their claim that the puppy was the missing Mango, the man insisted on calling his wife over. Sam said a short discussion took place in which she proved it was her dog by telling the couple of distinctive marks on the dogs paws and Mango running to her when she called it’s name. The couple handed over the daschund and Sam provided them with a small monetary reward.

“The wife said that some kids had sold her the dog (Wednesday) morning for $100 and then passed Mango over to us. I’m just so relieved to have the puppy back,” said Sam who added she was in shock that they had found Mango.

Another downtown business owner called the Penticton Western News Thursday to say that she believes this same pair of alleged thieves had been eyeing her dog on Tuesday.

The woman said a couple matching the description of the suspected thieves came in to her store and instantly were asking questions about the shopkeeper’s dog. The woman said the couple told her they were 17 and 19-years-old and were from Grand Forks looking for work.

The business owner cautioned that this is not the first time she has heard of such a crime and suspected a couple in the summer that came into her store were up to the same plan. She warned that people need to be extra-cautious, keep their dogs on a leash and if they feel someone is being suspicious go with “your gut” and hold your dog close.

For 6-year-old Abi the big grin while receiving loving kisses from his puppy yesterday afternoon said it all.

“I’m just so happy to get my dog back,” he beamed.

The Sharma family said they definitely will be keeping much closer tabs on who is near their dog as it was a hairy sleepless night for them as they wondered if they would ever see Mango again.

“I couldn’t sleep all night. We were praying and praying that Mango would be found ... and our prayers came true,” said Sam.

“Perhaps we should pray that we get the lotto numbers now,” she added with a laugh.

Source: http://www.bclocalnews.com/okanagan_similkameen/pentictonwesternnews/news/61325537.html
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Tinker, a yorkie

This is one amazing story . . .  and if I say it's amazing, it usually really is, because I read a LOT of stories of dogs lost and later found. The amazing thing is how the person who found the dog, found the owner. Read it, watch the video, and enjoy!

Owner gets dog back 8 months after losing her
November 12, 2009
You can call her the miracle dog.

Tammy Yergey has found her dog Tinker after eight months, by the way of a good samaritan who found the dog and helped reunite them after searching through lost dog ads.

Eight months after losing her Yorkshire terrier outside a Lawrence grocery store, Tammy Yergey was reunited with the little dog, Tinker.

“I just never expected to get her back,” Yergey said Thursday, as she held the scruffy, messy-faced dog. “It was just kind of our little miracle.”

Tinker went missing last St. Patrick’s Day — March 17 — during a family trip to a Lawrence grocery store. Someone either stole the dog from the family’s vehicle or it got out somehow.

Yergey immediately put an ad in the newspaper and thought she’d never again see the little dog she had a special bond with, the dog she took to work each day.

“She’s like my little shadow, where she follows me everywhere I go, I just can’t do anything without her not behind me; almost to where I’m tripping over her it’s so bad,” Yergey said. “It was really, really hard.”

But on Veterans Day, Yergey received a phone call from a woman who said she found a dog she thought might be hers — a dog that gets excited when someone’s getting dressed because it thinks a trip’s in store, the dog that has breast cysts on its belly.

“I was like, ‘Oh, this cannot be.’ There is just no way, eight months later that it’s my dog,” Yergey said.

When the stranger brought the dog to Yergey’s Lawrence office building, the dog got excited. Yergey and her co-workers stood by the window waiting to see if it could be Tinker.

“Sure enough it was her,” Yergey said. “Everyone’s like, ‘Yay, it’s Tinker.’ Everyone was crying; it was just so cool.”

The anonymous dog finder said she found the dog a few days ago and went through a year’s worth of lost dog ads in the newspaper. Eventually she found an ad from March that matched Tinker’s description and contacted Yergey.

Though Yergey was a bit hurt Tinker didn’t immediately recognize her, she said the dog was well taken care of and in good spirits. The dog will be pampered during an appointment at the doggy salon Friday.

Source: http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2009/nov/12/owner-gets-dog-back-8-months-after-losing-her/
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Shadow, a black lab

If you go to the source page for this story, you can read the comments, of which there were many. Sadly, a lot of them focused not on the feel good ending with a reunion, but on the fact that this lost dog's owner had been carrying the dog in the back of her pickup when she was lost. That bummed me out after reading a nice happy ending story, but I suppose that if the commenters' emphasis on this practice -- which is a bad one, to be sure -- results in some folks to stop doing it, then I'll take it.


