1-8-07
What I didn't know then
There was a young skittish aussie heading from Minneapolis MN on a transport train to Albany NY to be with his new adoptive family.
He left MN on Thursday and arrived in Sullivan Thursday aprox 6:55 pm. I never knew this person existed down the road from me. She was the lay over place that was found thru an internet search. She was to be this great breeder of Great Pyrenees dogs, trainer yadda yadda yadda......
Knowing Bart (the aussie) was skittish to loud sound, the transport people slammed the truck door when they got out of the truck, which they were made aware of not to do. Bart bolted from their hands aprox 7 pm Thursday night.
NO ONE CALLED ME. I'm down the road 3-5 min tops.....Where we live it's very woody and swampy, lots of farm fields and openness.
Friday comes. Day is going normal. I agreed to take in 2 bunny's from Wausau Humane Society and 3 rats out of 32.....just dont have room for 32 rats. I was going to meet the tranpsort person at the gas station of i-94 and Hwy F. (15 min away) This was to happen around 6 pm.
Friday 5 pm checking emails and I see a post / subj line Missing Aussie Hwy F and Froelich road. Read it and find dog has been gone since 7 pm Thurs.
I got incontact with the person who posted and she actually found out about it from another list......so I had to play the backwards train game and find out who the real contact person is. I get a lady in MN. Tells me what happened, gave me the address of the lay over person and I headed over there.
This contact person who does layovers for transports says "It's useless, why even search. It's too open out here and the coyotees probably already have him". ggggggrrrr ~ that's not me or who I am so I set out on my own search.
Friday night the MN lady calls me back and I told her no luck. She decided she was coming down from MN to help search. She was actually his foster mom and had him for the past several months.
Now it's Saturday and I headed out putting up flyers and talking to locals. Alyssa was my side driver and eyes as well. We looked and looked with no luck. Decide to come home for lunch, take a break etc.....not 5 min later the phone rings and it's someone who saw the flyer. He saw Bart Friday 2pm. So break is done and we head back out to where he was last seen. Guess he was snacking on a road kill pheasent. No luck dont see him anywhere. Not even a slight sign. He is running scared so he's not responding to his name.
Finally Lynnda is here from MN so we head right back out to his last known place. She brought along her tracking dog Java. Houses out here are spread so far apart, it's easier to drive to your neighbors house then it is to walk there.....BUT We walked all of Rome Road where he was last seen. Many people had seen him some time Friday, but no one could catch him. The all knew he was a lost dog because he was still dragging his leash.
When people heard that Lynnda came down from MN to try and find they were in awe. Some even said "Why?" Or "waste of time" or "What is so special about this dog".
Most were helpful and listend and agreed to keep their eyes open and call.
All our leads were hitting dead ends. The pattern Bart was traveling was more of a zig zag for a while. He was staying within a 6 mile ratius of where he got lost, but one minute he's at point A and then suddenly a call comes in and he's way over at point B.
Being burnt out we decided to go home, take a break, and a nap.
Dan has topagraphical maps so he knows what the whole area looks like due to this. We plot out on this map where he was and what times and it becomes obvious to us now that he is following the Bike Trail. We handed out flyers all day Saturday and talked to anyone who would listen to us. So many people saw him. Finally we found someone who told us Bart slept all night on their deck Friday night. So we left a crate and bedding incase he came back Saturday night to sleep. It had all scents on it that he'd have recognized.
Once it's dark here you can't see a thing. No such thing as street lights out here.
Dead tired we come home and go to bed.
Sunday 5:30 am we are up and ready to search. We papered the area some more. Stood outside a church and handed flyers to those people.The scariest part was when we were handing out flyers and we suspect he was behind the junk yard. Walking toward the gate that said CLOSED I was just going to tape it there this dog came out of no where and let me know he ment business.....omg I almost had a heart attack!! More leads were coming in. Everyone in the village and the community was talking about the missing dog. Strangers were helping now tring to find him. We got the hunters walkie talkies and kep communication that way and broke apart. With Lynnda not knowing the area she got lost real easy and I had to guide her a lot from road to road. Walkie talkies came in very handy!!
It was really starting to look hopeless as night was setting in. Again the cell rang with another spotting. We were just in that area....still pretty much just down the road. So we turned around and headed that way.
Knowing Bart is skittish I radio'd and said I'd hang back and for her to go ahead and see if she could get Bart. I parked along side the road and Alyssa and I and a person who met up with us started walking the road....and who do we see cross the road....BART!! Lynnda was already past this point so we radio'd her that she passed Bart and to come back. In the mean time I called to him BAAAART. He bolted!!! It was good he went the way he did because where he was headed was nothing but acre's and acres of field and woody/swamp.
More searching and now it's almost dark. Phone rings and it's someone who says Bart is in their yard.....just down from where we were......it only took a min or less to get there, but he was gone again!!
A nice couple who allowed us to set up a crate on their deck Saturday still had the crate. So I ran over there to get it and we were going to set it up in this family's yard.
(If you are still with me AWESOME!) So, remember Java the tracking dog? While I"m getting the crate, Java is out tracking. Lynnda was still talking to the people to find out which way he went while Java was already working. She was on a 20 Ft lead....went around the corner of the house and signaled. She found BART!! When Bart saw Java and his foster mama he was so estatic. By the time I got back with the crate is was all done and over with.
Bart is safe and now on his way back home with his Foster Mom Lynnda.
Pics of Bart, Java and Sam
Carol
Carol
www.carols-critter-care.com
