"Iris," Yorkshire Terrier, Sunnyvale - Found!

On September 12, 2012, at 3:53 PM, I received a phone message from Iris' person. Her English was difficult to understand, and she was talking very fast, but it sounded like she had found Iris. Since I was on my way to a class, I sent her a text message, and this is the conversation:

3:58 PM: Did you find Iris?

4:13 PM: Yes! She is come back home self. 

4:14 PM: Great! Where and when did you find her? 

4:16 PM: She is today at 2:00pm back home.

4:19 PM: Did somebody bring her or did she walk back on her own?

4:20 PM: She walked back on her own. 

4:23 PM: Great! Smart dog!

4:25 PM: How long was she missing? 

4:52 PM: She is soooooo smart. Missing 20 days.

5:49 PM: Was she still wearing her pink leash? 

6:04 PM: Yes. Still on. 

6:16 PM: Is she hungry, thirsty, and tired?

6:22 PM: Yes! I make chicken for her. Sooo hungry!

6:26 PM: Give her a big hug from me and Dino! She is very lucky!

6:27 PM: OK. Thank  you!!!!!!!!!

The reason why I write this conversation is because another person emailed me and said that Iris was not wearing the leash when she was found, she was in great shape, not hungry or thirsty and that her coat was clean. He confirmed he never saw the dog, but was going off of what somebody else told him. He thought that this proved that Iris was in the neighborhood the whole time in somebody's home, and that Iris had just gotten out of the house, and that Iris had never traveled the distances that we tracked her. I told him about this text conversation I had with Susan, and he said it conflicted with what he was told. 

I also thought it was somewhat extreme that somebody would keep her if a $3,000 reward was being offered and ads and flyers were all over the immediate area. 

I continue to stand by that Iris travelled in the area where we tracked her. 

_________________________________________________

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Iris is a two year old Yorkie. She is unspayed, not microchipped, but she is wearing a brown collar with no ID tags, and dragging a pink leash. 

Iris' person was out of town, and had a friend come by to walk Iris and her other dog. Iris got spooked by some loud noise and took off from the friend, dragging her pink leash. There were no sightings of Iris after she went missing.

We started from the last place that Iris was seen as the friend was following behind her to attempt to catch her. According to where we started, it appeared that Iris attempted to come back to her home, but got sidetracked and her track went off into neighboring locations. 

For the first day we went as far as possible until we ran out of daylight. They wanted me to come back the next day, but I had already made a commitment to go to Exeter, CA, to look for "E-Or." When I came back on Monday, after two days looking for "E-Or", we continued our search for Iris. 

We continued for several more hours until we ran out of daylight. At this point, they stopped the search. They said they would continue to look for Iris. 

________________________________________________________________

Day One:

View Iris Sunnyvale in a larger map

Created by My Tracks on Android.

Name: Iris Sunnyvale
Activity type: -
Description: -
Total distance: 8.65 km (5.4 mi)
Total time: 2:24:10
Moving time: 1:31:28
Average speed: 3.60 km/h (2.2 mi/h)
Average moving speed: 5.67 km/h (3.5 mi/h)
Max speed: 10.19 km/h (6.3 mi/h)
Average pace: 16.67 min/km (26.8 min/mi)
Average moving pace: 10.58 min/km (17.0 min/mi)
Fastest pace: 5.89 min/km (9.5 min/mi)
Max elevation: 39 m (127 ft)
Min elevation: -7 m (-23 ft)
Elevation gain: 255 m (836 ft)
Max grade: 0 %
Min grade: 0 %
Recorded: 8/31/2012 5:37pm

Day Two:

View Iris Sunnyvale Day 2 in a larger map

Created by My Tracks on Android.

