After a Bemidji family’s dog was missing for 7 weeks, a ‘team effort’ brought her home

BEMIDJI — On Wednesday, Jeannie Skaar had the day off.

She had a busy day planned, yet for a short while she lounged at her Bemidji home in a recliner with her 1.5-year-old Mastiff Labrador mix, River.

For many people, a few minutes spent with a pet might be taken for granted, brushed off as a mundane moment. But for Skaar, this time with her dog meant everything, because River had just recently returned home after she was missing for nearly two months.

River had been on the loose in the Bemidji area since the night of New Year’s Eve when she became scared after hearing fireworks in the area and bolted from Skaar’s yard.

“She has not run off before, but pretty soon I realized she was not coming back,” Skaar recalled. “I drove down Irvine (Avenue) a little bit but it’s pitch black so you can hardly see, but then I had glimpsed her eyes in oncoming traffic. She was running like a spooked horse — by the time I turned around she was gone.”

As soon as daylight hit the next morning, Skaar ventured off again to look for River but still had no luck.

“I thought for sure I was going to find her hit by a car or something,” she said about her search that morning, “but there was no trace of her for two weeks.”

In an effort to spread awareness of her missing dog, Skaar posted on her Facebook page that River had run off, asking friends to keep an eye out and contact her if anyone saw River. The post spread like wildfire, garnering more than 550 shares.

Sightings of River started rolling in, with people contacting Skaar saying they saw River in locations all over town — near Bemidji Marine, by CVS, in Cameron Park, walking up and down Birchmont Drive, in the field by Sanford Health, at Cease Family Funeral Home, even as far as the Industrial Park area.

“All of a sudden people started paying attention,” Skaar said. “It just became a goose chase.”

She quickly began receiving help in her search from friends, family, community members, the animal control team and other law enforcement, with sightings of River being reported constantly.

“It was a challenge,” said Cindy Tuomala, Skaar’s friend who was integral in the search mission. “It’s like, ‘I’m not giving up, we’re going to find her.’ It was challenging, but I wasn’t going to give up … Because if that was my dog, I’d want people to help me too.”

While sightings of the pup were plentiful, River was in a state of survival mode and Skaar quickly learned it wasn’t going to be easy to capture her, as she would immediately bolt at small noises and wouldn’t allow anyone to get near her.

Then, Skaar and Tuomala learned about the

Retrievers Volunteer Lost Dog Team,

a Minnesota-based organization that helps owners find their lost dogs. Using their expertise in recovering skittish dogs, volunteers set up a large kennel with food and a camera system, placing it in a couple of different locations around town where River had been seen.

Time was of the essence as the weeks rolled on, as video footage showed that River had started to lose weight and may have had an injured paw. But Skaar wasn’t giving up, and neither was the community.

“I couldn’t believe that the community just latched on and so many people were willing to help,” she said. “I can’t stress how much law enforcement was very supportive, too … It was definitely a team effort.”

Seven weeks to the day River went missing, the kennel strategy finally paid off. With the cage set up at Cameron Park, River crept in to eat the food inside and the door was shut behind her.

“To watch her snap out of survival mode, it’s just crazy,” Skaar recalled about the moment when River was finally safe from the elements. “Seeing her just kind of snap out of it when she did get to see us and smell us, that was pretty neat.”

As River adjusts to her life back at home, Skaar said she’s taking the process “day by day,” but that fortunately River is slowly but surely returning to her old self.

“It just feels surreal,” Skaar said about being reunited with her beloved pet. “She’s coming right back to being the silly little girl that she was.”

When Skaar and Tuomala reflect on the time River was missing, they feel grateful that the weeks of frustration and chaos culminated in a happy ending.

“We’re very fortunate,” Tuomala noted, “because there are other dogs out there that are missing that are never found.”

For Skaar, River’s homecoming is the result of an outpouring of community support, generous assistance from the Retrievers’ team of volunteers, and a pinch of luck.

“We were lucky that she didn’t get hit by a car, we were lucky that someone didn’t mistake her for a deer potentially in the brush, just lucky for a lot of things,” she said. “It puts a whole new perspective when you have to go through it. It makes me want to help other people.”

Madelyn Haasken is the multimedia editor at the Bemidji Pioneer. She is a 2020 graduate of Bemidji State University with a degree in Mass Communication, with minors in writing and design. In her free time, she likes watching hockey, doing crossword puzzles and being outside.