"Tino," Solid Black, DMH, San Lorenzo

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Tino is a solid back, one year old, indoor only DMH. He is microchipped, but he is not wearing a collar. Apparently, he got it off that day. His people found it in the house. They had adopted him only one month before. 

He was last seen between the time of 2 PM to 4 PM on a Wednesday. It appears he slipped out the back door into the backyard. Despite an extensive search of the neighborhood, there were no sightings of Tino after he went missing.

Tino was missing for eight days when we were called. 

After searching the streets around the home, we found a track leading away from the area and out.

At one point, after crossing though a golf course and into a condo complex, the track led to a small dead end area where several backyard fences and buildings all came together. While I was checking the area with Dino, Tino's person saw a small black cat walking along a tall wooden fence just behind me. She called Tino's name, but the cat jumped down into one of the yards. As I turned around, I caught a split-second glimpse of a cat that looked like Tino's photo. Then the cat ran off to one of the yards, and despite a visual search of the yard by both of us, we could not find the cat again. We decided to go around to the front of the house. 

After finding the front of the houses, we knocked on several doors, but nobody was home. Finally, a person came home, and Tino's person talked to them while I checked the area. That person said that those houses all had cats and one of them had a black cat. We left flyers at all the doors. Tino said she would come back to the area with her husband and talk to more people.

We did find another track leaving the neighborhood and continued to follow that until the four hour mark when Tino's person stopped the search. She had another appointment to get to. She said she and her husband would continue to search for Tino and recontact those houses. 

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View Tino San Lorenzo in a larger map

Created by Google My Tracks on Android.

Name: Tino San Lorenzo
Activity type: -
Description: -
Total distance: 8.15 km (5.1 mi)
Total time: 2:49:12
Moving time: 1:56:16
Average speed: 2.89 km/h (1.8 mi/h)
Average moving speed: 4.21 km/h (2.6 mi/h)
Max speed: 8.89 km/h (5.5 mi/h)
Average pace: 20.75 min/km (33.4 min/mi)
Average moving pace: 14.26 min/km (22.9 min/mi)
Fastest pace: 6.75 min/km (10.9 min/mi)
Max elevation: 30 m (100 ft)
Min elevation: -17 m (-55 ft)
Elevation gain: 216 m (708 ft)
Max grade: 2 %
Min grade: -8 %
Recorded: 3/28/2013 7:30am

"Menouch," Solid Grey, DSH, Pacifica - Found!

I received a voicemail about a week after Menouch went missing that she was found in a neighbor's yard in a trap. This person saw a flyer in the neighborhood and called immediately!

____________________________________________

Menouch is an indoor only, ten year old solid grey DSH. She is microchipped, but not wearing a collar.

At about 5 AM Sunday morning, she slipped out of the front door quickly while her person stepped outside briefly. Her person did not know she was missing for several hours. There were no sightings of her after she went missing, even after an extensive search of the neighborhood.

The track we found led away from the area, down a side alley, down a street and to the edge of a canyon to a massive open space area.  After that, it appears she left the area after dark and then went through various neighborhoods, parks and schools.

Her person stopped the search at the four hour mark and said she would continue to look for Menouch.

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View Menouch Pacifica in a larger map


Created by Google My Tracks on Android.

Name: Menouch Pacifica
Activity type: -
Description: -
Total distance: 5.30 km (3.3 mi)
Total time: 2:27:36
Moving time: 1:51:13
Average speed: 2.15 km/h (1.3 mi/h)
Average moving speed: 2.86 km/h (1.8 mi/h)
Max speed: 8.15 km/h (5.1 mi/h)
Average pace: 27.86 min/km (44.8 min/mi)
Average moving pace: 20.99 min/km (33.8 min/mi)
Fastest pace: 7.36 min/km (11.8 min/mi)
Max elevation: 211 m (693 ft)
Min elevation: 24 m (79 ft)
Elevation gain: 86 m (283 ft)
Max grade: 0 %
Min grade: 0 %
Recorded: 3/26/2013 1:27pm

"Spikeman", Buff/Orange Tabby, DSH, Alamo - Found!

Spikeman is an indoor only, three year old, orange/buff DSH tabby. He is not wearing a collar and he is not microchipped. He went missing on a Saturday night when he slipped out the front door. He was not noticed missing until 10 PM. His people went out looking for him, but could not find him. They looked for him again in the morning but could not find him and there were no sightings of him at all in the area even though all neighbors were informed and his person climbed all the hills and checked all the streets and yards in the area.