Lost dog's tale has a happy ending
01:21 PM CST on Thursday, December 11, 2008

Sometimes you find the best stories in your own back yard. Or, in this case, in your own back parking lot.

More than a year ago, a stray dog took up residence in the parking area behind the newspaper building.

It's so unusual to see a dog running loose in downtown Dallas that the black Labrador retriever mix caught everyone's attention.

But the poor thing was so skittish that you rarely got more than a fleeting glimpse of her as she cowered down and scurried away. Because no one could get anywhere near her, some kind souls here made do by putting out food and water each day.

But that couldn't go on forever. Someone remembered a story we had run about Capp Evans, a local fellow who has success catching wary strays when no one else can.

His help was enlisted, and the dog some were calling "Belo" was snared on Saturday. A wonderful dog sanctuary in East Texas, Straydog Inc., agreed to take the poor old mutt in. And on Monday, as is routine with all new arrivals there, she was taken to a veterinary clinic in Athens for spaying and medical care.

Bill Arnold, the president of Straydog, said he couldn't believe his ears when the vet called to say the dog was in good health, was already spayed and ... had a microchip implanted! A microchip ID was the last thing anyone expected from what appeared to be a hard-knocks street dog.

Using information from the chip, a call was placed to James Tubbs of Cedar Hill. He's the father of the dog's owner, 28-year-old Alisa Holmes of Dallas.

Alisa said her father scared her when he called.

"He said, 'You're not going to believe this. Are you sitting down?'

"I said, 'I am now. What?'

"He said, 'They found Shadow.' And I screamed."

Shadow's sojourn goes back to Thanksgiving weekend of last year. She was riding in the back of Alisa's pickup. Somewhere between Cedar Hill and Alisa's apartment in North Dallas, Shadow disappeared.

You can spare her the lectures on dogs in the back of trucks. To say she grieved is putting it mildly.

"I have never felt a sadness that deep," Alisa said. "I'm fortunate. No one in my immediate family has died. The closest thing to me that I ever lost was my dog."

That night and for weeks after, Alisa retraced her path, searching for Shadow. She distributed 200 fliers, visited animal shelters and scoured lost-pet Web sites.

She had rescued Shadow as a newborn pup five years before. Shadow's mother, a street dog, gave birth to the litter beneath the broken pavement of an abandoned service station in Arlington.

Shadow suffered from periodic seizures. Alisa theorized that her beloved dog must have had a seizure during the trip home that night and fallen from the truck.

When Alisa got the incredible news on Monday that Shadow was found, it was too late to get to Athens before the clinic closed.

But she and her father were there two hours before it opened Tuesday morning. Alisa hadn't slept all night.

"I smiled so much my cheeks were hurting," she said.

Folks around the newspaper have been smiling, too, as word has spread about the happy outcome for the poor old parking-lot dog.

Alisa said Shadow snored loudly her first night back. What deep, sweet sleep that must have been – home again.

And an update from Alisa after this article ran, found among the dozens of comments about the story:

Hello and Merry Christmas to you all!

To update you all on Ms. Shadow... she has settled in well. She sleeps so sound now! She never used to snore this much! :o)

She loves going with me (in the car). A little stubborn on her food though, I think she is praying for the DMN people... she seems to have been "spoiled" while she was there. Thank you again guys, for taking such great care of her. She is in great health, great spirits, and a true joy to come home to. Shadow, My Dad, and I are going to hand food out to the homeless on Christmas Eve. I hope we can provide some happiness and hope (even if for a moment) to those who need it the most. That will be our first good deed to do together since our reunion. The DMN feeding her for a year! We can do it for a night (at minimum). Take care and best wishes to you all this Christmas Season and safe travels.

If any of you would like pictures, email me at AlisaHolmes@hotmail.com and please put SHADOW as the subject.

Questions? Feel free to ask away.

Sincerely,
Alisa and Shadow (Flash/Midnight/Belo... and all her other nick-names)

Resource: http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/localnews/columnists/sblow/stories/DN-blow_11met.ART.Central.Edition1.4a2e309.html