Name: Iris Sunnyvale Day 2
Activity type: -
Description: -
Total distance: 20.63 km (12.8 mi)
Total time: 5:15:11
Moving time: 2:49:11
Average speed: 3.93 km/h (2.4 mi/h)
Average moving speed: 7.32 km/h (4.5 mi/h)
Max speed: 72.78 km/h (45.2 mi/h)
Average pace: 15.28 min/km (24.6 min/mi)
Average moving pace: 8.20 min/km (13.2 min/mi)
Fastest pace: 0.82 min/km (1.3 min/mi)
Max elevation: 32 m (104 ft)
Min elevation: -12 m (-41 ft)
Elevation gain: 519 m (1704 ft)
Max grade: 0 %
Min grade: -2 %
Recorded: 9/3/2012 2:23pm

"Bobo," DSH, Black with Green Eyes, San Leandro

Still missing as of September 6, 2012

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Bobo is a two year old, indoor/outdoor, all black DSH with green eyes. He is not wearing a collar and he is not microchipped. 

There were no confirmed sightings of Bobo after he went missing. There was a possible sighting of Bobo in the front yard a couple of days after being missing, but she could not be 100% confirmed if the cat she saw was Bobo or another cat in the neighborhood that looks similar to Bobo. 

We found the track leading away from the house, and led around the neighborhood and out to surrounding neighborhoods. Bobo's person stopped the search after three hours, saying she would continue to search for Bobo, and she would set a trap outside her front door in case Bobo was attempting to come back. 

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View Bobo San Leandro in a larger map

Created by My Tracks on Android.

Name: Bobo San Leandro
Activity type: -
Description: -
Total distance: 5.27 km (3.3 mi)
Total time: 1:35:35
Moving time: 49:16
Average speed: 3.31 km/h (2.1 mi/h)
Average moving speed: 6.42 km/h (4.0 mi/h)
Max speed: 10.37 km/h (6.4 mi/h)
Average pace: 18.13 min/km (29.2 min/mi)
Average moving pace: 9.34 min/km (15.0 min/mi)
Fastest pace: 5.79 min/km (9.3 min/mi)
Max elevation: 14 m (46 ft)
Min elevation: -14 m (-45 ft)
Elevation gain: 185 m (608 ft)
Max grade: 0 %
Min grade: 0 %
Recorded: 8/29/2012 3:57pm

"Arashi," Akita, Black with Tan Legs, San Jose

Still missing as of November 23, 2014

Here is their facebook page trying to find him:

http://www.facebook.com/morgan.becerra1

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Arashi is a six year old, male, all black 120 pound Akita. He is wearing a collar with current ID tags and he is microchipped. 

He was last seen on the front lawn of his house at around 10 PM while the husband was across the street talking to a neighbor. When the husband went back into the house, he thought Arashi had gone back into the house because he did not see Arashi on the lawn anymore. An hour later, he looked around the house, but did not find Arashi. They immediately looked around the neighborhood and the area for several hours, but did not find Arashi. 

There were no sightings after he went missing from his home.

We found the track leading away from the house and we continued the search for several hours. The search was stopped as we were loosing light at the end of the day. We continued the search the next day.

At 2 PM the next day, finally Arashi was sighted by a woman in her neighborhood in the same area where we were tracking him. By this time, Arashi had been missing for almost a week. Even though she recognized Arashi as an Akita, and she said she saw his collar and saw him walking down the street, she did not tell anybody. She only happen to see his flyer after we showed it to her husband as we followed Arashi track. By this time, it was 4 PM for us, and we rushed to the location, and did find Arashi's track and followed it for several more hours until after 8 PM, when the searched was stopped due to lack of daylight. 

They said they would continue to search for Arashi. 

____________________________________________________________

Day one:

View Arashi San Jose in a larger map

Created by My Tracks on Android.

Name: Arashi San Jose
Activity type: -
Description: -
Total distance: 21.69 km (13.5 mi)
Total time: 5:48:21
Moving time: 2:52:36
Average speed: 3.74 km/h (2.3 mi/h)
Average moving speed: 7.54 km/h (4.7 mi/h)
Max speed: 11.11 km/h (6.9 mi/h)
Average pace: 16.06 min/km (25.8 min/mi)
Average moving pace: 7.96 min/km (12.8 min/mi)
Fastest pace: 5.40 min/km (8.7 min/mi)
Max elevation: 129 m (422 ft)
Min elevation: -74 m (-242 ft)
Elevation gain: 1192 m (3912 ft)
Max grade: 62 %
Min grade: -27 %
Recorded: 8/27/2012 1:46pm

Day two:

View Arashi San Jose Day 2 in a larger map

Created by My Tracks on Android.

