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I haven't been hoofing through the neighborhood, but I am going to walk one of my dogs on the morning. With new dogs, I usually let everyone meet in the yard, and go in and out of the house a few times. This dog, after six months of quarantine, was so thrilled to run in a yard, she just wanted to run (and rest- after all, she's 14).But the "getting accustomed" walk is a good idea.
If when I get this dog back, she's not getting out of the house forever. She'll have to learn to pee on papers. How can I ever take my eyes off her?! Still hoping she'll figure it out, and the above foster stories are very heartening.
You never know, Bright. She might evolve into a clingy stay-at-home girl. Or not. As you say, she is an old girl. In any case, I am still praying she is found safe.
I haven't read all the previous comments but from what I know, if you can determine roughly where she hangs out, you set up a feeding/water station there. Eventually bring in a humane trap.
She loves Begging Strips, and when I take a dog for a walk in "her" area, I'm carrying strips and flyers.
I would also carry something with a stronger smell. Cooked beef, chicken, tuna...
You may have already done this but I would also put LOTS of signs all over the area asking people to call you immediately with any sightings. Also post on Craigslist. Better to have hundreds of eyes looking!
She's on craigslist already. The only treats she will eat are apparently begging strips and supposedly will only eat one kind of Pedigree dog food with bacon. If I knew where she was or if she came to my house at night or something, I'd set a humane trap.
I'm going to walk the neighborhood on Saturday when people are all out doing stuff. Everyone has been very friendly and kind (it's a big animal town). I feel guilty that I'm not out walking everywhere today or tomorrow but after a night shift, I am so tired I can't describe it.
Someone ate the food I set out- this is the second time since she's been missing that someone ate it. This time it was late morning/early afternoon, and I've never seen a skunk or gopher roaming around the front of my house in the daytime. I so hope it was her, so I bought a "critter cam"- a motion detector battery camera that takes pictures around the clock. It'll arrive Friday so I can set it up right away. The first time the food disappeared was the second night she was gone, and it got eaten at night. Now this was during the day today. Oh, the cameras are meant for game spotting/hunting or to see what is eating your garden but I want to see who's eating the Pedigree beef/cheese/bacon with Begging Strip on the side. I'm told this is the only food she will eat. Would squirrels or rabbits eat canned dog food? I do see them during the day.
The RI people are coming up again tomorrow. They are sure that the dog will only come to the one woman and seem to think if someone has a flyer and sees the dog and calls... what, they race up 70 miles and do what? I am really feeling guilty about this flyer stuff. I will spread more around on Saturday. What a suggestion, a critter cam! A friend used it for their isolated cabin that seemed to have bears coming around during the week. Much simpler than a regular surveillance camera.
I'm waiting right now for its delivery. Amazon said I'd get it today and I know the UPS runs are early evening for my neighborhood.
The Rhode Island people came back up today and explored the woods around my house and nearby. Turns out the neighbor behind me, who is in the woods, found dog poop in his garden "the other day" and there really are no loose dogs here. I haven't seen one in years. They suggested me setting up a crate with beggin strips and her shelter bedding in the man's garden, which I will do tomorrow. If we're going to use a dog trap, there will be exactly one chance to get it right... They said there's sort of a cleared secluded area with a picnic table right in the woods and it would seem a perfect place to hide out. Also, the other day when I was strewing shelter laundry around my property, when I dropped a towel over my fence close to that garden, I was talking loudly "You're such a good girl, where's my good girl" and heard a booming bark. I tried to think of who in the few houses there has a (big) dog and there aren't any dogs in those houses that I know of. This is right between my house, past his garden, and a short walk to the house where she was last seen.
The RI people told me that she has a really big bark, like a Lab or hound, and you'd never think it was from her. I certainly think that bark, sounding like that, and coming from where I heard it, could have been her. The RI people are sure she wouldn't come to me if I called- only to the one woman, Lori- and they have certainly been over the top in dashing up here with the 140-mile round trip to search for her. I'm going to go around "her" area and the general neighborhood and talk to people- lots of people out on a Saturday, and probably grilling! and give flyers. Some people are getting hit for the second time already, but the neighborhood has been uniformly wonderful and caring.
Thanks for reading so far. I am waiting for my new critter cam. In the last two hours, "someone" ate half the begging strips I put out and my dogs have been rushing to the window to bark more frequently than usual, and I honestly think they are responding to her sneaking by or grabbing the strips. They don't do this at night because they're all fairly deaf so if she comes by at night/early morning, I hope she eats, gets her picture taken, and isn't scared off.
It's partly a matter of trying to figure out when to go to the dog trap and where to put it. If it isn't done right and scares or hits her, she'll never try again. But boy someone sure likes those bacon beggin strips.
Thanks to all for your interest in this little gal. If only she could understand!
Havent read thru everything but maybe you could enlist a group of kids (w/ parental supervision) to pass out flyers at the local grocery store (lots of traffic on wkends), the thing is you dont want to scare the dog, so they would have to be dog savvy (maybe Boy Scouts or from a church youth group), just a thought, would also post signs w/ a good pic and description of her as well as offering a reward, $$ motivates - just some thoughts. All the best, I know how hard this has to be (one of mine went missing on a Halloween nite yrs ago, luckily we could see her in the distance and while she wouldnt come to us (and wasnt wearing a collar w/ current tags), eventually my husb. was able to grab her (she was about 12 lbs), it was cold and ppl were trying to help, it was an awful experience, she was just out her element (alth. we walked her there a lot), was a nervous dog anyway and I really thought she'd get hit by a car (it was at nite and there were trick-or-treaters in the area). Best wishes to you both -
Thank you. The flyers thing is almost completely done, and the supermarket posted one on its board. More bacon strips keep disappearing from the bowl outside but whoever is eating them gets scared off when my dogs start barking. I'm still waiting for the "critter camera" to be delivered so I can see if it's Brandy eating the strips and then will consider setting a humane trap from Animal Control.
I know she's around nearby and hiding. She is. Thanks for the good wishes.
not a whole lot of help but could wet the ground around the food dish-just enough for whatever to make foot prints.
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