HELP! My Sheltie Ran
Away!
What do I do?
This has GOT to be one of the most frightening things to happen to you - your Sheltie, who you never in a million years dreamed would run off, has somehow been released into the wide open spaces beyond the confines of the fenced yard or has slipped her collar, or has somehow otherwise escaped your care and control, and is now gone missing. Or your new, prized Sheltie addition to your family, unfamiliar with you and her surroundings, has taken flight out of confusion and fear. What do you do? What CAN you do, to try to get her back home again?
Retrieving the love of your life, your Sheltie, your heart, is not as easy as one might think.
I know. This very thing happened to me.
My beautiful tri-color girl, Onyx, went missing. She was eventually found and returned safe and sound, but those were the most terrifying and horrifying seven days of my adult life. The story goes something like this, and includes lots and lots of ideas and suggestions on how you might best find the way to get your Sheltie back home safe again.
The story is kinda long - most of my stories are - but also mainly because there ARE so many hints and tips interwoven, but the information I have to share with you here may very well prove invaluable when that next Sheltie soul slips the gate, the collar, the door, however, and disappears.
I was asked by the Guru of Lost Shelties (Darla, a fellow Sheltie breeder/owner/handler in Florida) to tell everyone what we did that made it possible for us to recover Onyx. I guess it made sense, for I don't believe we can be reminded often enough how very important these things are, nor how easily it can happen, even to me, even to YOU! I learned long ago to 'never say never.'
Once upon a time I would have told you Nah, I've never lost one and don't intend to ever lose one! And heckno, Onyx wouldn't run off, especially not in a strange neighborhood! but obviously, I am wearing a quite different shoe today.
There is NOTHING and NO ONE to blame for Onyx's escape. It happened. Accidents happen. We have no idea how the gate came open, only that it did, and Onnie slipped through (the little snake! Princess Snake, but snake all the same!).
Onyx was bred for an exciting litter of tri-color puppies, and was due to whelp her litter in mid June. She was originally intended to go to Florida with a friend and fellow breeder for a lease term of two years. Due to difficulties early on in her pregnancy I had to make a tough decision to keep Onyx at home. I thought she was going to lose her puppies and was scared, wanted to keep her near me so I could handle whatever complications may arise, if any.
This presented a whole new problem, though, because I cannot whelp and raise a litter of puppies at home. It has been five years now since I was able to do that, and it is unclear if that bit of hard truth about my health will ever change, but I digress.
My good friend, Liz, offered to whelp the litter for me and as Onnie's time grew near I packed her up in the truck and off we went to the mountains.
We arrived about 8-ish, maybe 8:30 or so, and climbed out of the truck. Took Onyx, leash in hand, to the puppy yard and once she was settled with fresh water we carried ourselves into the house. Waiting long enough for Onnie to have visited the yard, smelled the smells and do her potty bit - couldn't have been more than thirty minutes - Liz went out the door to see how she was doing with intentions of letting her in the house at that time.
Out the door, but no Onyx. It was dark, pitch black dark, which makes a black dog very hard to see, but simply calling her name should have called her attention to the house, and being the princess she is, she most surely would have wished to be inside, where we were.
The puppy yard was empty, though. Onyx was gone. The gate we had entered was standing a bit ajar, the only evidence she may actually have been there at all.
As SOON as we discovered she was missing - about thirty minutes after our arrival - and we have no idea when she actually got out - we canvassed the immediate neighborhood on foot to search for her. All of us were calling out to her, hoping to get her attention, to make her pause long enough to look who was calling, to investigate, to actually COME to who was calling her name.
HA!
At the time I was clueless, Liz was clueless, about the average Sheltie brain on escape, and figured once she heard me she would come running into my arms.
*NOT*!!!
After about twenty minutes of walking, calling and seeing no sign of Onyx we decided to return to the house to exchange our feet for vehicles so we could widen our search, flashlights in hand. Liz and I went in my truck - Liz driving since she knew the neighborhood - and Bob climbed in Liz's and we split up.