Name: Arashi San Jose Day 2
Activity type: -
Description: -
Total distance: 26.78 km (16.6 mi)
Total time: 6:14:19
Moving time: 3:25:30
Average speed: 4.29 km/h (2.7 mi/h)
Average moving speed: 7.82 km/h (4.9 mi/h)
Max speed: 79.82 km/h (49.6 mi/h)
Average pace: 13.98 min/km (22.5 min/mi)
Average moving pace: 7.67 min/km (12.4 min/mi)
Fastest pace: 0.75 min/km (1.2 min/mi)
Max elevation: 85 m (278 ft)
Min elevation: 18 m (59 ft)
Elevation gain: 656 m (2153 ft)
Max grade: 1 %
Min grade: -2 %
Recorded: 8/28/2012 1:50pm

"Scarlett," Pit Bull, Red with White, Oakland

Still missing as of September 6, 2012

Scarlet is a three year old red pit bull with a white chest and toes. She is not wearing a collar and she is not microchipped. She had only been in her current home for about a month after being in foster homes.

She escaped out an open gate from her home after being walked. There were a couple of sightings of Scarlet after she went missing. We started from the most current sighting and followed the track in a variety of directions. Scarlet's people stopped the search at the four hour minimum. They said they would continue to search for Scarlet. 

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View Scarlett Oakland in a larger map

Created by My Tracks on Android.

Name: Scarlett Oakland
Activity type: -
Description: -
Total distance: 12.58 km (7.8 mi)
Total time: 3:47:09
Moving time: 1:58:53
Average speed: 3.32 km/h (2.1 mi/h)
Average moving speed: 6.35 km/h (3.9 mi/h)
Max speed: 41.67 km/h (25.9 mi/h)
Average pace: 18.06 min/km (29.1 min/mi)
Average moving pace: 9.45 min/km (15.2 min/mi)
Fastest pace: 1.44 min/km (2.3 min/mi)
Max elevation: 167 m (549 ft)
Min elevation: 8 m (27 ft)
Elevation gain: 564 m (1849 ft)
Max grade: 1 %
Min grade: -1 %
Recorded: 8/24/2012 2:19pm

"Karma," Pit Bull/Boxer Mix, Red and White, Creston, CA - Found!

I received the following voicemail from Karma's person a couple of days after the search:

“Hi Jackie. This is Colleen and Karma. I am sorry I didn’t get back to you sooner. I have been kind of wrapped up in Karma. She is doing wonderful. I am just now taking her to the vet for her second check up. They sent her home after a night on IV’s and fluids and blood test. 

I just wanted to say, again, thank you, thank you, thank you, for bringing me my dog back to me. I could not have done it without you and your dog’s help. Thank you so much. 

I look forward to talking to you again. 

Again, thank you!”

Colleen and Karma

Creston, California

(In a separate phone conversation, Colleen said the vet said that, upon arrival to the hospital, Karma was severely dehydrated and showing signs of sunstroke. She appeared to have an injury to the right side of her face, possibly from falling down, and her pupils were not dilating properly.)

__________________________________________________________________

This photo was taken minutes after Karma was found in a dry creek bed!

_______________________________________________________________

Karma is a four year old red and white pit bull, box mix. She went missing on Friday at 10 AM. She was seen run around with another dog in the house. That other dog, Lilly, came back several hours later, but Karma did not. 

Karma lives on 30 acres of unfenced property at the top of a hill in Creston, California, between Astascadero and San Luis Obispo, near the town of Santa Marquita. 

Karma slipped out of her collar prior to become lost, and she is microchipped. 

Prior to me arriving, there were no sightings of Karma after becoming lost. Upon my arrival, Karma's mom, Colleen, received a phone call that Karma had been spotted by this person's husband early Saturday morning while he was out deer hunting behind their home. The area is miles and miles of canyons and hills in every direction, as far as you can see. 

