Missing Sheltie in PA

Calliesmom said:
tim15856 is in Stewartstown, PA
not sure how close that is.
he's also involved with Sheltie Rescue in the area- might be able to help out.
Click to expand...

I'm in York Co, I doubt Foxie will get this far but the people around here involved in Sheltie rescue are always looking for lost, missing, or other Shelties in need, we'll keep watch for him.

Wish I saw this sooner, might have some info that'll be of use to you.

Feb will mark the 2nd anniversary of us losing and finding Kasey. We picked Kasey up from a breeder and he turned out to be very skittish. I meant to take an extra leash with me, but forgot it. When the breeder gave me a hard time about giving me a leash I simply picked him up and put him in the car. At some point he got sick in the car. When we got home and I opened the door to put a leash on him, I was momentarily distracted by the mess and Kasey used that opportunity to jump over my arm before I could get a grip on him. That began the 20 day effort to catch him.

You probably by now know a lot of the tips as to what you need to do. You got the flyers out there and it appears word is getting out so people are looking for him. Make sure your flyers are also posted in Vet offices and the community boards of supermarkets and any other large stores, some Walmarts have community boards. The supermarkets around me remove all postings after 30 days so you might need to re-post. Our local newspaper has an online pet blog that I posted a lost dog ad which they do for free. I also posted on craigslist. The Sheltie people around here monitor classified ads and places like craigslist and when someone saw my ad, they contacted the director of the rescue I foster for. In my case, most importantly, I posted on two local forums about my plight. From my posts on those forums I got a number of people who helped whenever possible and were in the posse who eventually captured him.

One of the first people I contacted for help was the county animal control officer (ACO). The first thing he tells me is that Shelties and Border Collies are prone to turning feral very soon after running off. In that mode they will not come to you even if you owned them a long time. He said the only way to catch them is to trap them. He also confirmed KFC as the preferred bait for Shelties. He loaned us a trap for free, we had it for as long as needed. We could have borrowed traps from local shelters too, but they wanted rather high deposits first.

It can get very frustrating, he was spotted numerous times, but if anyone got near him he'd take off. The ACO also said the traps are only good if the dog is staying put in a small general area. Kasey was always on the move and appeared to be traveling about 5 miles each day, but not moving out of the general area. I read some tips like if you spot him, get down real low and throw small pieces of hotdog or other goodie. I got with 10 yards of him once and tried that, huh, he's not falling for that dumb stunt. He just kept on booking. I also tried taking Shadow with me. When I spotted him coming towards me in a cornfield I got out and tried to hide so that he only saw Shadow. He turned around and headed back the way he came. I sent Shadow after him but then he really put the petal to the metal. I had to call Shadow back before I ended up with two lost Shelties.

At times we didn't know what else to do. He was moving around too much for the trap to do much good. We moved it around but the only thing we ever caught was stupid feral cats (mean as anything once trapped). I talked to the ACO about tranquilizer darts. He said he does have one but it's not something they are going to lend regular people and he said it's not good in this situation because unlike the animal TV shows, it takes about 15 mins for the drug to knock them out. In that time he can be long gone. I also looked into net guns http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netgun that would have worked in several situations, but they're expensive and I couldn't find a way to rent one.

The way we finally captured him was I contacted a tracking team who were recommended on the one forum. http://www.dogsfindingdogs.com/ And I asked for volunteers from the forums to come out on the same day. Almost none of those people had ever met me and a couple kids had plans for that day but wanted to help find Kasey instead. We had about 20 total people searching. It took about four hours to get a sighting and another 1/2 hour to catch him. Even with all those people we got lucky because he got trapped by a fence as he kept trying to get through our lines. I think the tracking team will travel to Bucks Co. we had Anne & Heidi. By theirself, they might not be able to catch Foxie if he is in feral mode. But they might be able to determine what area he's in and then you can determine where to set the trap. Be aware that Shelties can survive awhile in the wild. The temperatures went down into the teens and we had freezing rain and snow, but that double coat worked well for Kasey. Many areas might not have all the sources of food that Kasey had, he actually gained weight over those 20 days, if food is scarce, all the better with the KFC bait.

