Dogs Finding Dogs Tracking Stories
It was my birthday. My 15 year old Whippet went for a nature walk by herself after a gate was mistakenly left open. Wisp, adorned in her pretty blue coat with colored paw prints, disappeared! I looked high and low and walked my large property thru the trees and the trails and could not find her. I am a Vet and one my patients, Heidi, is a search dog for Dogs Finding Dogs. In my plight, I remembered, call on Heidi! Dogs Finding Dogs showed up with 2 K9's, Heidi and Lessa. Sniffing Wisps' footprints led all over the trails on my property. Both dogs worked very hard and eventually this is what led to flushing Wisp out into the open. I directed Anne to take Heidi towards the firebreak. Off they went with Mary and Lessa holding up the rear in case Wisp came out the other side of my property. Within a few minutes I received a phone call from Anne, totally out of breath, saying "Get Outside on the Horse Trail! I got Wisp and she is heading your way! Anne had to send Heidi on a send-away, a command that is taught sending the dog out at a full run. Heidi was sent to catch Wisp who was was ahead of them. Heidi caught up to Wisp, stopped her with a nudge in the nose and turned Wisp around. Then Wisp and Heidi went blasting by Anne and back up into my property. We all ran out to the back and there was Wisp coming up the trail. We scooped her up with such joy and relief! What was the WORST birthday turned out to be the BEST birthday gift! Wisp was back home!
Thanks to you and Heidi, Wisp is home and none the worse for her outing. Wish I could say the same for all of us. We sure had our exercise! Thanks to Mary and her girl for coming to our call for help.
-Barbara in Laurel (February, 2009)
Homer takes the cake! What a amazing story!!!! While being doggy sat by my boyfriend at his home, he was taken on a walk into unfamiliar territory. Poor Homer is a rescue Beagle/Basset mix and was severely abused. He got scared on his walk and pulled out of his harness and took off. I was in Canada and called to ask for help. I cut my vacation short and rushed back home to Alexandria, VA. Two dog searches were performed over a 3 day span looking for Homer. Posters, flyers and door to door knocking were carried out. Homer's track was found and he was in the woods that were so dense with thorns! From laying a track from the woods back to the boyfriend's house several times, Homer was able to follow it home the very next morning at 5:00a.m. Homer was full of thorns and mud, had lost 6lbs and was very tired but Very Happy to be back with his owner.
-Deme in Alexandria. (December, 2008)
Opal was a birthday gift but I never got to even touch her before she escaped from her crate in the middle of the BWI Sheraton Hotel. We chased her and did everything possible to try to catch little Opal but she was too quick and too scared. She had just been flown in from Oregon from her breeder. We placed a cry for help out on the web and Dogs Finding Dogs came to the rescue. Anne and Heidi showed up at the Sheraton and helped track Opal. Opal's footsteps were like spaghetti! Up and down, all around and no wonder.....we had chased the poor little dog all over! Heidi tracked them perfectly and then lead us off of the property of the Hotel, across 195 and to a hole in the fence of the airport runways! This is where the airport stepped in and said they would take over. They would not allow Anne and Heidi on the property because they were considered to be a security risk. Anne spoke to the head of operations at the Airport, BWI, and was told that if USDA could not catch Opal by the next morning than they would resort to shotting her with live ammo!!!! They had had enough of her running on all active runways, in front of planes and baggage carriers!! By a miracle bigger than life, Opal was caught the next morning. WBAL 11 news was on the phone with Anne as they were in the air coming to Opal's rescue!! We love Dogs Finding Dogs and all the help that they gave to us! And Heidi is about the smartest dog on this earth. She knew just who Opal was....you will see this for yourself in the video. For now, Opal gets eggs and bacon every morning and she is adjusting to me being her new mom!