We went to that location at the top of the steep hill and found Karma's track there. The temperature was very high, probably in the 90's and the altitude was 1700 feet. 

The track led down a fire road and straight into the thick brush and steep canyons. We never saw another fire road until back at Karma's house. We tracked Karma through this very difficult terrain for over three hours, moving very slowly and calling her name numerous times. We were almost out of water. 

We finally hit a point where we could not follow the track through the very low bushes and Dino indicated that the track went through those bushes. We sat down for a moment to ponder our next move. We were looking straight down into a canyon with a dry creek bed below us. I was considering going down to the creek and walking there to see if we could pick up Karma's track down there. 

I had Colleen call Karma's name again. She said she heard Karma's whining and a "gutteral" sound that Karma's makes when communicating, coming from the creek area. I said I didn't hear anything. Colleen said she heard it again. I said, ""Let's go down into the creek and see what we find." 

Colleen went ahead of me, and suddenly said, "I SEE HER! I SEE HER!" 

I moved as fast as possible with Dino, but the brush was super thick. I heard Colleen say, "I have her!"

In about a minute, I got to Colleen who was holding Karma in her arms and sobbing uncontrollably. I threw her Dino's leash to wrap around Karma.

We gave her Karma some water and she drank it non-stop. We gave her little bits so she wouldn't vomit it back up in a rush. 

Now, we had to figure our way out of the canyon with a very tired dog, and the heat was still bearing down on us. Colleen said she knew the area, and suggested the fastest way back home was straight up the canyon wall. She said her home was nearby, and we could call her sister to come get us in the four wheel drive truck. 

It took another 45 minutes of slowly climbing the canyon wall, while she carried Karma half the time since Karma's feet were torn up pretty bad. 

Eventually we made it close to the top, and I called her sister when the cell phone signal finally got strong enough to hold. We climbed another part to the top, and saw her sister coming over the hills to meet us. 

We quickly got into the truck and got Karma home quickly and put her into a cold tub to hopefully reduce any heatstroke she might have been experiencing. All three of us, Dino, Colleen and me, were all overheated and thirsty, so Karma, having been out there for several days, must have been over the top. 

Colleen took Karma to the emergency vet that night, while I stayed in Atascadero that night to make the trip home the next day!

_______________________________________________________

GPS map for the search:

View Karma Creston in a larger map

Created by My Tracks on Android.

Name: Karma Creston
Activity type: -
Description: -
Total distance: 4.73 km (2.9 mi)
Total time: 2:39:20
Moving time: 27:20
Average speed: 1.78 km/h (1.1 mi/h)
Average moving speed: 10.38 km/h (6.5 mi/h)
Max speed: 44.63 km/h (27.7 mi/h)
Average pace: 33.67 min/km (54.2 min/mi)
Average moving pace: 5.78 min/km (9.3 min/mi)
Fastest pace: 1.34 min/km (2.2 min/mi)
Max elevation: 529 m (1736 ft)
Min elevation: 445 m (1460 ft)
Elevation gain: 213 m (698 ft)
Max grade: 1 %
Min grade: -11 %
Recorded: 8/20/2012 3:50pm

"Kim You," DLH, Black with White, Mill Valley, CA - Found

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Kimyou (pronounced KEEM yoo), is a black with white, male, nine year old, 16 pound DLH. He is wearing a collar with his ID tags and he is microchipped. He was missing for over a week when I was called. He was last seen by a visitor to the home early in the morning after being let out into the backyard, which led to a creek. The yard is not fully fenced. 

There were no sightings of Kimyou after he went missing. 

We started the search from his backyard, and found the search leading in a direction that appeared to be part of a normal route. It went into a small shopping center and then circled a couple of small buildings. From in front of a large grocery store, the track suddenly shot straight out across a busy, multiple lane boulevard, and then went mile after mile along busy streets, along creeks, other roads, in and out of towns and around shops. 

After several hours, Kimyou's people called off the search, and they said they would keep up looking for him. 

It appeared to be that Kimyou was on his regular rounds in his area when he got chased from in front of the grocery store and chased out of the area. 

