Zest Has Been Recovered

Zest is a 55lb husky-aussie mix that slipped her collar/leash while walking with her new foster family shortly after arriving with the family on the evening of Sunday, November 21st. The foster family rightly notified the rescue, who immediately set an email blast in motion. By early the next morning, the email was received by an AWOL Dogs volunteer, who shared it with the group. One member was able to begin checking the shelters online via petharbor.com, and found that Zest had made her way to the shelter pretty quickly. She reached out to the rescue with the contact information from the email, and let her know that Zest was waiting at the Fairfax County shelter for her. The rescue volunteer picked Zest up by the afternoon, and she was back with her foster family less than 24 hours after taking off. But not before having a run-in with a skunk, apparently!

Zest looks happy to be out of the shelter -- again!

Sadie Has Been Recovered

Sadie and her family had recently moved the area when she disappeared. Very worried, the family appealed for help on Craigslist, trying to find anyone who had seen her. Meanwhile, an AWOL Dogs volunteer was searching on both the Craigslist and the PetHarbor websites in an effor to find another dog whose search had been going on for several weeks.

The family described the dog as a lab/boxer mix on the Craigslist ad, and when the volunteer saw what the shelter described as a tri-color Akita mix in residence, she knew to go by the pictures rather than the description.

Before continuing her efforts to find the original lost dog, the volunteer emailed the family to let them know where their dog was, and they happily reunited with her.

Carmine Has Been Recovered

Carmine, a 4 year old pitbull mix, vanished pretty much into thin air on Sunday, November 7th, while hanging around outside as Wendy was gardening. He must have been enticed away by some critter, and it must have been one interesting critter since it drew Carmine all the way out of the neighborhood and to the Starbucks over a mile away. To his family, Carmine was just missing -- for over a week. But to the woman that found him and her family, he was a welcome guest in their home. For the last half of the search, Wendy was in communication with a couple of AWOL Dogs volunteers who offered advice and direction about how to proceed with the search.  Happily, Carmine's rescuers found Wendy, and he was home by late afternoon on Monday, November 15th. Carmine's blog is at http://findcarmine.blogspot.com/.

Vixen Has Been Recovered - Again!

Vixen, an Alaskan husky who went missing within a couple of days of her adoption in August, again bolted, on Wednesday October 27th, this time from her temporary caretaker while mom was away on travel. Mom had left numbers to call immediately in that event, since it's predictable that Vixen would try to run at any opportunity. Both an AWOL Dogs volunteer and a trainer from Vixen's day care (also a former foster) went looking for her immediately. On the AWOL Dogs volunteer's advice, the caretaker placed food outside the home, and near the empty bowl the next morning was Vixen! It did take calling a trusted Woofs! employee coming out and spending about an hour and a half to contain her, but Vixen was safe before the morning was over -- about 24+ hours from when she escaped. See Vixen's blog with some great photos as http://findvixen.blogspot.com/.

Zhulka Has Been Recovered

Zhulka, a 4 year old, 30 lb reddish tan shepherd mix was being fostered by Kimberly, and while she was on travel to another country, Kim's parents were caring for Zhulka. On Sunday, October 17th, prior to Kim's Thursday (Oct 21st) return, Zhulka bolted when she was scared by a jacuzzi turning on.

Kim learned about AWOL Dogs, and asked for help. A group member met with Kim by phone on Friday evening. The next morning, Kim called to say that she had taken the advice to check the shelter's website -- rather than waiting for the shelter to call based on either the report she filed or the microchip. It turned out that Zhulka was at the shelter after all.

Here is Zhulka as she looked in the fliers that Kim and her boyfriend had posted. Zhulka looked happy then, and I'm sure she's happy now!

Vixen Has Been Recovered

Vixen didn't know that she was getting a new lease on life when she was adopted one Sunday. Two days later, on the morning of Tuesday, August 24th, she backed out of her halter and ran for it! AWOL Dogs reached out to Vixen's adoptor, and began working with her on Saturday the 28th. When sighting calls reached Vixen's forster on Monday, August 30th, she came to them and her time on the run was over. Vixen's blog is located at http://findvixen.blogspot.com/

Whitney Has Been Recovered

Whitney was lost for 2 months when Meghan contacted an AWOL Dogs volunteer, who was one of several people to recommend a trapper -- since Meghan had found Whitney, and just could not capture her. Two AWOL Dogs volunteers met Meghan and Sam, with Pure Gold Pet Trackers, at the sighting location, assisting with the setup of the trap, and procuring the bait for it -- chicken. An hour after our volunteers left, Whitney entered the trap. This was on August 12th; Whitney had gone missing 2 months earlier. Whitney's story is told on Meghan's blog.