We drove around the neighborhood slowly, continuing to call out to her. We looked. We called. We looked. About oh, thirty or forty-five minutes into the vehicular search we got a call from Bob. He JUST saw her and she ran off as soon as she heard and saw him standing there in the road. HURRY QUICK!
OK. She was scared of Bob.
Liz and I went to The Spot and got out. We explored the area on foot, searching with flashlights, calling her name. We did that for about another thirty or forty-five minutes but saw absolutely NO sign of Onyx, not even the sound of her - or any other animal for that matter - picking their way through the woods. No sign. No rustlings leaves, no glow of eyes, no speck of white (she has a huge shawl collar).
It didn't make sense, Onyx in the woods. She is a princess. She doesn't even like to walk on GRAVEL, let alone pick her way through leaf litter, underbrush, dead trees and the like, which you find in the woods. She HAD to be there somewhere that did NOT include the woods!
But we had to go back to the house. Pit stop. Trade vehicles. But what do we do now?
We discussed strategy and decided there was NO way Onnie could NOT have heard me calling out to her, since this neighborhood is in a sort of topographic bowl or shallow valley, so if you stand at The Spot and call, the voice can be heard pretty clearly at Liz's house nearly a mile away. Obviously, Onnie had heard me and I was confused. Why didn't she respond to me, to the sound of my voice, the sound of her Mama?
After a few moments at the house Bob and I went back out to The Spot, figuring she would listen to me but not a total stranger. This time, rather than calling and calling her, I sat down in the grass next to the road and started to quietly call out to her, encouraging, offering her cookies, rattling a bit of kibble in a food dish. About an hour of that and nothing. We talked, decided that by that hour - after midnight - she had hunkered down for the night somewhere and wouldn't move about until early morning, before the heat of the day. Couldn't bear the thought but had to return to the house and try to get some sleep.
While we drove about the neighborhood again that morning - Sunday - we left notes on car windshields, tucked into folks' front doors, that simply said Lost (mini collie), black and white, phone number. The folks who were home that we actually talked to said, Yeah, we heard you calling for her last night, her name is Onyx, isn't it?... Which told me yes, Onnie had to have heard me if every neighbor who was out that evening had heard us. And some of these homes actually said if Onyx ventured onto their porch or into their yard, they would open the door to let her in the house, which would be a natural thing for Princess Onyx to do - be let in the house where she walked up to the door.
Finally we had to go back. I had to go home. I *HAD* to. I left my heart in the mountains but my body had to get back to the real world of my life.
On Monday fliers were made and printed. Between Liz and a friend of hers hundreds of fliers were passed out in a widening area as they went. Mail boxes, front doors, cars. Everywhere - and THEN some - where the hand written fliers had been tucked in doors, etc. on Sunday everyone got the new flier Monday.
On Monday morning I also made public the announcement to the Sheltie mail lists that Onyx had gone missing. The first thing I remember happening was I heard from Darla, the Guru of Lost Shelties. She sent me this list of things to do when looking for a lost Sheltie, which I then forwarded to Liz, who was already doing everything suggested on the list except for creating a poster in addition to fliers. Immediately a poster was created and printed and tacked up everywhere, too - something written in large enough letters that passing cars could actually read the entire message in that split second passing by. The poster was attached to every single immobile structure available. The neighborhood - the town - nearly the entire county - was plastered.
NOTE- In both the flier AND the poster it was NOT announced she was pregnant. Rather, we stated she needed immediate medical attention. Pregnant sounds like money in the makings by selling puppies, but needing medical attention sounds like money to spend at the vet's. Remember this. ANY lost dog could, hypothetically, be in need of immediate medical attention...
See the flier - Word document here - HTML file here.
See the poster - Word document here - HTML file here.
Phone calls were made. The postman, the telephone company, the local Department of Transportation, the city AND county police, all vets, local rescues, shelters, dog clubs, storefronts - EVERYONE within a thirty mile radius was contacted and got either a flier or poster and many got BOTH.