I received an email several days later that Kimyou's remains were found. They received a call from a person who found the remains, checked on Craigslist and saw Kimyou's photo and thought the remains matched the photo. However, the collar was not found in the area. It was unclear how long Kimyou had been deceased. 

____________________________________________________

Part 1 (due to GPS problems, the maps had to be separated)

View Kim You Part One in a larger map

Created by My Tracks on Android.

Name: Kim You Part One
Activity type: -
Description: -
Total distance: 363.27 km (225.7 mi)
Total time: 1:55:30
Moving time: 57:38
Average speed: 188.70 km/h (117.3 mi/h)
Average moving speed: 378.19 km/h (235.0 mi/h)
Max speed: 595.74 km/h (370.2 mi/h)
Average pace: 0.32 min/km (0.5 min/mi)
Average moving pace: 0.16 min/km (0.3 min/mi)
Fastest pace: 0.10 min/km (0.2 min/mi)
Max elevation: 4458 m (14627 ft)
Min elevation: -27 m (-88 ft)
Elevation gain: 5719 m (18762 ft)
Max grade: 218 %
Min grade: -24 %
Recorded: 8/17/2012 4:08pm

Part Two:

View Kim You Mill Valley in a larger map

Created by My Tracks on Android.

Name: Kim You Mill Valley
Activity type: -
Description: -
Total distance: 8.62 km (5.4 mi)
Total time: 2:21:58
Moving time: 1:28:33
Average speed: 3.64 km/h (2.3 mi/h)
Average moving speed: 5.84 km/h (3.6 mi/h)
Max speed: 42.41 km/h (26.4 mi/h)
Average pace: 16.46 min/km (26.5 min/mi)
Average moving pace: 10.27 min/km (16.5 min/mi)
Fastest pace: 1.41 min/km (2.3 min/mi)
Max elevation: 114 m (372 ft)
Min elevation: -19 m (-62 ft)
Elevation gain: 338 m (1110 ft)
Max grade: 7 %
Min grade: -31 %
Recorded: 8/17/2012 6:04pm

"Teddy," Shiba Inu, White, Vallejo - Found!

This photo is after Teddy was picked up and brought home

Teddy is a 13 year old, all white, neutered, Shiba Inu. He is not wearing a collar, but he is microchipped. 

Teddy got scared by some fireworks going off in his neighborhood late one night and literally broke through the solid wooden fence in his backyard. 

There were no sightings of Teddy after he went missing. 

We started the search from his home, and while on the search, a man said he remembered seeing Teddy on a particular street the day before. We went to that location, and found his scent there. While we were there, another man said he remembered also seeing Teddy in the same location at the same timeframe. We followed the track, which ran within one block past Teddy's home. The track turned left up a long busy road. While we were on the track, Teddy's person received a phone call that his dog had been picked up the previous day, right in the location where we were, around the same timeframe that the other two people had said. This woman said that she had Teddy over 24 hours, and saw his flyer at a local dogpark, and called right away. 

The first photo above is after Teddy was picked up and brought home

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View Teddy Vallejo in a larger map

Created by My Tracks on Android.

Name: Teddy Vallejo
Activity type: -
Description: -
Total distance: 5.29 km (3.3 mi)
Total time: 1:38:49
Moving time: 53:43
Average speed: 3.21 km/h (2.0 mi/h)
Average moving speed: 5.91 km/h (3.7 mi/h)
Max speed: 9.07 km/h (5.6 mi/h)
Average pace: 18.69 min/km (30.1 min/mi)
Average moving pace: 10.16 min/km (16.3 min/mi)
Fastest pace: 6.61 min/km (10.6 min/mi)
Max elevation: 46 m (150 ft)
Min elevation: 18 m (59 ft)
Elevation gain: 175 m (574 ft)
Max grade: 0 %
Min grade: 0 %
Recorded: 8/7/2012 9:02am

"Pickles," Rat Terrier, Red and White, San Jose

Still missing as of September 6, 2012.

Pickles is a red and white, 15 pound, two year old, neutered Rat Terrier. He is wearing a collar, but has no ID tags on. He is microchipped.

