Best Furry Friend - Search and Rescue

07/15/2025

A dog, a car and a happy ending. July 2025.
Fiona Luna is a 7 year old female Terrier mix. Apparently she does not like the groomer. When the owner got to the groomer and was getting Fiona out of the car she took off. Fiona ran with her owner in pursuit when she crossed a major roadway and was hit by a car. Fiona was scared, possibly hurt and still able to run another 3/4 miles where she lost her owner and a local police officer attempting to help. With her condition unknown her owners contacted me early that evening. I collected the information I needed and walked the owners through the process. Since it was night I told them I would make and place the needed signs. I wanted signs out before morning traffic began. The next day at 6:30 am we had a sighting. She entered a fenced yard through an open gate and was resting on their deck. The resident opened the back door but Fiona ran from the yard. Fiona's owners began driving the neighborhood and I made some early flights attempting to locate her. About six hours later a second sighting came in. Fiona was spotted 2 houses from the earlier sighting. The owner drove to the second sighting and got out of her car to talk to the resident. Before she got the chance Fiona walked right up to the owner, the owner opened the car door and Fiona jumped in. After the owner explained how it played out I was a little amazed. It wasn't that long she was missing but the trauma of being hit by a car could have changed her demeanor. All was well, Fiona was taken to the vet and checked out with no apparent injuries.

07/15/2025

Calm Surrender and a healing heart. June 2025.
Rapunzel is a female mixed breed. A happy girl that had the freedom of a large yard in a quiet neighborhood. That is until she disappeared from the yard one evening. Turns out later we find out she went to play with a neighbors kid beginning her short but big adventure. The owner knew she was gone not long after she left the yard but she was nowhere to be found. The owner posted online and the next day quickly began making flyers. I saw the post and contacted the owner since she was only 10 minutes away from me. I started talking process and gathering information while she was preparing flyers and signs. We spoke for about an hour when a call came in of a sighting. The sighting was about a mile and a half away from Rapunzel's home. Her owner and I planned to meet at the site. The owner arrived and I was a few minutes behind. When I pull up the owner starts walking towards my car and 5 seconds later Rapunzel walks right past her and the owner about freaks out but holds it together. The owner and I had a brief chance to discuss approaches on the phone and she nailed it. She slowly grabbed some treats from her car and got down on her knees to let Rapunzel make the first move. Rapunzel did not at first recognize her owner but after cautiously accepting a treat and sniffing around she came around. We got talking to the homeowner that spotted Rapunzel in his back yard. He kept an eye now her while she walked the back yard and back into the woods. He was willing to help in any way. Turns out his pup passed the night before and he said he was so grateful he could be involved.

07/15/2025

A dicey recovery. June 2025.
Crosby is a Chihuahua rescue from a hoarding situation where he lost a leg in a fight with another dog and frankly it is amazing he survived. The owners went way out of their way to adopt and rehabilitate Crosby. Crosby may never fully recover from the trauma he endured but is making progress. One of the recent helping steps was to hire a trainer to work on stress reduction and socialization. While with the trainer off site the trainer tripped and fell releasing the leash and Crosby ran. The second day I began with placing area signs, food and a trail cam. The trainer had already posted flyers. I preceded with a ground search at the place last seen checking fence lines, under decks and in storm pipes. On day three about 28 hours in we received our first sighting. I happened to be with the trainer when the call came in and we headed over to the sighting. Crosby was under a set of bushes backed by a fence and a commercial electrical box. So now the dicey part. Crosby had traveled half a mile north and was 300 ft from a heavily trafficked highway. The weather was hot with the next 2 days calling for high 90's to 100's. We attempted to lure him out with fresh warm food and brought in another family dog but neither was getting Crosby to budge. The family dog was also eating the food which worked out well for him. Now the options were trap him or try something more drastic. Trapping at best would have been 4 hours to setup IF available and was made more difficult because of the high traffic noisy area we were in just 3 feet from a sidewalk. After about 2 hours I decided to force Crosby's hand. I decided worst case scenario he would move back south to friendlier residences to again settle. We gathered additional people moving more than half to the north side to prevent an escape towards the highway. Remember Crosby was still sporting a leash otherwise this would have been futile. I slowly persuaded Crosby to leave the bushes towards the south and waiting people. He did make it past the first wave, but was captured with his leash by a second attempt. For the next couple days I was second guessing my decision as it could have turned out bad. Fortunately it worked out and Crosby is home.

