Cathy and Bryan Flannery had only had their new dog, Allie, for just over a week when she escaped their fully fenced yard by, in their words, “using a large vertical woodpile as a staircase.”
The pair quickly sprang into action, searching the neighborhood, alerting Marin Humane and posting flyers everywhere. Allie, a 6-month-old Aussiedoodle, was quite skittish so they worried she might get spooked by people approaching her. At the same time, they were desperate for sightings of their lost dog. And there were many. Allie was spotted in various locations throughout Corte Madera and Mill Valley. And she always appeared to be terrified.
The posted signs asked for sightings and clearly warned people not to approach Allie since she was literally running scared.
“I think there are a lot of people who want to help, who want to be the rescuer, and that’s wonderful. But the truth is, chasing after a loose dog can sometimes make things worse,” Cathy Flannery said. “They can bolt into traffic and get hit by a car or can go even further away from home.”
Three days later, the Flannery family posted on Nextdoor with that same message and even more sightings came in. Support from the community was bountiful. It was from that post that they learned about a woman out of San Diego who specializes in helping track lost dogs.
Barbara “Babs” Fry runs the nonprofit A Way Home for Dogs and helps people find lost dogs, free of charge. Fry says that most humans rely on their instincts to find dogs but what they should be doing is relying on their dog’s instincts. This means that if you have a fearful, timid dog, they’re likely in “hunted mode” and will run away from anyone trying to approach them.
If the dog disappeared from the home, Fry suggests staying there and letting the dog come back to you by following your scent. Make that scent stronger by leaving recently worn items of your clothing outside your house.
Fry also suggests putting odorous meats in a certain spot based on sightings. For example, after a neighbor sees your dog running up a hill, the meat would be placed at the foot of the hill.
For dogs like Allie, this was the best approach; map out where she likely was, based on sightings, then lure her with food or an article of Cathy or Bryan Flannery’s clothing.
Marin Humane Animal Services kept in contact with the pair and lent them a humane trap and guidance on how to use it. Humane traps must be monitored often to ensure other pets or wildlife don’t get trapped and they cannot be left out overnight.
The trap was set near the last sighting with tempting pieces of sausage to lure Allie in. Cathy Flannery installed a trail camera alongside the trap so she could monitor it from afar and the worried pet parents waited with bated breath.
The following day, Cathy Flannery watched her beloved pup on the camera go into the trap! She raced over and was happily reunited with an exhausted Allie who’d been missing for 16 days. She had giardia from drinking contaminated water and had lost a lot of weight but was otherwise in good health.
Dogs that are lost face dangers from cars, predators and the elements so getting Allie back was truly a Christmas miracle not just for Cathy and Bryan Flannery but for so many in the community who were rooting for her safe return.
To learn more about what to do if a pet goes missing, visit marinhumane.org/get-help.
Lisa Bloch is the marketing and communications director for Marin Humane which contributes Tails of Marin articles and welcomes animal-related questions and stories about the people and animals in our community. Go to marinhumane.org, find us on social media @marinhumane, or email lbloch@marinhumane.org.