He went missing when contractors came to the house, and Pickles got scared and ran out the side gate. 

There were a couple of sightings of Pickles within less than a mile from his home. We started at the most current one. 

We followed the track for four hours, the minimum when Pickles person called off the search and said she would keep looking for him. 

_________________________________________

View Pickles San Jose in a larger map

Created by My Tracks on Android.

Name: Pickles San Jose
Activity type: -
Description: -
Total distance: 13.86 km (8.6 mi)
Total time: 3:42:39
Moving time: 2:06:23
Average speed: 3.74 km/h (2.3 mi/h)
Average moving speed: 6.58 km/h (4.1 mi/h)
Max speed: 73.71 km/h (45.8 mi/h)
Average pace: 16.06 min/km (25.8 min/mi)
Average moving pace: 9.12 min/km (14.7 min/mi)
Fastest pace: 0.81 min/km (1.3 min/mi)
Max elevation: 63 m (207 ft)
Min elevation: -3 m (-10 ft)
Elevation gain: 361 m (1184 ft)
Max grade: 1 %
Min grade: -4 %
Recorded: 8/6/2012 10:21am

"Barney," Terrier Mix, Tan, San Francisco - Found!

Barney is a three year old, 30 pound, tan, neutered mixed breed. He is wearing a collar with ID tags, but he is not microchipped. 

He escaped from the house after contractors came to the home and he got scared and took off out of the front door. He was seen in various spots around the Great Highway area, where he lives, and he was last seen at 9 PM near the Pomeroy Center, adjacent to the SF Zoo. We started the search from there.

We tracked Barney for several hours around Lake Merced, Sloat Blvd, The Great Highway, and up to San Francisco State U, and to Stonestown Shopping Center. His person called off the search, and said she would continue to search for him.

I received a text message the next day that Barney had been spotted and picked up in the area near Lake Merced Blvd and the SF Zoo. A person had seen Barney and seen a flyer posted in the area where we searched and immediately called. 

View Barney San Francisco in a larger map

Created by My Tracks on Android.

Name: Barney San Francisco
Activity type: -
Description: -
Total distance: 16.86 km (10.5 mi)
Total time: 5:05:23
Moving time: 3:06:28
Average speed: 3.31 km/h (2.1 mi/h)
Average moving speed: 5.42 km/h (3.4 mi/h)
Max speed: 10.37 km/h (6.4 mi/h)
Average pace: 18.12 min/km (29.2 min/mi)
Average moving pace: 11.06 min/km (17.8 min/mi)
Fastest pace: 5.79 min/km (9.3 min/mi)
Max elevation: 60 m (196 ft)
Min elevation: -6 m (-20 ft)
Elevation gain: 681 m (2233 ft)
Max grade: 0 %
Min grade: 0 %
Recorded: 8/4/2012 10:46am

"Shugie," Maltese Mix, Milpitas

Still missing as of September 5, 2012

Shugie is an eight pound, adult Maltese mix. She is wearing a collar, but is not wearing any tags and she is not microchipped. 

She was last seen inside her yard, and it is still unclear how she escaped from her completely fenced yard.

There were no sightings of her after she went missing. 

Search Day One:

View Shugie Milpitas in a larger map

Created by My Tracks on Android.

Name: Shugie Milpitas
Activity type: -
Description: -
Total distance: 15.36 km (9.5 mi)
Total time: 5:28:20
Moving time: 2:41:41
Average speed: 2.81 km/h (1.7 mi/h)
Average moving speed: 5.70 km/h (3.5 mi/h)
Max speed: 17.59 km/h (10.9 mi/h)
Average pace: 21.38 min/km (34.4 min/mi)
Average moving pace: 10.53 min/km (16.9 min/mi)
Fastest pace: 3.41 min/km (5.5 min/mi)
Max elevation: 39 m (127 ft)
Min elevation: -21 m (-70 ft)
Elevation gain: 504 m (1653 ft)
Max grade: 0 %
Min grade: 0 %
Recorded: 8/2/2012 11:56am

Search Day Two:

View Shugie Milpitas Day 2 in a larger map

Created by My Tracks on Android.

