Lost and Found Stories
Here are some stories from people who had lost dogs, some of them found them and some of them did not. :(
Maria Oliverio's story, pay attention to the very last fews lines!
I also have a lost and found sheltie, Della. She ran away the first night I got her. I had her only twenty minutes and didn't even have time to put her collar on when she slipped out the front door. We put up signs, walked the neighborhood, placed lost ads in the newspaper, called the local vet offices and shelters and cried many tears. The second day I received a call from one of my signs that she had been found. Unfortunately it was a tri sheltie, not my sable and white girl (fortunately, the tri sheltie was returned to her owner). Miraculously I received four calls eleven days later. She was spotted a few miles from my home, running with another dog. The last call was a woman who had her and was feeding her dinner. I barely remember driving to pick her up, but there she was in the arms of the woman who called me. She was no worse for the wear and in good shape. We think that someone had her and she slipped from them and went on the lam once again. Since that time, she shows no interest in leaving and has a keen sense of where her home is whenever we take a walk. I count getting her back as once of my blessings.
When I lost Della, my saving grace was having a sign in the local vet's offices. That's how the person who found Della got my contact information. I followed up with the vet's offices every couple of days to see if anyone had brought in a dog matching her description. Thank goodness I did that because they had taken down my sign and put it back up because of my follow up call.
Mary Couzens, Story! Thank you Mary
Many if not most of you are aware that my Mimi (rough Collie Bitch) was lost the same night that Piper was killed ... 2/19/00. Piper was hit by a car when someone caring for my dogs while I was out of town at a meeting
accidently left a gate open. Mimi was with him at the time and I and some friends and neighbors spent 7 long weeks searching for her.
This List knew about the search and I contacted both the MI and WI CC of A District Directors and through them Collie Rescue People. We did the usual things although my search was complicated by winter weather. The ground was snow
covered and the Bay (Green Bay) ice covered when she disappeared; but that was all gone in probably less than 2 weeks.
Darla bless her heart was with me by phone from the get go with ideas, suggestions etc....even where to purchase a Trap. Thank You Darla.
I learned a number of things in the process that I'd like to share. Some of them I knew and many of them were passed along by Darla:
1st: My local community cared and did all they could to help. My phone # was on the Fliers but not my name. Somehow, someway, people knew who I was and I still get asked about her. I honestly believe that local people
cared because I cared. 2nd: There are look-alike dogs out there.
We spent hrs and days running down leads. Most of them turned out to be free roaming tri-Collies. I didn't know there were so many of them in the area.
3rd: Many lost dogs will hide during the day and come out in search of food at first light and again at dusk. It is vital that searchers get out when the dog is out.
4th: School buses will usually help by posting or carrying a picture of the dog on a poster. In my case, although I had already covered 1 school District, I caught up with another one during one of my early morning runs.
5th: Humane Traps can be a God-send if you have a sighting. In my case we had to wait until the ground stopped being wet during the day and frozen a night.
Then finally, when we felt the time had come and we had bought a trap, call came in from our local Animal Shelter. All the posters, word of mouth and just plain caring paid off although not the way I would have wished.
She had been sighted lying on a sandbar just off the Green Bay shore line. My Vet saw her and verified that she had probably died almost immediately after she disappeared ... maybe the same night as Piper. She turned up south of Marinette, WI (about 30 miles south of me) and we figure that she probably went out on the Bay to follow it home then WENT out with it when
the Bay went out.
Knowing what I know now, would I do it again. YOU BET
Thanks again Darla for all your help and support. Telephone help can be invaluable. You (DARLA) can't go every where. You can teach by phone too.
<g>
Mary
Mary E Couzens
Wabeek Shelties
In Michigan's Lovely Upper Peninsula
wabeek@cybrzn.com
Mary Beth Coopers, story Thank You Mary Beth
It all happened 6 days before Christmas. Rocky somehow got out and we searched frantically for two days. We had posters up all over our neighborhood area. At the end of the second day a neighbor's dad came to us and said he saw Rocky on the first day 2 blocks from our houseand had to swerve to keep from hitting him as he was walking down the
middle of the road! (Nice of him to stop or call someone huh?)
Anyway atleast he did come forward. Well I was in tears just knowing he had been hit and there were ravines all over the area. It would be very hard to search here and not get hit ourselves.