By the time they finished in the neighborhood many neighbors had volunteered to take walks in the early mornings or late evenings, to see if they could spot her, and the kids in the area were all told about it and of course were excited to be asked to help. It was made clear to everyone, don't chase her, don't try to catch her because she will probably run away. JUST CALL!
Then Darla CALLED me so we could cry together, and one more thing she told me was when a Sheltie gets lost, they tend to lose their brain, forgetting all that should be familiar and desired.
After several days had passed without a single sighting of this bitch I was getting very disheartened. But Darla explained, NO, she has not been picked up, she has not been carried off, she is not being holed up in someone's house or garage, she is SCARED, she HAS NO BRAIN, and she's in hiding. She will run from EVERYONE, even ME, because she would not stop to think about the voice she was hearing or the person she was seeing. Darla said even if it is the only person they have heard or seen their entire life, as soon as they hear ANYONE they are gone in a flash.
By late Thursday and early Friday we were desperate. Someone wrote me a note and suggested an animal communicator. I HAD NOT EVEN THOUGHT OF THAT! This person provided me a name and phone number and I called. What did I have to lose?
There is no way to know if this person was actually communicating with Onyx, but it was immediately following my initial conversation with the animal communicator Onyx was finally sighted. She approached a little old lady walking on the road. The lady said she was close enough to touch Onyx but was unable to carry her home and did not have a leash, so back home she went to get a leash and by the time she returned, Onyx had gone.
Later that day Onyx was sighted again.
Darla called again. She was packing her car, bringing us two live traps, and was on her way from Jacksonville, Florida to the North Carolina mountains. Eastern Florida to western North Carolina. Surely there was a hose of angels watching over Onyx.
Throughout the day Friday there were several, including me and including the psychic we spoke to, who were focusing on Onyx, her photograph, her name, and urging her to go to someone, to approach ANYone, so she and her babies could be safe.
Finally, Onyx trotted herself up the driveway and onto the front porch of a nearby mobile home where several girls were, and let them capture her and put a leash on her. One of the girls called the phone number on the flier, and then they all proceeded to walk Onyx down the road to meet Liz and Bob as they raced to the mobile home to retrieve Onyx.
And Darla drove over eight hours to get the good news of Onyx's return, her traps weren't needed after all.
Who knows what factor was the most instrumental in Onyx's recovery? If the fliers and posters hadn't been plastered all over... If the people had not been spoken to, hundreds of people, literally, spoken to... If the animal communicator had not been called upon to help... If Darla had not made the trip north...
The level of Liz's (and Darla's) commitment - Liz herself says hers was an OBSESSION - to locate Onyx was so extraordinary there is no doubt in my mind it was purely by her effort - and her getting the help of Bob and her friend (it was the friend who was responsible for posting over a hundred fliers and/or posters on Monday alone), PURELY her effort, Onyx was recovered. And I do not forget Darla's SO selfless gift!
Liz did everything right. WE did everything right. Except for the part we screamed her name for a few hours Saturday night following her escape, we did everything right. And you know what? The porch to which she went Friday night, where she was finally, eventually, captured (and oh, those girls were SO excited to have been the ones to find her!), was not a stone's throw from The Spot where she had originally last been seen the night she went missing, and she was within a mile of the fence out of which she had slipped that fateful Saturday night.
Seven days she wandered.
So when your Sheltie goes missing, don't do the thing you most immediately, logically, think to do - wander the neighborhood screaming her name, calling out to her, expecting her to hear you and come running, because that is not the likely thing for a Sheltie to do. A Sheltie most often than not will run AWAY from all effort to find and capture her, no matter who the person is. They do not pause long enough to SEE who it is when they hear someone, they just RUN.
What Darla told me was our best hope would be Onyx would finally get hungry enough to venture forth from her hidey hole, wherever it was, and go off in search of food. Darla said that was when you get sightings, and doesn't happen for four, five, six days following escape. And that is EXACTLY the time-frame Onyx was finally sighted for the first time by that little old lady.