Name: Shugie Milpitas Day 2
Activity type: -
Description: -
Total distance: 9.90 km (6.2 mi)
Total time: 3:47:16
Moving time: 1:36:09
Average speed: 2.61 km/h (1.6 mi/h)
Average moving speed: 6.18 km/h (3.8 mi/h)
Max speed: 9.63 km/h (6.0 mi/h)
Average pace: 22.95 min/km (36.9 min/mi)
Average moving pace: 9.71 min/km (15.6 min/mi)
Fastest pace: 6.23 min/km (10.0 min/mi)
Max elevation: 25 m (82 ft)
Min elevation: -33 m (-108 ft)
Elevation gain: 410 m (1344 ft)
Max grade: 0 %
Min grade: 0 %
Recorded: 8/3/2012 3:22pm

"George," Beagle, Pescadero - Found!

This photo was taken just after George was found on a large farm tied up in tall weeds and his Flexi lead, and we were walking back to the road to get a ride home. 

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I received this nice letter from George's person:

"From: Dee Harley

Subject: Thank you!

Date: August 6, 2012 2:03:30 PM PDT

To:         Jackie Phillips <jackie@thesocialpet.com>

Jackie,

I cannot thank you enough for such a wonderful gift you and Dino gave back to our family last week. You are the talk of the town, everyone is seriously impressed, especially George!!!!!

Talking about George he is a different dog. He wags his tail he comes to us and he now sits on the couch next to me and watches the Olympics. As you said. He wanted to be found. Thank you for your true care and interest in Dino that you can do this for people.

I hope you don’t mind but I have passed your name on to www.smilindogs.com who have a very successful dog walking company in San Mateo. Conrad the owner is very interested in talking with you in case any of his dogs escape or run away. He walks them on acreage around Pescadero and they run free so it does happen. 

I also gave your name to a woman in Pescadero, Cindy, who would like to talk to you about training her dog to do the same thing. She owns Pescadero Country Store and she was the one who gave me the idea to call you.

Our web site and newsletter writer, Kate will also be contacting you to do a full story about You and Dino for our next Newsletter if that is OK with you. It goes out to 12,000 people each month and like me, it may give someone the idea.

Please know that I appreciate what you do and that I am so grateful for making the call and that you were the one who made us all happy again.

With kind regards,

Dee Harley

Harley Farms

Pescadero, California"

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This was posted on August 16, 2012, in the newsletter for Harley Farms in Pescadero. Their website is:www.harleyfarms.com.

"A Case for the Pet Detectives

My beagle George has no bark. He was a medical testing dog and lost his voice box to science. I hope it was worth it. He is still a young dog, but fearful, and not yet settled on the farm. He ran away several times when he first arrived, but came back eventually each time, knowing where dinner was. Two weeks ago he was startled by other dogs while on a walk, and ran away wearing his leash. We searched thoroughly for hours, and asked throughout town if anybody had seen George, a beagle on a leash. No luck. He never came home. Cindy of the Pescadero Country Store told me about a lost pet service, and I called Jackie Phillips of The Social Pet. Jackie, a former animal control officer and shelter volunteer, has trained her three dogs to assist her in tracking lost pets. Jackie's own Staffordshire terrier/pit bull mix, whom she'd had since the dog was eight weeks old, was stolen from her yard twenty years ago, leaving Jackie knowing all too well about the sadness of losing a pet.

Dino, Jackie's herding mixed breed, was her pet detective on duty for George. Jackie adopted Dino from a rescue shelter as a dog labeled "out of control", and redirected his energy and friendliness into pet tracking and many "Best Mixed Breed" dog shows. She says he has a bomb-proof personality under all sorts of pressure, with strange people, dogs, cats and other animals. He is also big and fit, a deterrent in scary neighborhoods. Well, Dino picked up George's scent, and the trail led gradually into a thicket of plants so tall I couldn't see over them. George's leash had tangled him into the weeds, and he couldn't escape. He couldn't bark for attention. I carried him out of there safely, and I want to thank Jackie and Dino for outstanding service and for saving George."

