After missing for almost one week, Tyson, a 13 year old Boxer, was found several blocks from his home!
Tyson is a 13 year old, dark brindle, neutered male Boxer. He is wearing a collar with a tag, but is not microchipped.
He went missing from his home after his person left him in the backyard overnight on a Thursday to attend to work out of the area. A neighbor found Tyson loose on the street around 10 PM, and put him back into the yard, not knowing that the gate latch was not secure. Sometime during the night, Tyson got out again. There were no sightings of Tyson until I arrived the following Wednesday.
We immediately found the track leading away from the side gate where he got out from. The track went around the neighborhood and then straight out toward a regional biking and hiking trail along a local waterway. Just as we made a right turn back onto a main street, an animal control truck passed us. The officer made a turn around, and we flagged him down, telling him who we were looking for. He asked if we were looking for an elderly Boxer, and we said, "Yes!" He said that he was trying to catch an elderly Boxer at this moment, and the dog was just down the street.
We turned to the left and ran down the street in the direction the truck was headed. We could see far in the distance (Oakley is a very flat location, so seeing far is easy) a brown dog running around the road. I ran as fast as I could, and Tyson's person got into a car with a passerby and drove down the road. After several minutes, Tyson ran down the road toward us, Tyson's person got out of the car and bent down to show himself to Tyson, and Tyson ran right past him. He did not recognize his own person. This continued up and down the street a couple of times. He finally ran past me with Dino and I tried to block him, but he ran past me. I did reach out to get a hold of his collar, and almost had him, but lost my grip as he ran full speed past me.
Tyson was running full speed down the road in the direction that we just tracked him from. He got back onto the canal walkway, and the animal control officer went around and blocked the other side. We followed him down the path, calling his name over and over. I could see bloody paw prints where he was running, so it was obvious his paws were all torn up.
After several minutes, Tyson got down to where the officer was, and turned around to find his person behind him. Tyson then turned around and went toward the officer again, and turned around toward his person, and kept going. His person was able to tackle Tyson as he tried to run past him. I got up next to Tyson, and gave them my leash.
I could see that Tyson's feel were all bloody and torn up. It was obvious that Tyson was having a hard time standing. The animal control officer gave Tyson a ride back to his home and we met him there. Tyson's person got into his truck and followed the officer, who drove Tyson to their own vet to have Tyson immediately checked.
Tyson's response to his person while lost is actually very common since the dog became so disoriented and lost. The animal control officer said he first saw Tyson running down the middle of a major highway near where we first met up with him. Tyson was very disoriented and confused, running in and out of traffic, completely oblivious to his surroundings.
It took the coordination and dedication of three people and a tracking dog to get Tyson back home. I would like to thank the Animal Control Officer with Contra Costa County who was persistent in getting Tyson back home. I think his last name was Morales, when I glanced at his nametag. He told me he was following Tyson for 20 minutes when he saw us. He saw the bloody feet and that Tyson was elderly and running in traffic, obviously disoriented. He said he was trying to get Tyson cornered into a yard, and then he went out of his way to drive Tyson all the way to his private vet where Tyson was already comfortable. Good job, everyone!
View Tyson Track in a larger map
Created by My Tracks on Android.
Total Distance: 5.42 km (3.4 mi)
Total Time: 1:15:15
Moving Time: 55:20
Average Speed: 4.32 km/h (2.7 mi/h)
Average Moving Speed: 5.88 km/h (3.7 mi/h)
Max Speed: 10.19 km/h (6.3 mi/h)
Min Elevation: -3 m (-9 ft)
Max Elevation: 17 m (55 ft)
Elevation Gain: 118 m (388 ft)
Max Grade: 0 %
Min Grade: 0 %
Recorded: Wed Jun 29 08:31:02 PDT 2011
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