06/18/2025

Happy to be home after 20 days loose.
Ben is a 4 year old Beagle/Terrier mix that was rescued by owner 1 year ago. Ben sneaked out through an open door and disappeared down the street before the owner could catch him. Ben lives in a medium density residential area that is very well maintained. There is roughly 1100 acres of housing and 300 acres of open conservation area plus a golf course. All this is only important if Ben stayed in the area which he did. It appears Ben never left the subdivision. I was called in 5 days after the initial disappearance. We had "Lost Dog" signs up that day at the primary entry/exit points. The owner posted on social media immediately after Ben went missing and communicated loss to police, animal control and through area chat. Ben was elusive and stayed out of sight for 11 days from the initial disappearance. That is a long time to go with no word. During those initial days I searched over 470 acres of open space by air hoping to find his hiding place. Saw a whole lot of dear including multiple fawns that happened to now be the size of Ben. Finally day 11 and a confirmed sighting. I got in the air to track him down and found him circling a house, climbing onto a deck and approached the back door. I feel like Ben wanted help but was not to the point that he needed help. Ben ducked under some fur trees and we lost him for the day. We then went another 3 days and then 4 days between additional sightings. On day 14 a trapper was called in with not much cohesive information to work with but made some good decisions on feeding stations. After 4 days another sighting not too far from the last sighting. The trapper pieced together a probable path and talked with residences to find out Ben had been roaming that area for a few days and at least one person had been feeding him thinking he was stray. That day a trap was placed and the next day Ben's journey was over. Home safe.

05/29/2025

Home Again - The six day ordeal.

Gracie is a 1 year old 20 pound Chihuahua mix. I suspect the mix is black lab but will probably turn out to be a multi-mix. I was worried about putting Chihuahua mix on posters even with the picture worried people would not report sightings. A picture is worth a thousand words right? Gracie disappeared on a Tuesday late day by slipping past a door that didn't latch as intended. The owner saw her step outside and in an instant after eye to eye contact she took off. Gracie is a rescue and the owner adopted her 2 months prior. The owner got on social media and posted about her missing dog. That night there was 1 sighting. The next day I had a conference call with the owner, got the details and had "Lost Dog" signs up within 2 hours. We got a drone up that day because she was seen around a park area a couple of times. We went 2 days without another sighting and then Friday we had multiple sightings. We put up a couple trail cams, double the amount of signs and put in some more air time but just could not lock in on where Gracie was moving. I felt comfortable that she was staying in the area and there were some patterns to her movement. Saturday we went without a sighting which is frustrating but not unexpected. Then Sunday late morning a sighting. Owner and family went out to the area while I searched from the air. More sightings came in including from friends helping so we were narrowing the area. Of course she had to move to an area under 200 ft high voltage power lines so flying my drone required caution and limited it's effectiveness. Then out of the blue I get a highly emotional call from the owner "I have her". A young girl in her back yard saw Gracie by a fence line behind her property and Gracie had cornered herself between the fence and a creak. The owner who was minutes away got to the area quickly and saw Gracie. She approached Gracie and was able to grab her collar and after one growl Gracie knew she was safe.

04/02/2025

Happy Belated Ending April 2025.
A dog owners worse nightmare…
Roo is a 4 year old Blue Heeler mix that the owner had since she was a puppy. The owner took Roo to get groomed and when she went to pick up Roo the exchange went horribly wrong. Roo was off leash when an inner door was opened and Roo ran. Not only did she run into the store but then quickly out of the store, through the parking lot and across a busy intersection where she disappeared. I was contacted by the owner as was SmithicAir and Dog Gone Pet Recovery by a frantic yet in-control owner. This was like "Miracle on 42nd Street" when Macy's and Gimbal's worked together to get an X-Ray machine for a deserving doctor. Everybody came together and the focus was Roo's safe and quick return. We did not succeed with the quick part. This recovery event lasted 18 days, covered 2.1 square miles, had 20+ sightings, 3 drones and one motivated dog. Through all of this the owner remained positive and unrelenting. She notified all local jurisdictions, posted online, created signs, fielded the calls and documented sightings as they occurred while also working her full time job. Wow might I add. One of the most agonizing aspects was there were 6 combined days including a single 3 day stretch without a sighting. We were entering our 3rd weekend and finally some of the sightings were narrowing the area of travel. Traps were placed and car camping followed. Unfortunately mid-weekend Roo moved again to a new area about 1.2 miles away. A little disheartened but not relenting more sightings and many of them. The last sighting by a person stating "I have a dog on my front porch and I think she is yours". Overwhelmed owner was in her car and on site as quick as possible and Roo was still there. This was the first eye to eye approach by the owner. She calmly (ha ha) sat down on the ground and waited for Roo to come to her. Try and imagine yourself in that situation a somewhat helpless feeling. This was also the first time Roo did not run when other people were in sight. Roo saw the owner, walked to her and happiness ensued.