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Pescadero is a coastal rural farming community, at the far southern end of San Mateo County, off of Highway 1, about 20 minutes south of Half Moon Bay. 

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George is a nine year old Beagle. He is wearing a collar with ID tags and he is microchipped. He had been adopted from Muttville Senior Dog Rescue about two months before. George is also debarked, but he is able to make a type of coughing/hourse sound when he attempts to bark. According to his family, George is afraid of men, dogs, loud noises and strangers. 

George was walking with his person six days ago at around 6 PM, when George got spooked by some dogs barking in a nearby yard. He was seen running behind a rural house, dragging his Flexi leash and then went behind that house, which was a very large farm/nursery. George was seen running all the way to the far southern end of the property, all the way to the distant far corner where two chain link fences came together. From there, George went under the chain link fence and disappeared. 

There were no sightings of George after he disappeared. 

Behind the property is a very deep creek (at least 25 feet deep) with super thick vegetation on both sides. At this time of the year, the water depth ranges from a few inches to a couple of feet, and the sides are practically vertical in height. 

His people thought he was stuck somewhere inside the creek, so they had focused their efforts in that area. They had checked the creek for at least a mile in every direction, but no signs of George.

On the other side of the chain link fence was the creek, but it was also another very large and commercial nursery with rows and rows of green houses and a large watering pond. We went to that nursery and checked for the scent there. If the scent was not there, then George did go into the creek, but if we find the scent there, that means that George initially went into the nursery, and we could follow the track from there.

We made the walk all the way back out from where we were, down the road, into the next nursery and to the back of the nursery to the creek. I had Dino check for scent on the two back roads. 

We found George's scent leading down the road along the creek. The scent went into one of the greenhouses and came back out. Then the scent went behind one of the greenhouses and came back out. Then the scent went up a slight hill to an open pond that was surrounded by chain link fence. We followed the scent around the first turn of the pond. At this point, we were several feet above ground and looking down. As we made the first turn, I looked into the thick bushes surrounding the pond on the other side of the chain link and saw a small white and brown dog hiding in the tall weeds. The weeds were at least six feet tall, so he would not be visible by people walking in front of him. George's person was walking several feet behind me, and I called to her to come up to where I was and look at the dog to see if the dog was George. She said that it was George, and she called out his name as she walked slowly up to the chain link fence to get his attention. He turned his head a little and wagged his tail, struggling to move  At this point, it was obvious that George was tangled up in something and couldn't move, so she ran back to the gate and out around the pond and found him inside the weeds. I kneeled down to be out of his view, so as not to frighten him with Dino. 

She slowly moved toward him to make sure he wouldn't run and got a hold of his collar. She looked at what he was tangled up in and said it was his leash and all the weeds. I asked her if she needed a knife to cut the leash, but she unsnapped the leash from his collar, pushed away the leash and weeds, and picked him up. I handed her Dino's leash to put on him to make sure she had something to hold onto him with. 

She said he felt very relaxed and was not fighting being carried. 

The above photo was taken after being pulled from the weeds and on the walk back up to the road where she called a friend to come pick her up with George. Dino and I walked back to the farm. 

She said that George drank a lot of water, but wouldn't take food yet, which, she said, was normal. He wasn't a big eater and would probably eat when he was relaxed back at home. 

View George Pescadero in a larger map

Created by My Tracks on Android.

Name: George Pescadero
Activity type: -
Description: -
Total distance: 2.39 km (1.5 mi)
Total time: 1:00:25
Moving time: 22:24
Average speed: 2.37 km/h (1.5 mi/h)
Average moving speed: 6.39 km/h (4.0 mi/h)
Max speed: 9.56 km/h (5.9 mi/h)
Average pace: 25.30 min/km (40.7 min/mi)
Average moving pace: 9.38 min/km (15.1 min/mi)
Fastest pace: 6.27 min/km (10.1 min/mi)
Max elevation: 72 m (236 ft)
Min elevation: -7 m (-24 ft)
Elevation gain: 98 m (321 ft)
Max grade: 0 %
Min grade: 0 %

Recorded: 8/1/2012 2:05pm