Rocky dashed away from home yesterday around 4 PM. He was last seen running into the park as people were trying to catch him. Denise requested the help of MPP, and I sent her the handbook of 15 tools and techniques for finding your lost dog. After reading through the material, she was interested in a search dog. I explained that this search might have a lower chance of success than usual because they took Rocky for walks in the area on a regular basis, so old scent trails might be hard to distinguish from new scent trails. Knowing the limitations and the drawbacks, Denise opted to have the search. Kelsy and I arrived around 4:40. We got started right away to make the most of the daylight.
For a scent article, we used a bed that Rocky liked to lay on for many hours each day. Kelsy spent longer than usual sniffing the scent article, and then she started on the trail. Fairly quickly, she found some scat that Denise said was consistent with Rocky. Kelsy followed the scent trail through the park, a wooded ravine with fairly good visibility and sight lines. On the downhill side of the park, Kelsy started using her eyes instead of her nose, a sign to me that she was either losing the scent trail, or it had gotten weaker. Then she started using her nose again and took us to the end of the block. At the intersection below the park, Cullbertson and Sherwood, Kelsy turned and gave me the negative signal, indicating she had run out of scent. When turning back, she stopped at a gate to a yard. Instead of pursuing this, I took her back to the center of the park, where the scent was hottest, and started her again. She led me on several branch trails, and into a section of ferns and huckleberries. Each time she took a particular interest in a spot, I checked to see what she was smelling, and I never saw signs of predation. Kelsy ended up leading me back to the beginning, to the parking lot and the point where Rocky was last seen. As we were trying to find a trail out of the main overlapping trail, Denise got a call that Rocky had been found about a mile south of where we were looking. Denise went to that house, and it turned out to actually be Rocky. He had curled up on someone's porch, and they found him when they came home. I don't know for sure, but I think the finders saw the neon posters for Rocky as they were driving through the neighborhood. Or they might have called the number on the tag. Anyway, Rocky was home, safe.
After we determined that Rocky was healthy, and offered him some food, Denise agreed to let Kelsy find Rocky as a reward for her efforts. They walked Rocky from their front door to the end of the block and then right half a block more. Kelsy sniffed the scent article again, and then led me charging toward Rocky on this fresh scent trail. Rocky was a bit nervous at this big black dog rushing toward him, but he wasn't too scared. Kelsy took a good sniff of him to make sure he was the right dog, and then she turned to me to ask for her treat. I tossed her several good treats that Denise had given me, and then I threw her ball for her a few times in the street. Kelsy slept soundly in the truck on the ride home.
Temp: 47F
Feels like: 44F
Cloudy
Humidity: 77%
Wind: S at 8 mph
Updated: 3/12/11 5:45 PM PST
I forgot to switch on the GPS, so I didn't record half the trail. We actually started right where the map indicates the end, going in a loop, as Rocky probably did more than once in the middle of the night.
| Name: | Track 036 | |
| Date: | Mar 12, 2011 5:16 pm | |
| Map: (valid until Sep 8, 2011) | View on Map | |
| Distance: | 1.14 miles | |
| Elapsed Time: | 33:37.0 | |
| Avg Speed: | 2.0 mph | |
| Max Speed: | 16.4 mph | |
| Avg Pace: | 29' 27" per mile | |
| Min Altitude: | 162 ft | |
| Max Altitude: | 460 ft | |
| Start Time: | 2011-03-13T01:16:14Z | |
| Start Location: | ||
| Latitude: | 47.733691º N | |
| Longitude: | 122.367748º W | |
| End Location: | ||
| Latitude: | 47.734147º N | |
| Longitude: | 122.361454º W | |
Denise and I feel so relieved to get Rocky back, and so appreciative of Jim and Kelsy's work. We found the extensive information on the MissingPetPartnership website incredibly useful and I think it ultimately helped us get Rocky back. Having a dog tag with our phone number on Rocky was the key, but this morning I went out a took down all our neon and otherwise signs we posted with MissingPetsPartnership recommendations on how to make them, and in tracing the path Rocky likely took, he would have past 8 signs to finally get to the home he chose to hole up at.
ReplyDeleteWe knew it was a longshot to bring in Kelsy, and the website was clear that our situation was not ideal, but we did it anyway because if Rocky was holed up in the woods as we suspected (given his incredible shyness) for one more night, he would likely not make it another night, given the coyotes and owls and racoons that are abundant there. He is fast, but probably not THAT fast! Turns out though, he is even smarter than he is fast. Given the signs Kelsy seemed to indicate as to places Rocky likely hung out in to hide, I suspect Rocky may have spent the 1 nite there, then high tailed it to the house about 1 mile away, a house very high up, on a balcony, on a padded chair, out of the rain, with no people (and no coyotes!) immediately at home, and a bowl of water left there for the labs that lived there (but not home at the time). We feel hugely indebted for the help of Kelsy, Jim and this organization!