Ollie Has Been Recovered

Ollie is a tiny poodle & pomeranian mix that wandered from her home in Burke on the afternoon of Monday, May 24th, 2010. Several AWOL Dogs members helped out, mostly with fliering the area. Ollie had been picked up not long after she went missing, and the people that had her brought her back after 13 days, on Sunday, June 7th. Pictures of Ollie are at http://findollie.blogspot.com/.

Baby Has Been Recovered

Baby, a 14 year old, 5 lb red pomeranian went missing from her home in Springfield VA early in the evening of Wednesday May 5th -- just before her family needed to leave town for a long weekend! Lucky for Baby and her family, a neighbor and close friend was able to step in for the family and do everything that they would have done had they been home. And several AWOL Dogs members joined the search when Baby had been missing almost 48 hours. The next morning, a nearby family came forward having rescued Baby, not long after she disappeared, from some children that were chasing her because they thought she was a little fox!

Baby's hair was shaved not long before she went missing, so this picture wasn't a good representation while she was missing . . .  but she's awful cute, isn't she?

Lelo Has Been Recovered

Lelo went missing in the late morning of Thursday, April 15th, while on a walk with her family at South Run Park in Springfield VA. She was found on Sunday, April 25th, in the park, entangled in a thicket. She still had her harness and her leash. Fliers posted by volunteers of both AWOL Dogs and her rescue (HART) helped her finder know who to call. Her blog is located at: http://findlelo.blogspot.com/

Kyle Has Been Recovered

Kyle escaped his brand new adopters on Sunday, April 11th, from near there home in Leisure World, a retirement community in Montgomery County MD. One AWOL Dogs volunteer assisted with Kyle's blog, while the adopters peformed most of the searchinga and fliering. Kyle's rescue organization volunteers also helped. Kyle was found and captured one week later, on Sunday April 18th. He had never left the Leisure World community. See Kyle's blog at http://findkyle.blogspot.com

Randy Has Been Recovered

Randy arrived in transport on Wednesday, was boarded until Saturday, at which point he found a new home at an adoption event that day, and he escaped his new home the following Wednesday (April 8th). He slipped out of his collar, leaving himself with no identification. His new owner contacted the rescue, and one of the rescue members is also an AWOL Dogs volunteer. She put the word out to the group immediately via the group's listserv. One volunteer answered the call, and she went to the website of the county where Randy was lost from. Sure enough, Randy had been picked up not far from where he escaped. Case closed!

Cleo & Garfield Have Been Recovered

One AWOL Dogs volunteer helped reunite a family with their two missing doberman pinschers, a female named Cleo and a male named Garfield, almost three weeks after their March 13th disappearance -- using virtual lost dog tracking to do it, on Friday, April 2nd. Read the story at
http://lostdogsfound.blogspot.com/2010/04/garfield-cleo-doberman-pinschers.html

Gigi Has Been Recovered

One AWOL Dogs volunteer participated in administration of the blog for Gigi, a sheltie that disappeared from her new home -- of three days -- in the American University Park area of Washington DC on Tuesday, February 16th, 2010. The fascinating story of Gigi's recovery in the early morning hours of Saturday, February 27th is told by her owners on her blog -- http://gigishope.blogspot.com/

Brandon Has Been Recovered

A few AWOL Dogs volunteers participated in the search and recovery of Brandon, a long-haired chihuahua that wandered away from his Burke VA home while the family was shoveling snow on Saturday, January 30th. He was recovered on Tuesday, February 9th; read about it on Brandon's blog -- http://findbrandon.blogspot.com/

Spot Has Been Recovered

A few AWOL Dogs volunteers participated in the search and recovery of Spot, a small black & white dog who went missing in the Parkfairfax area of Alexandria on the evening of Friday, January 15. He was found about 6pm on Thursday, January 22nd.  See Spot's blog at http://lostdogspot.blogspot.com/