-Mary Lu in Silver Spring (February, 2009)
Max, my Husky/Cocker Spaniel Mix ran out the front door when I mistakenly didn't shut it all the way. His brother had gone out also but didn't get any further than the front yard becuase he has a broken leg. Max was no where to be found and I looked allover the neighborhood for him. Exhausted I came back home and started to surf the net and call all the local shelters...and no Max. I found Dogs Finding Dogs and gave them a call. Anne brought out Heidi right away. We started from the front yard and tracked thru the neigborhood to a steep creek bed that had a vertical drop of about 30 feet. Straight down and all bolders along the way poking out. My heart DROPPED! I couldn't look and my eyes were filling up. Anne told me to hold Heidi's leash and she looked. Thank God no Max, but he had been there. His tracks were at the bottom of the frozen creek on the ice where he had apparently fallen into. His tracks led down the creek where we could get back to the ice. It was Max's footprints and human footprints. Someone had gone and rescued him and carried him off! Heidi was still able to track thru the neighborhood following Max's and the man's scent. A kind neighbor had Max and when he found him he was frozen like a popsicle. All of Max's hair was frozen solid and he had to be warmed up with hot towels. Max is now back home having survived a steep fall and crash thru the ice on a terribly cold winter day with no injuries! I thank Dogs Finding Dogs for everything they did! I was truly amazed at seeing the working relationship with Anne and Heidi. I would strongly reccommend them to anyone! And for Max, his new nick name is Tigger! He bounces with the best of them! (Read an article about this story.)
-Rich in Arbutus (January, 2009)
Zoey is our family Yorkie who ran out of the house on a Wednesday afternoon around 3:00. We could not find her anywhere and we flooded half of the nieghborhood with flyers. When we posted on Craigslist we were called by Anne of Dogs Finding Dogs and were told that their search dog Heidi could come out and try to locate Zoey. We called on the following Friday nite and she came over and tracked Zoey going in the opposite direction of where we put up flyers. We had none in that area. Zoey went along a long meadow behind some houses and then into the woods were we could see her footprints like she was being chased, then out of the woods to a house and then they stopped. We knocked on the door and they said they did not see Zoey. We searched some more and as we we got back home the people from the house called and said they had Zoey and they would meet us on the corner. They brought Zoey back but they had taken her tags and collar off and bought a new collar and leash for her. They were going to keep her! Their children coming home from school chased Zoey into the woods and then scooped her up! We want to thank Heidi for her work! We would have never found Zoey if she didn't take us to the house that she was in. Thank you Heidi! We love you!
-Jason in Parkville, MD (February, 2009)
My Snowy had been missing for 3 days and never stayed away this long! We live in a nice neighborhood with a very large thick wooded area that is impassable by humans. The Sticker bushes are so thick and over grown and there is a stream that runs thru the middle of it. Dogs Finding Dogs came out to try to locate Snowy. We used some of Snowy's hair to scent up their tracking dog Heidi.
Heidi took us across a few yards and then into a thick area of sticker bushes in the back on my neighbors yards. We could not get thru it so we took Heidi around it back to the closest spot where we left off. She traced Snowy's footsteps down to another street and then along the edge of this wooded area that was full of stickers. As we were following Heidi I was saying Snowy never would go this far! or would he? Just as we got to the edge of the large wooded sticker bush area we heard Snowy crying or I should say screaming! I called Snowy's name and he answered me 4 times. Great we found him. Dogs Finding Dogs was right! But now how in the world do we get to him? We tried everything to get into the midst of this horrible mess! It was impossible! My husband and my son came down and started to chop thru all the overgrowth and stomp around....and low and behold Snowy was finally back to us that very same night! He was fine and thinking about where he went....well it is a great place to catch all kinds of mice and rabbits. Now we know where to look if he ever does not return back home again.
-Robin in Ellicott City (February, 2009)
Olive, and his sister Martini, are the loves of my life. Last Thursday, Olive managed to slip out the front door unnoticed with his black fur. I searched the house high and low, then around the neighborhood in sheer panic. I recruited family members and friends to plaster the neighborhood with posters. I notified all the shelters and animal hospitals and checked listings of lost animals. Finally, I put up an ad in craigslist and a nice lady named Ann responded saying that she thought she might be able to help me find him. The night before, in my endless research, I had read that search dogs can be very helpful, but I had no luck finding any. When I saw Anns response, I immediately gave her a call. After only a 15 minute conversation, I felt completely empowered with Ann's advice. She encouraged me to take a more active role in Olive's search and reassured me that everything would be ok. I went out and crawled under decks and in bushes and sheds, and realized that Heidi was who I needed. I called Ann back and she spent even more time giving advice and reassurance and we arranged for her and Heidi to come by. They were able to narrow down a few homes where Olive had been recently, and that in itself gave me a lot of hope. Ann promised to return two days later so that we could use the snow that was about to fall as another tracking devise. In the mean time, she gave me detailed instructions on what to do to find him- like getting a trap from the humane society. Well, needless to say, I canceled Ann's second visit bc last night, Olive wondered right smack into the trap! I am so grateful to have him back!! I am also equally grateful to have Ann's help! Without it, I think that I would still be searching for Olive, and Martini would sill be pacing around the house missing her brother.