So when your Sheltie goes missing, look for her, yes, by all means LOOK, but JUST look. And while you are looking, talk to everyone, make hundreds of fliers and posters - the fliers to give to people, to leave on their door or in their mailbox, on the front windshield of their car, and tack the posters to every available stationary object possible. Call EVERYONE you can think who might be traveling the neighborhood daily - the local postman, utility service and meter folks, the UPS drivers, the FedEx drivers, vets, shelters, rescues, the police. And continue to do this over and over again. Keep posters plastered on your car and drive through the neighborhood DAILY, pass out fliers AGAIN, so everyone can see the search has not stopped, and you are STILL LOOKING for that lost mini-collie. USE LIVE TRAPS! As SOON as you get a sighting, set the live trap with appropriate bait - Darla suggests KFC boneless chicken fingers because the odor of KFC chicken travels far and wide and lasts forEVER - and set the traps where the Sheltie was finally sighted. That is why the sighting was so exciting... we finally knew the area where she was, finally knew where to set up traps to hopefully capture her, once the traps arrived.
And never, EVER give up hope. Call your lost Sheltie from your heart many times every day, tell her to go to someone, to go to ANYONE, so she can be safe, and clean, and her hungry belly filled. Whether you believe in telepathy does not matter. IT WORKS.
I owe it all to Liz, Bob, Liz's friend and Darla, and the wonderful, helpful animal communicator I contacted. It was through all their collective efforts my Princess Onnie was finally returned, home, safe, sound, and healthy as the day she disappeared, only a bit worse for wear due to the ticks she picked up...
When Onyx was recovered she truly did not look any the worse for wear and worry. She was hungry, but she had also been fattened up some with the litter coming and had reserves to sustain her and the litter while she was lost. A Princess to the end, my Onnie girl, who won't even venture into the woods at home lest she come away with dried leaves or spikey gum tree balls in her skirts, or dirt - ohno! - mud - on her pristine toes...
And if YOUR Sheltie ever does go missing, DO NOT HESITATE to call on your entire Sheltie family for support. If we aren't here for anything else, we are SURELY here to support you no matter what you need.
I am still grinning from ear to ear, but still crying and praying for those who are yet to be found and returned home -
MamaAmy, June 7, 2006
P.S.- Since Onyx's disappearance and return there have been other suggestions for ways and means of attracting an escaped Sheltie. Among those are:
*Leave something in the trap you have worn, something smothered in your scent. Where she might run from your voice or the sight of you, your smell may well attract her.
* If it is a multi-dog home and all else fails, maybe bring the other dog or dogs along on your search. Often the escapee may allow her old friends - even on flexi-leads for their safety, approach her.
The following articles are of huge benefit as you - heaven forbid! - embark on your search. PRINT THEM!
How To Find A Lost Sheltie - a Word document from Darla, the Guru of Lost Shelties
Finding Lost Pets - a PDF (Adobe Acrobat) document from Susan Wolf, Cub Hill Shelties.
Both instances of these are compilations. Not all of it may work for you but surely some of it will. And though there are plenty of reasons to pooh-pooh the idea of an animal communicator, there is no doubt in my mind today the lady who helped us locate Onyx was the real deal. I believe it was because she spoke with Onyx, Onyx first approached that little old lady walking down the road, and the joint efforts of her, Liz, myself and the handful of List folks who followed my suggestion to look at Onyx's photographs on-line and tell her to go to SOMEONE, which culminated in Onnie's eventual capture. It is just too coincidental to think she was sighted first on Friday morning, shortly following my initial conversation with the psychic, and by Friday evening Onyx was back in Liz's arms, safe and sound.
Since her escape and capture Onyx went on to whelp a beautiful litter of three gorgeous, cute, fluffy tri-color puppies, Ailea's last litter. She has since been completely retired and now chases kitties in the yard, crumbs from the grandchildren on the floor, and keeps my feet warm at night, in bed.
All my best and warmest thoughts are with you, if you are looking for a lost Sheltie or other pet.
Warmest regards,
Amy Butcher
Ailea's Place, Ailea Shelties
Pittsboro, North Carolina
~ June 7, 2006 ~
Addended July 27, 2006