He was missing for six days when I was called out, still with no sightings.

After checking the entire area, we found a track leading down the street, across several streets, over fences, down more streets and in and out of nooks and crannies and finally, after three hours, to a walking/biking trail called the Iron Horse trail. The search was stopped at four hours per Spikeman's person.

She said she would continue to look for him.

I received a voicemail three days later that Spikeman was suddenly seen back in the neighborhood and that they were going to set out traps to catch him. That was the last I heard.

I have had many cases where the animal is suddenly seen back in the area after being missing for many days with no sightings following our search. Animals, especially cats, are excellent trackers and they can follow scents back, and, in this case, Spikeman person's scent, led from where we stopped all the way back home. I believe that is what happened. He had three days to make it back, following our search.

I explained all this to Spikeman's person during the search, and she was very happy that she was walking along and able to leave a path where Spikeman could follow back.

_______________________________________________________ 

View Spikeman Alamo in a larger map


Created by Google My Tracks on Android.

Name: Spikeman Alamo
Activity type: -
Description: -
Total distance: 9.45 km (5.9 mi)
Total time: 3:24:05
Moving time: 2:23:28
Average speed: 2.78 km/h (1.7 mi/h)
Average moving speed: 3.95 km/h (2.5 mi/h)
Max speed: 8.33 km/h (5.2 mi/h)
Average pace: 21.59 min/km (34.7 min/mi)
Average moving pace: 15.18 min/km (24.4 min/mi)
Fastest pace: 7.20 min/km (11.6 min/mi)
Max elevation: 160 m (524 ft)
Min elevation: 68 m (223 ft)
Elevation gain: 197 m (647 ft)
Max grade: 4 %
Min grade: 3 %
Recorded: 3/22/2013 9:46am

"Ty," Sheltie, Sable and White, San Jose

Still Missing as of December 27, 2013

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Ty is a three year old, sable and white, neutered Sheltie. He is wearing a red collar with ID tags and he is microchipped. He was recently adopted through Nor Cal Sheltie Rescue four days prior to being missing. Prior to adoption he was in a foster home for three months after being shipped from a puppy mill in Taiwan. Ty is described as a very shy, reserved and hesitant dog around strangers. 

Ty got scared by some noise in the new adoptive house and he ran out the front door at around 9:30 PM on a Saturday. He was spotted by his family at 11:30 PM just a few blocks from his home. The following two days many people came to the area to look for Ty, but there were no more sightings. I came out the third day.

Day One/Thursday, March 21, 2013:

The track we found was leading out of the neighborhood and into an open space and then into a large public golf course. The track went all over and around the course. I found out by an employee that the course is surrounded by solid fencing due to the large wild boar population in the hills bordering the golf course. This meant that the only way in and out of the course was through the single narrow front gate. 

We had to stop the search at the four hour mark due to another appointment that Ty's person had to go to. The track we were following was still inside the golf course. Due to the extensive coverage of the course, I think Ty spent most of Saturday night and Sunday morning inside the course, but was gone by the time the course opened to the public early in the morning. Because this week is Spring Break, the course was packed on all the holes, the driving range and the putting greens. I suggested looking for Ty in the surrounding areas of the course and beyond, and putting out automated phone calls in the neighborhood to see if anybody had seen Ty after Sunday. 

Scared, lost, hungry animals are capable of traveling several miles in a day.

Day Two:

March 21, Sighting of Ty in Santa Teresa County Park

"Beth got a call from a hiker.  He reported seeing Ty this morning at the Santa Teresa County Park lands trail head closest to Camino Verde Dr & Curie Dr. south of her home..........The  hiker said Ty looks okay.  He was heading back down the hill, but then turned around and ran up and away."

and

"I just received another call about a 2nd sighting at 7am this morning, same trail."

and

"Another sighting at 10:00. I am heading down to trail head with trap, food & water."

and 

"Ty's last sighting was around 11pm last night (Friday) going east on Curie Drive at San Ignacio.

We did pick up Ty's scent at the intersection of Curie and San Ignacio. From there it went through the Bernal Intermediate School, around to the back and then out a side gate. Later down the street, it went back into the school and then back out near the front. 

