On 3/14/30 Roxy, a Cheweenie mix, went on a car ride with her mom to her work. Unfortunately, she got away from her mom in a busy industrial park area, where there was a main road and a lot of construction going on. She was wearing a collar with tags, sweater and dragging her leash.
Her family put her on Lost Dogs Illinois, printed and distributed flyers and even brought out her favorite cousin dog to see if they could lure her out. They had no luck, no calls.
Fast forward to 4/2/20. A very observant man saw a small dog running along the ramp while he was exiting an expressway. He tried to follow it and saw it go into a gas station parking lot. He went into the gas station and inquired about the dog and they told him they had been seeing the pup for 10 days and feeding it.
Turns out this man had his own experience with a lost pup and knew who to reach out to in order to get this pup safe.
A group text was started in order to get further information on where the dog had been seen, when, and what the feeding routine was.
That night a trap and trail camera were set up. The pup seemed to be on a daytime schedule but would start to normally be seen about 3:00 or 4:00 am. Trap was zip tied at 11:00 PM but when leaving I happened to see her near the same ramp she was seen on earlier. I turned around, reset the trap and waited. No show up to 12:00 am so the trap was zip tied open and baited with goodies.
Once home I checked Helping Lost Pets to see what was missing from that area. There she was. Roxy. Missing from about 1/3 mile north of where this pup was being seen. But because it is a busy construction zone while they completely reconstruct a highway interchange, her owners didn’t do too much flyering to the south of that road, just mostly north. Most people would not believe this little pup would be able to make it to the area she ended up at.
4:27 am she showed up and ate everything in sight. Only problem with that is I was planning on resetting and baiting at 5:15. I did, and she didn’t disappoint. 6:25 she showed up and was in the trap 2 minutes later. As soon as I saw her, I knew it was Roxy. I called her owner, no answer. I text pictures and video, called a second time and then they called back. They could not believe I had her. She had been missing for 20 days!
I offered to drive her to her owners home so that we could let her out of the trap in a closed garage. Roxy was chipped, but I was going to see what her reaction was once I got her home.
There was no doubt she was home.
Roxy’s story came together because of the Village we always mention. From Mike who saw her on the ramp and stopped to inquire about her at Speedway, to Kathy and her crew who were feeding her, and to Mike’s wife Flo, who although they have lost their own dog, Fae, and have not yet found her, continues to reach out to, and has faith in, those of us who have the tools to complete the process.
Never underestimate a dog’s instinct to survive. Roxy lost her sweater, collar and leash at some point in those 20 days. But she kept herself safe and found her resources, ‘til help arrived. Welcome home Roxy!!
Thank you Elaine!