Another Happy Tail!!!

It's really awsome when calls end well.

I got the call that there was a little emacited grey and white dog that was reported to be in a field across from a supermarket and near a busy intersection. I patrolled the area and didn't find the dog. The field was huge, a good 5 acres with tall grass, drop-offs, trees and overgrown vegitation. Lots of places for a little scared dog to hide. Like I said, I couldn't find the dog. I called the person who had called it in. I let her know that I hadn't been able to find it. She told me that she had seen it running along the temporary fencing around the field and a friend of her's saw it again so she called it in.

I asked her to call back in if she sees it again.

Well by the next day, I got another call. And not from the original caller. So the dog was still in the area. I just wasn't seeing it. Later that evening I did some checking on CL. Well, after a couple days I got some feedback. Apparantly this dog had been seen in the field since around Christmas. The one house next to the field had been trying to catch the dog and leaving food out day and night. They also had a dog house set up. Then I was contacted by a Greyhound rescue. This filled in a little more of the puzzle. They had a foster that had been lost from in the area. They were thinking that it was the same dog. From the reports I had gotten, it very well could be.

I explained to the rescue contact that we didn't have a trap available. I had been trying to get our trap out, but it was in use at the Airport. Well, the rescue contact said she would try a few of her contacts to see if she could get a trap. She and I remained in contact to coordinate the trap placement. She had never set a trap before so I gave her pointers since I was probebly going to be off duty by the time she got a trap. she did get it set up by friday. And I checked the trap out. I still hadn't seen the dog.

The trap was set up so that it wouldn't close. This was done to lure the dog in so that it would not be afraid. This would take at least a couple of days. The neighbors in the house were very helpful by checking that there was food, and moving the bowls in further. this was helpful due the the rescue contact living pretty far away. Other officers also checked the trap daily until I returned to duty.

I went out the the trap on my first day back. The bowls where all the way inside the trap, and the food had been eaten. Time to se the trap and hope that it was our little guy.

I refilled the food and set the trap so it would spring when the dog went inside to eat. The rescue and neighbor had made sure that the trap had warm blankets and was covered to keep the dog safe from the outdoor weather.

Early the next morning I got a phone message from the neighbor. The dog was in the trap! He went in last night and she discovered him on her last trip out to the trap for the night. She had already called the rescue and they were already in motion to go pick up the trap and dog.

I was then contacted by the rescue contact. She had been called late last night and had been up since 6am to get the trap and dog. She had just finished picking him and the trap up. It was thier missing foster, a whippet who had gotten away from his foster home.

The rescue contact told me that he was in remarkable good condition, and he was on his way to her house to get checked out and she was going to personally foster this little guy. After all he had been through, she wanted to make sure nothing else happened to him.

While I didn't actually catch this dog. I still consider it one of my sucesses. And thank you to all that had been involved and cared.

You know, I never did get to see the dog.