Maxcy’s friend caught him two weeks later at Foxcroft Academy. But after a few hours, Pua escaped his harness and ran away again — this time, for months.
A local resident on June 20 created a Facebook page to track recent sightings of Pua, which was also meant to weed out the finger-pointing and negativity swirling on other pages, Maxcy said. Nearly 500 people had joined as of Friday, sharing photos and security camera footage of his visits.
Area residents have sent well wishes and prayers to Pua. One woman claimed she had a dream about saving the dog. Some have searched for him, offered donations and left food on their porches, hoping he might stop by for a midnight snack and consistent visits could lead to his capture. Others have suggested humanely trapping him or shooting him with a tranquilizer gun as a last resort.
Some have blamed Maxcy for being an irresponsible pet owner and the animal control officer, who set a trap the first time Pua went missing, for not doing his job. Other attempts to set a trap have not panned out. There was even a woman, a stranger to Maxcy, who claimed online to be Pua’s owner, which caused an uproar, she said.
“I’m just as frustrated as everybody else about this poor dog,” said Joe Guyotte, Dover-Foxcroft’s animal control officer. “I don’t know how to catch it because you can’t get close enough with a catch pole or anything like that. It’s just scared.”
Shari Sage, owner of Modern Image Salon, hears about Pua the dog from her clients. “I have just always hoped that the dog is OK.” Credit: Linda Coan O'Kresik / BDN Guyotte is willing to try setting another trap, which the state owns but currently is in town. But it will only work if placed in the right location, and Pua has been everywhere, he said.
Another option might be to get the dog comfortable enough to go into a garage and trap him that way. He heard from Maxcy on Friday that the dog was recently spotted near Parkman.
Thinking back to Pua’s adoption, Maxcy sees red flags, like when the previous owner handed her his daily anxiety medication, which had not been previously disclosed. In the short time she had him, she noticed Pua’s nervousness around men, and she wondered if he took off in search of his litter mate who he spent the first three years of his life alongside. She also learned during one of the previous owner’s visits to search for the dog that clearing a 6-foot fence is no big deal for him, she said.
When Pua first escaped, Maxcy searched for him before and after work. She and family members have walked through the woods and checked trails, swamps and local ATV paths, and a few times they came close to nabbing him, but he would dart and seems generally afraid of people, she said.
Jon Knepp, Thompson Free Library director and resident of Dover-Foxcroft, saw a large black dog running down the road in June and caught it thinking it was Pua. Unfortunately, it was not. Credit: Linda Coan O'Kresik / BDN The searches have died down because they took a toll on Maxcy’s health, she said. She works night shifts as a certified nursing assistant and has an 8-month-old child at home. The last time she searched for Pua was about a week ago.
“I’ve told everybody, ‘I’m not going to give up on this dog until he is found,’” she said.
Her plan as of Friday was to coordinate with animal control locally, borrow a trap available in Levant or buy her own in the coming days.
“There has been a lot of controversy. It’s easy to point a finger until it’s your dog that runs,” said Shari Sage, Modern Image Salon owner, who hears about the dog from her clients. “I have just always hoped that the dog is OK.”
Everyone wants to be the hero who catches Pua, and Jon Knepp, resident and Thompson Free Library director, thought he was close when he spotted a large dog with a black coat running along Main Street in mid-June. He bolted after it and caught it, only to discover a tag identifying him as Theodore. Probably six or seven people drove past and shouted in amazement, thinking it was Pua, he said.
Resident Kevin Farr spotted Pua on outer Essex Street in July and tried using dog food to catch him with no luck. Credit: Linda Coan O'Kresik / BDN Pua’s escape has brought more awareness to missing animals and the idea that “Dover-Foxcroft is a loose dog town,” Knepp said. But his story is fascinating because it seems that on one hand, Pua wants to be wild and roam amongst the community. On the other hand, it isn’t a healthy way for a dog to live, he said.
Knepp, like others in town, feels powerless in this situation. He doesn’t have time to scour the woods, hoping Pua will run past him, and at times it’s easier to detach, he said.
“Sometimes I think of Pua as some kind of folk hero and wanting him to keep running because he seems impossible to catch,” he said.
Pua’s breakout has shown Maxcy that his needs are greater than she realized, and her home isn’t the best place for him, she said. When and if he is finally caught, she plans to involve him in a rehabilitation program where he can heal and eventually go to a loving home. He deserves to be healthy and happy, she said.
“We’re just voyeurs in this crazy story that is also sad when you really think about it,” Knepp said.
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