Later it went back to the local county park, but, this time, continued past the first exit further down the trail and across Bernal Road and then back into the park. 

From here the track went along well worn mountain bike trails and then straight up to the direction of Coyote Peak.   

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Day One:

View Ty San Jose in a larger map

Created by Google My Tracks on Android.

Name: Ty San Jose
Activity type: -
Description: -
Total distance: 9.58 km (5.9 mi)
Total time: 3:18:00
Moving time: 2:45:29
Average speed: 2.90 km/h (1.8 mi/h)
Average moving speed: 3.47 km/h (2.2 mi/h)
Max speed: 50.56 km/h (31.4 mi/h)
Average pace: 20.68 min/km (33.3 min/mi)
Average moving pace: 17.28 min/km (27.8 min/mi)
Fastest pace: 1.19 min/km (1.9 min/mi)
Max elevation: 88 m (289 ft)
Min elevation: 22 m (73 ft)
Elevation gain: 211 m (692 ft)
Max grade: 1 %
Min grade: -1 %
Recorded: 3/19/2013 12:09pm


Day Two:


View Ty San Jose Day 2 in a larger map


Created by Google My Tracks on Android.

Name: Ty San Jose Day 2
Activity type: -
Description: -
Total distance: 7.55 km (4.7 mi)
Total time: 2:56:50
Moving time: 2:09:48
Average speed: 2.56 km/h (1.6 mi/h)
Average moving speed: 3.49 km/h (2.2 mi/h)
Max speed: 7.41 km/h (4.6 mi/h)
Average pace: 23.44 min/km (37.7 min/mi)
Average moving pace: 17.20 min/km (27.7 min/mi)
Fastest pace: 8.10 min/km (13.0 min/mi)
Max elevation: 317 m (1042 ft)
Min elevation: 47 m (154 ft)
Elevation gain: 384 m (1261 ft)
Max grade: 0 %
Min grade: 0 %
Recorded: 3/25/2013 1:39pm

"Zoey," DSH, Grey Tabby with White, Oakland

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Follow up:

This was posted to the Craigslist ad for Zoey:

• Possible sightings 1: 11:45pm Saturday night in the Bank of America parking lot on College.
•Possible sighting 2: after 11:45pm Saturday night crossing Alcatraz towards Berkeley/Fairview Park Neighborhood

(My notes: These were in the area where we tracked him to.)

_________________________________________________________

Zoey is a indoor/outdoor male 16 year old grey tabby with white DSH. He is not wearing a collar and he is not microchipped. 

He was missing for less than 24 hours when I was called. 

He was last seen visually by his family around 7:30 PM Saturday night in the back yard. However, the camera on the front porch recorded him on the porch at 11:30 PM as he was being petted by a passer-by. Immediately after that the camera turned off, so it is not known if he went with these people. A neighbor across the street did confirm that she saw two young men petting Zoey around the same time frame as she arrived home. She said she saw the men walking away, but could not tell from the angle if Zoey was with them. 

One of Zoey's person described the young men as collage students who were probably walking back to the collage area from nearby Telegraph Avenue, which has a lot of late night shops and local hangouts. Both of them confirmed that Zoey was extremely friendly to strangers and was known to follow strangers. 

Normally his family would have let him inside around that time, but they forgot he was out and fell asleep. Around 2 AM, one of them realized that Zoey was not in the house and went outside looking for him, but did not see anything. 

The first part of the track appeared to be part of a regular routine of Zoey's. It appeared to be a short and close loop in  his neighborhood that only took us around 20 minutes to walk. The track then went back directly to his street and continued straight up College Avenue, all the way to the college. 

It is my best guess Zoey did the initial loop in his neighborhood and went back  home. He was waiting on the porch to be let in when these two young men came by. He went to visit them and then followed them down the street and up College. I think somewhere along the way, Zoey lost contact with these initial men and got lost and confused since he was now very far from home. College Avenue has a lot of shops that are open late including a movie theater, bars and restaurants. I think Zoey got picked up somewhere on College Avenue late that Saturday night and was carried out of the area. 

________________________________________________________________

View Zoey Oakland in a larger map


Created by Google My Tracks on Android.