-Lauren in Arlington (February, 2009)
My cat Miracle must have ran out the front door of my Townhouse on a cold Wednesday evening in January of 2009. I did not notice him missing until the next morning. My housemate and I put out flyers and walked the neighborhood for the next 3 days to no avail. On the advice of the animal shelter I placed an ad on craigslist. The next morning I got an email from Anne at Dogs Finding Dogs. I had thought the day before how awesome it would be if there were search dogs available to look for lost pets. Anne was the answer to my hope. I called her the next morning. She gave me good advice on looking for my pet myself if I decided against her services. I had her come over that afternoon and within an hour of our search, Heidi, the search dog, had found my cat. I had now wished I had known of them on day one. If either of my cats every go missing again, she will be the first call I make. Thank You!!
-Larry in Maryland (January, 2009)
We just wanted to post this in hopes that others missing their pet might consider this, as it helped us find our pet who was lost on Christmas Eve. Our Tessie ran out the front door while we were visiting relatives Christmas Eve in an area unfamiliar to her, and it was the first time she had ever wandered outside. We posted on Craigslist as soon as she was lost and searched for her endlessly for two days. It was 2 days of crying, unrest, and worry wondering if we'd be able to find her before the end of the holidays and we'd have to go back home and back to work. A wonderful lady named Anne with dogsfindingdogs.com saw our posting on Craigslist and contacted us. She was very helpful in first giving us advice to locate Tessie over the phone. We decided to enlist the help of her and her tracking dog Heidi to find our pet. They came and tracked her scent, showing us the trail Tessie had wandered to. We are still amazed at how they were completely accurate showing us a few houses that were strong with her scent. She told us she'd be back as long as was necessary until we found our girl. That night as we continued calling out to her, we found Tessie hiding right in the yard Heidi had tracked her to. Anne and Heidi are our heroes right now, and thanks to them we have our Tessie back home. If it hadn't been for their help, we'd still be wandering the whole neighborhood looking for Tessie. Thanks to them, they showed us that she was really only across the street in a well hidden spot. If you are missing your pet, please consider calling her. Anne and Heidi will have our gratitude forever for reuniting us with Tessie.
-Rockville, MD (December, 2008)
As a first time dog owner I found out the hard way that there is nothing scarier than losing your pet. A few weeks ago my 5 month old English bulldog puppy Ralph walked out my front door when I was not at home. Losing your pet in Baltimore City, as you can imagine, is probably one of the most dangerous places for your dog to be wandering around. My immediate thoughts turned to tragedy as after relentless searching, my efforts came up short. The only thing I could do was hope that a responsible individual would pick him up and contact me. That is until I found 'dogs finding dogs' while posting notices on the internet. The comfort of having Anne and Heidi search for Ralph was immeasurable. Sure enough Heidi retraced Ralph's footsteps to the exact spot where he was picked up just earlier. In a fortunate twist of fate Ralph ended up about 3 blocks away at a neighbor's friend's house. Having Anne and Heidi by my side throughout the process truly gave me comfort in knowing that I was doing everything in my power to find my dog. If you are reading this I can certainly share in your pain but know that there is always hope. The faster Heidi can get to your house the better chance you will have of a successful find..
-Brian in Baltimore City (December, 2008)
Jack is my bestfriend! He is the most loving affectionate cat ever! I was never a cat lover but Jack changed me. What was supposed to be a quiet working weekend with my wife and children out of town, turned into a nightmare! Jack my Russian Blue buddy had snuck out the front door. This was on Friday and all weekend I searched high and low for him. I posted him up on the internet and Dogs Finding Dogs saw our cry for help! On Monday Dogs Finding Dogs shows up ready to look for Jack. Heidi started tracking Jack from the front door where he got out of. She then took us on a walk around my surrounding townhome blocks and lead us to where Jack was hiding. Jack was hiding under a deck behind a rolled up hose. Heidi zeroed in on him and Jack shot straight up in the air announcing his disgust all the way! Poor Heidi could not understand why he was so upset. Jack shot into a 6' fenced in yard and was now cornered and had no choice but to let me snatch him up! I had to scale the fence and run around a bit to get him. Success! When Heidi came up on Jack all I could say was "You are amazing! Incredible!" Life is back to normal. What a incredible relief it was to find Jack. Thank you Dogs Finding Dogs! I just wish I had known about you on Saturday.
-Andy in Annapolis (January, 2009)