The main thing is make sure people are not trying to catch him or even call his name. All that will do if he's feral is make him harder to track as he runs off. Just try to pin point his location and set your traps. Put something of his or something with a familiar smell with the trap. A couple months ago the local newspaper did an article on tips to finding lost pets. Since I posted on their blog they contacted me for the story. The article has some good tips and contacts to try, just look for the applicable people in Bucks Co. Here's the article (Kasey's picture was on the front page) http://www.yorkblog.com/pets/2010/11/lost-pet-tips.html

If you're really bored, here is the day by day posts I made, I posted everything I was doing to find him.
http://talk.baltimoresun.com/showthread.php?t=184437&highlight=sheltie

http://www.syclife.com/forums/viewthread/2335/

Good luck, I hope your Christmas present is having Foxie found.
 
Last edited:
danisgoat said:
Where in Bucks County are you?

I am over the border in NJ near Flemington.

My breeder had a lost Sheltie and there were many things that were done to find her. You can read about her search in this thread:
http://sheltieforums.com/showthread.php?t=5925&highlight=ruffles

Here is the thread detailing her finding:
http://sheltieforums.com/showthread.php?t=6258&highlight=ruffles

A couple things I learned from her finding Ruffles is that the dogs usually come out of hiding around dusk.

For some reason, many dogs LOVE the smell of KFC. I have heard this used many times. For a Sheltie, you can use a Have a Heart trap. Many times the local humane societies will have them to loan out to you. Set the trap with KFC in it.

Also, Shelties seem to go feral with humans when lost. Does your dog have a dog friend. For some reason they tend to come to dogs over people. Make sure the dog you take is on a leash, though.

Please don't lose hope. My cousin's sheltie went missing a few years back in Milford NJ and he was found 5 months later about one mile from her house in a junk yard. He was lost over a very bad winter and was OK. Don't lose hope.

Please keep us posted. I would love to help any way I can.

Also, the local Sheltie rescue that I help out (and I have one of their rescues) may give some ideas to help you out. Here is their webpage with their contact information.
http://www.njsheltierescue.org/

Please send me a picture of your dog (pm me your e-mail address). I can post it to my facebook account and get the word out.

IN addition....how about called WPST radio? They are in that area, and maybe they can help you out by putting out a broadcast. The morning DJs seem really nice.

Many people have also used the service www.findtoto.com. They call all homes within a certain radius of where the dog was missing from.

How far away from you was she sighted.

My prayers are with you.

Danielle
Click to expand...

Hello Danielle,
I see you have replied a few times to this listing and I cannot thank you enough for your support. Just a quick question, did your cousin get many leads or sightings? I have had none. I just have a feeling she is still out there for some reason. We have been moving around cameras locally with no sightings but I do believe she is living off someone's property like your cousin's sheltie. I have asked the farmers in the area about any dog sightings but have not heard a thing. I just am hoping she did not get caught in a shed or anything. Just wish there was one sighting to know she is ok. Thanks for your help again! Carrie
 
Thanks for all your info on Kasey! I am so glad you were reunited with him! Like you said, I have been following everyone's advise to help find Foxie. The biggest key is to get a sighting! Not one since she fled. I know now what I could have/would have done differently within the first week but I thought I would have a sighting early with all the flyers and posters around. This has gotten so heart breaking not knowing if she is alive or caught in a sewer or shed. I hope with the snow now, she will be easy to spot. I am blessed with all the wonderful support from everyone such as yourself. This forum is amazing. I am shock how many local people are around for help. We only have one animal control officer for 6 counties. He is really supportive also and has lent us two cameras with lots of ideas where to set them up in the area. Nothing yet but it is hard to get a scent out there in the cold. Please everyone, keep searching the web and newspapers with me. She is still around the area, I just feel it!

God Bless and Happy New Year!
 