Name: Zoey Oakland
Activity type: -
Description: -
Total distance: 12.93 km (8.0 mi)
Total time: 3:45:13
Moving time: 2:40:00
Average speed: 3.44 km/h (2.1 mi/h)
Average moving speed: 4.85 km/h (3.0 mi/h)
Max speed: 54.45 km/h (33.8 mi/h)
Average pace: 17.42 min/km (28.0 min/mi)
Average moving pace: 12.38 min/km (19.9 min/mi)
Fastest pace: 1.10 min/km (1.8 min/mi)
Max elevation: 115 m (376 ft)
Min elevation: -23 m (-76 ft)
Elevation gain: 382 m (1252 ft)
Max grade: 0 %
Min grade: 0 %
Recorded: 3/17/2013 1:55pm

"Cocos and Bentley", Maltese and Yorkie mix, San Jose

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Cocos is a one and a half year old, unspayed, female Maltese. She is wearing a collar with a decorative bow and an ID tag with an old phone number on it. She is not microchipped. The people at that number has been called to let them know that Cocos is missing. 

Bentley is a two and a half year old male, unneutered Yorkie/Maltese mix. He is not wearing a collar, but he is microchipped with updated information. 

They were missing for about three days when I was called out. 

Initially it was not known how the dogs got out of the yard because when the people got home at around 8 PM, both side gates were closed. I checked the whole yard, and there were only two possible ways out. One was through a very small hole in a neighbor's yard, but we later determined that they could not have gotten out of the yard since that part of the yard was completely enclosed by items on both sides. The other area was through a very small hole into the crawl space under the house. However, we could not find a way in the house or through the yard how to access that crawl space. We decided to look for a track leading away from the house while another family member continued to look for an access to the crawl space. 

While we were out looking for the track, a neighbor approached us and said that they had seen the side gate open that same afternoon that the dogs went missing. They said they did not see the dogs in the neighborhood or on the front lawn at the time. It is unclear how the gate could become closed again by the time Cocos and Bentley's people got home later that night. 

We did find a track leading away from the house and through the neighborhood for several miles. We worked on the track until it was dark. They said they would continue to look for Cocos and Bentley.

The next day I received a text that Cocos and Bentley were seen "for sale" on a person's Facebook page who lived in San Jose. It was said that the dogs were found running loose in San Jose. They found out the person's name and made contact with relatives of the man at a place where he was to be living, but they could not find out where the man was actually living. Police even went to the home and could not find out where the man was living. Soon after the photos were removed from the FB page. I have recontacted Cocos and Bentley's people and have been told that the dogs have not been recovered yet. 

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First Map
(Note: Due to GPS problems, I  had to split the search into two maps. On the first one, you have to move the map to the right to the appropriate area and then zoom in to see the map. The second one did not have this problem for some reason.)


View Cocos And Bentley San Jose Track One in a larger map


Created by My Tracks on Android.

Name: Cocos And Bentley San Jose Track One
Activity type: -
Description: -
Total distance: 8.45 km (5.2 mi)
Total time: 1:27:42
Moving time: 37:12
Average speed: 5.78 km/h (3.6 mi/h)
Average moving speed: 13.63 km/h (8.5 mi/h)
Max speed: 35.56 km/h (22.1 mi/h)
Average pace: 10.38 min/km (16.7 min/mi)
Average moving pace: 4.40 min/km (7.1 min/mi)
Fastest pace: 1.69 min/km (2.7 min/mi)
Max elevation: 4366 m (14324 ft)
Min elevation: -23 m (-76 ft)
Elevation gain: 61 m (201 ft)
Max grade: 9 %
Min grade: -5 %
Recorded: 3/8/2013 3:09pm



Second Map:


View Cocos And Bentley San Jose Track Two in a larger map


Created by My Tracks on Android.

Name: Cocos And Bentley San Jose Track Two
Activity type: -
Description: -
Total distance: 7.32 km (4.5 mi)
Total time: 2:04:00
Moving time: 1:34:30
Average speed: 3.54 km/h (2.2 mi/h)
Average moving speed: 4.65 km/h (2.9 mi/h)
Max speed: 9.45 km/h (5.9 mi/h)
Average pace: 16.94 min/km (27.3 min/mi)
Average moving pace: 12.91 min/km (20.8 min/mi)
Fastest pace: 6.35 min/km (10.2 min/mi)
Max elevation: 63 m (207 ft)
Min elevation: 22 m (71 ft)
Elevation gain: 153 m (503 ft)
Max grade: 7 %
Min grade: -4 %
Recorded: 3/8/2013 4:37pm