That night my two girls (4 and 1 1/2 at the time said a prayer to their grandpa (who is in heaven and died when their father was young boy) to watch over Rocky. I nearly fell apart.
The next day at around noon I was at work getting little done and the phone rang. This guy said "Is this Mary Beth Cooper?" I thought it was a patient calling to gripe at me (I was in a billing position at the time) and I said in my
'hard-to-be-polite-but-...', "Yes can I help you?" He said "Yeah have your dog" Just plain as that! Because HIS sheltie female was missing, his friend was on the look out and saw
Rocky then called this guy who went to catch his dog and realized it wasn't his. They caught him and he called the Vet number which was on the Rabies tag who gave him my work number. We picked him up within the hour. The thing we couldn't figure out was-it was cold and rainy for three days and his coat was perfect. No brush, briars, mats or anything.
We got him back 3 days before Christmas. Unfortunatley if it had not been for his missing female we might not have gotten him back. When I last checked they still didn't have her back.
Thanks for reading my story.
Cynthia Holmes, story, Thanks Cynthia
This lost sheltie story happened shortly after Knight was lost. I sold a show quality 2 year old blue merle female to a novice exhibitor on September 12, 2000. I won't mention names but the purchaser was not totally honest with me about her fencing situation.
She was walking the sheltie on lead the day after
she purchased her and the sheltie pulled the leash out of her hand and ran into a heavily wooded area. She had a choke collar on and a leash. This person I sold the dog to lived in a very rural and wooded area. Being worried about not being totally honest about her fence, she didn't call me right away but waited a day when she couldn't locate the sheltie. We both looked
everywhere, put up signs, went door to door with flyers, put an ad in the local paper, called animal control etc. We even contacted an animal communicator who tried to give us ideas where to look. We looked every minute that we had available with no signs of her at all.
We received several calls that were not the right dog, not even a sheltie. Three weeks to the day, we received a call that was the right dog!!! She had gotten tangled up in barb wire and found her way to a person who owned two shelties! They saw the signs and called and she was returned. She lost three pounds and
had a severe gash on her neck from the choke collar but was in decent shape considering what she had endured. This story shows how intelligent shelties are as this dog could have easily gotten tangled up and choked to death or starved to death but she managed to break loose and find her way to a sheltie lover!!!!
The new owner immediately put up a fence and all is well. I spent many a sleepless night worrying but am so happy this story had a happy ending.
--
Cynthia Holmes
Oakdale Shelties
Belton,Missouri
http://www.oakdaleshelties.com
Beth Shaw's story, Thanks Beth
Hi
i am writing you with Raja's story. I don't know if you have it yet.
In April of 99 Raja went to stay with my sister. He would normaly have stayed home but my husband was in the hospital. When I came home and went to get Raja I found out he had gotten lose the day before while I was out of touch. I was very upset of course but knowing he had been gone 24 hours already made it worse.
I got home and called the calvelry. My friend and dog breeder Gloria pountney , her cousin Jo-anne Jefferson, My trainer Norma Hamilton and my friend Marg McCullum. Within minutes they were out searching. We called all the radio stations.( This did no good as they never did air it) We called the Police and RCMP. Posters were put in every store, mall and even postal boxes.Within hours we had our first of many sitings. The first one that we knew was him was from the RCMP I rushed to the scene but he was to far away.
By the time I got to him a good samaritian trying to help ran at him and scared him off. There were many calls but until the 5th day none of the help saw him. On THE DAY The breeder got a call and I set off in my car with my Daughter and Rjas sister Coral. Raja had been sited in the Median of a 4 lane highway and It was 5 o'clock! My daughter took one window and I took
the other.
Many hornes were honked as we were traveling quite slow. Then I
saw him He was running down the center in the grass. I pulled the car over and hollered In. This is Rajas go for a drive comand. Over he runs herds the car,( this gave us a heart attack there was a LOT of traffic) and jumps in.
You would think this was the end but Raja was a Show dog. 10 days later he was entered in a Show and after consulting with our breeder we decided to go ahead. Raja got his first 3 points. His solid temperment will be a great plus should he ever be used for breeding.
I know I am not a great writer like some of our listers but every time one of our babies on the list goes missing the nightmare comes back. I feel there pain and sorrow and pray for the safe return of there baby.
Beth Shaw
Mom to Coral
nana to Raja
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