Many people have also used the service www.findtoto.com. They call all homes within a certain radius of where the dog was missing from.
Click to expand...
We used their service too. As much as it cost, I'm not sure it was cost effective. I think it was $75 for a five mile radius at the time. I only got one or two calls from people who were called by them. I also got one call from a guy who was upset for getting the call. He said he was on the do-not-call list and wanted to know how we got his number. I tried explaining things to him but he kept going on and on about the do-not-call list. He finally calmed down when he realized I was the dog owner and not the service who called him.

Not having any sightings at all, that could actually be a good sign. Someone may have picked her up and hasn't seen the flyers yet. If you read the newspaper story about Kasey, there was another Sheltie in that story who was found six months later because the people who found him just didn't see any missing dog reports for most of that time.
 
Last edited:
4EverBrandy said:
Hello Danielle,
I see you have replied a few times to this listing and I cannot thank you enough for your support. Just a quick question, did your cousin get many leads or sightings? I have had none. I just have a feeling she is still out there for some reason. We have been moving around cameras locally with no sightings but I do believe she is living off someone's property like your cousin's sheltie. I have asked the farmers in the area about any dog sightings but have not heard a thing. I just am hoping she did not get caught in a shed or anything. Just wish there was one sighting to know she is ok. Thanks for your help again! Carrie
Click to expand...

She did not have any sightings. Our local paper, the Hunterdon County Democrat, would run an ad for him and it just so happened that she got a sighting 5 months later from the ad in the paper. He was within 5 miles from her house. He had not traveled that far.
 
Still searching for Foxie

Hello everyone, it has been a while but I really don't have much info on Foxie to update. I have been checking this site, the web, the shelters, along with multiple miles of driving and walking searching for Foxie. I have to say, my signs seem to be everywhere but no sightings. I just need some encouragement.

I know it is unlikely Foxie would be out roaming in the day but how are many of these dogs ever spotted? By accident, at night, etc? I know I know the answer but I just praying for one good lead.

We have received many calls for which I am thankful. I just feel if I don't have a sighting soon, the spring leaves will be on the trees and I will not find her until winter. Hate to say it but I have been really counting on someone who will check the micro-chip evenually if she was picked up. She is really small!

My daughter put in her application for the SPCA in the summer. I keep thinking how awesome it would be for her to find Foxie there! Still praying for the other missing shelties such as Tristin etc. I do believe most people are honest and what to reunite these shelties. Thanks for the ear! Carrie:smile2:
 
My heart breaks for you, Carrie. I just found my pup after I accidentally dropped the leash, and he ran through a very busy and populated area of town. I was sure with the retractable leash, he would be stuck and I would never find him again.

The first two days, no sightings. I baited the front and back door, but only fed the feral cat population. I walked for miles and drove for hours. I put out over 150 flyers and went door to door, knocking and asking people if they'd seen him. I walked through the cemetery and handed out flyers to people. I even had girl scouts passing out flyers.

Then, Sunday afternoon I got a call from someone who saw him 2 miles away, at 8:30 that morning. He'd headed out of town and was hiding in a subdivision. I headed that way, even though I'm sure he was gone. It turned out, someone else had seen him six minutes before I had driven up! This was at 2 pm in broad daylight on a busy afternoon. Amazingly, he was outside, not hiding somewhere. It took me 15-20 minutes to catch him. At first he just kept running from yard to yard, hiding behind cars and he was very feral. Finally, someone gave my mom some vienna sausages and I was able to overcome his fear by appealing to his hunger.

I wrote all that to say - yes I've read everywhere that dogs move mostly at night... but Monet was spotted in the morning and during the afternoon when we caught him. All that was left of that retractable leash? A foot of nylon rope, where he'd chewed through the line. They are resilient. The people who spotted him saw flyers posted at a Walgreens, and one person I'd given a flyer who had been walking around the cemetery. Oh... and please don't do what I did and forget to bring food if you get a sighting... It was only by someone's good will that I was able to catch him. The vienna sausage really did the trick.

I really, really hope that Foxie finds her way home. I know it is so devastating. I will keep you both in my prayers, and may St. Francis help guide her home.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top