"Charlie", Shih Tzu, Tiburon

Charlie is a three year old Shih Tzu who is wearing a collar with ID and a microchip.

Day #1:
We started the search from the hotel where Charlie and his people were staying after a fire at their apartment complex. It appears that Charlie went on sightseeing trip by walking down the steps from the hotel room and then out on to the pier. From there the track made a right up the street and headed up onto Paradise Drive. From there the track went down some side streets where a woman told me she had spotted Charlie that Friday night on her street, Mar East. The track we were following confirmed the dog she saw was Charlie.

The track continued alongside some side streets off of Paradise and then back up onto Paradise where the track led into a gated and fenced area and No Trespassing signs all over. Charlie's people were able to eventually determine who the owner of the property was through a neighbor and she left messages with them to call her and the reason why.

In the meantime, we got permission from the both the property owners on both sides of the property in question to check their properties to see if Charlie could have gotton onto their property. The property on the left/north side belonged to a longtime resident, and the property was totally fenced in. I did not see any open holes in the fencing because their dogs used to escape through holes that had been patched up, and the fencing when down as far as possile to the beach, where the rest was solid rocks.

We got permission to enter the property on the right/south side of the property in question. We were taken up to the gate that borders both properties, which was as far as they would take me with the dogs without the property owner present.

Before the end of the day, we did hear back from the property owner where Charlie wandered onto. She agreed to meet us there the next morning to let us check the property. They are in the process of building a house at the top of the hill, which could not be seen from the street.

Day #2:
We all met early the next morning at the gate. I started the search from the gate to see where the track led us to. We went up the fireroad, which led us through one building in progress. The track went through that and then continued up the road. It then zig zagged up to the gate on the two property borders. The property owner said she had repaired a large cut in the fence just the previous morning. I brought the dogs to that place, and they did indicate that Charlie had gone through that, which would have been repaired after he went through. Both dogs indicated that Charlie's scent was all along the fence line like he had gone through to the other side and was walking along the fence. There were a couple of other spots where he could have crawled under the fence.

We checked the rest of the property for Charlie, but did not find him. In the middle of the top of the property was a large sleeping tent because the property owner said she and her husband would camping out there sometimes with their Irish Wolfhounds.

There were several spots along the fence where Charlie could have made it over and back to the opposite property on the south, including a place at the bottom where there was space to just walk around the fence, and both dogs indicated that Charlie's scent was there.

Since Charlie was no longer on the property, there were two options. First to check the property on the north to see if Charlie was there or to check out of the gate to see if Charlie had left the area and gone to another place. Charlie's people were going to check again with those people and have them check the property (over 40 acres)to see if they can find him.

Day #3(October 21):
I was told that Charlie was spotted on a driveway in a neighborhood, thought I was not told for over a week after the sighting because his people did not believe it was really him. This neighborhood is on the cliff above the property where we last checked over two weeks prior on the property where the house is being built.

I went to the place on the driveway, and it was Charlie's scent to the amazement of Charlie's people. Since this sighting is a very short distance from the last place, and their had been no additional sightings between the two places and times, our best guess was that Charlie was with somebody in their home during that time, and had escaped.

This track led through that property, down the street, down more streets, around on streets of parts of Tiburon and along Paradise Drive to a Beach Park.

We stopped the track down on Paradise Drive because Charlie's people had some family committments to attend to. They asked to restart the track another day from that spot.

Day #4(October 26):
We restarted the track back at the Beach Park. We followed the track along Paradise Drive. The track made a left off the main Drive and then turned a right up a street and all the way to the end of the dead end where a large two story yellow house was. This house was on the edge of a large open space. The track was around this house a few times. After talking to the home owner, she admitted to setting out food day and night for local wildlife, so we figured that Charlie found the food and stayed there eating and resting.

The track started again by going up the road and then around a large parking lot that was around an elementary school. From the school, he found a hiking trail that led up the hill and around the hillside and then down and back into another neighborhood that was on the other side of Tiburon.

The track went through an elementary school and around that and then into their parking lot and then up into another neighborhood and around that. The track went back out that neighborhood and back toward the school, past the school and again through another neighborhood. It went around that neighborhood a couple of times and then back toward the school. The track then went directly under a chain link gate/fence that was alongside the school. I said that we needed permission in order to go through that gate, but the school was already closed and nobody was in the office, according to Charlie's person.

They decided to call it a day at this point and restart another day.