03/31/2025

Successful Outcome March 2025.
Scout is a 15 year old lab with hip issues. The owner let Scout out in the evening for natures calling which is standard but this is the first time Scout had wondered away outside of the yard. The next day I saw the posting and contacted the owner to see if they wanted my help which they did. Within 2 hours I was on site and getting briefed on the scenario. The owner had convinced himself that this was not going to turn out well given Scouts age but needed closure either way. Given Scouts age we were able to limit the search area and sure enough I found him in about 30 minutes 1/10 of a mile away in a dry retention pond laying in tall grass. We drove over and got Scout out of the grass and into the car for a short ride home. Scout was tired and slept well the next day or two but is otherwise fine.

03/30/2025

Ha Ha busy month and I am caught up.

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03/30/2025

Successful Outcome March 2025.
No thanks to me. Rocko is a 70 lb, 8 month old male Boxer. I was contacted by the owner whose friend took Rocko outside in the yard and Rocko pulled away with the leash still attached and ran out of the yard and disappeared. Before I had left to start the search I got a call that Rocko was found.

Nothing to it right? Well here is why I am posting this. Please consider your dog in the equation when purchasing a leash. In this case the friend used a retractable leash. Do you think you could hold on to this style leash when a 70 lb puppy runs and has 16 ft to build momentum?

03/30/2025

Peanut 03/25
Successful Outcome March 2025.
Some of these just make me wonder. What motivates a dog to leave the comfort of their home? Peanut is a 32 lb male French Bulldog. The owner's child left open a back door in the evening and Peanut took advantage and went on a journey. Why and where may always be a mystery. I was contacted by the owner and was on site within 2 hours. I performed a daytime search of about 50 acres much of which was open pasture with some fringe marshes, ponds and forestry. Found nothing. Did a limited ground search around the property as did the owner looking for places Peanut could have gotten closed into or stuck.That night Mike Smith of SmithicAir performed a broader more encompassing search but also found nothing. The owner made all the correct postings and notifications to neighbors The next day Peanut shows up at the house like he had never left looking for his next meal.

03/30/2025

Successful Outcome March 2025.
A speedy recovery due to quick action by the owner to get the information out. Piper is a 4 year old female Mastiff. A friend of the owner let Piper out and she disappeared from the owners yard. I saw the first posting within 2 hours of the disappearance. I live about 1/2 mile from Piper's home so I put up a drone from my backyard and looked though the neighborhoods between us but no sighting. I contacted the owner and we started the recovery process. This was the largest dog I had searched for and the least amount of time that had past since the disappearance so I was very interested in whether she would be approachable. The overall search area was only about 200 acres so not unmanageable. It took about an hour to locate Piper but that was only the beginning of the adventure that lasted 5 hours or 8 hours from disappearance. The first issue I ran into was that as big as Piper was she was dwarfed by marsh reeds that were over 6 ft tall and only offered narrow pathways created by deer. I lost her heat signature. We were concerned she may have gotten stuck so we switched to a 5 person ground search where she was last seen. Once in the marsh I pretty quickly figured that she didn't get stuck and that she got out and slipped away. I went back to the drone search and found her pretty quickly. Another hour went by before she moved to a clearing where we could attempt an approach by owner. She walked towards the owner up to about 30 ft then turned around and ran. Another couple hours tracking her waiting for her to move to an area that we could attempt another approach. We changed our method and the owner went and brought out a second family dog that Piper had bonded with. This time Piper came out of the woods on her own to greet her friend and owner.

03/30/2025

Successful Outcome March 2025.
Where do I start???
When I consider what she endured I am amazed. This search was a rollercoaster ride. Fiona is a 4 year old, 12 lb, Shih Tzu. She was traveling in a vehicle when she got sick and the driver attempted to help when Fiona jumped out of the vehicle and disappeared. This began a 6 day journey that would start in unincorporated Huntley, move to unincorporated Union and back to unincorporated Huntley. Her travel path as best as I can figure was over 12 miles through farm fields and over roads. We hoped she would settle at one point based on property owner sightings and one drone sighting but that did not happen and she disappeared again. Then on day 6 we received a sighting that led to her being found 2.7 miles from her original disappearence. Unfortunately the last sighting involved a vehicle and Fiona was found but injured. Thanks to the relentless support from Animal House Shelter in Huntley Fiona has recovered AND has been adopted.