We got Maya on March 30th, 2006, from a Connecticut rescue league who saved her from a high-kill shelter in Ohio. Very timid, she was just getting used to being around people. We thought it would be good for her to go along with other dogs on a nice walk in the woods. So, on Monday, April 3rd, she went with her new dog walk group out to the Fells Reservation in Winchester. I got a call at work around 11:30 AM that Maya got spooked, pulled on her leash unexpectedly, and the dog walker dropped the leash! She bolted into the reservation, and they couldn’t find her. My husband and I arrived there about 1 PM and searched about four to five hours with the dog walking service owner. Then it got cold and dark, so we went home.
We posted a missing dog ad on Craig’s List and were contacted by a woman named Emily who talked with us, and also referred us to Debbie, aka LostDogSearch. We got many great suggestions from both women on what to do when we resumed our search the next day. On Tuesday morning we made 200 color flyers and had the dog walking service help post them in the area where Maya had escaped. Around 11 AM, I got the first call that Maya was seen, running with her leash still attached. My husband and I headed back to Winchester, now with our 22-yr-old son joining us. We spent the next six hours going from door to door with flyers, posting them on every pole, and driving around endlessly, talking to everyone we met. Maya was sighted four more times but was terrified and kept running. The good news was that the sightings were all in the same general area, bordering Fells Reservation. Maya remained close but was most likely hiding during the day to avoid people. Debbie said she would come out at dusk to find food, and suggested we find a suitable location to set up a humane trap. Fortunately, I remembered a man said he’d seen her coming out of the woods next to his house. We thought it might be a good spot to set a trap, but we weren’t sure, and we didn’t have the trap yet. About 6 PM, my husband and son left (he had to get back to college) and I decided to stay just a little longer. Would she really come out of the woods at dusk searching for food?
I was standing in the backyard of a home that overlooked a stream and massive woods and where we planned to set the trap. I suddenly see Maya way off in the distance, in the woods, and called her. She looked right at me and bolted, absolutely terrified, but remember, she’d only been with us five days before getting lost! Debbie was right, she did come out at dusk, and was probably going to use the same path she used before. I stayed in the woods another twenty minutes, calling Maya, and then slowly walked back to the car, feeling dejected.
I then get two calls, two seconds apart, that she was just seen 3 blocks from where I was now. I jumped in my car, arrived in a minute, started walking the street, and calling out her name. Amazingly, it was the exact street where she’d been lost originally. It’s now 6:45 PM, raining and freezing, and I’m walking alone, with forest on one side and houses on the other. When I get to the end of the street, I turn around, and there she is, up on a hill in someone’s front yard. I immediately dropped to my knees, kept calling her, and coaxing her step by step with a very large dog biscuit clearly visible in my hand. She would slowly advance, then back up, and then forward again. I kept coaxing her, using the sweetest, highest voice I could muster and finally, she walked into my arms. She’s now home safe, and seemingly none the worse for wear, having spent the past 32 hours running wild in the woods of Winchester. It’s been the most stressful two days of our lives and we’re really glad it’s over. We’re all exhausted but elated! Thank you, Emily and Debbie, for all you do. You gave us hope and your suggestions worked. If people hadn’t seen all the posters, they wouldn’t have called to say they saw her. If we hadn’t gone door-to-door, we wouldn’t have learned where she came out of the woods. If we hadn’t stayed through dusk, we wouldn’t have been there when she needed us the most.
Thanks again. Connie