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| Rob & Angie
from Inala, QLD first heard of Dog-E-Data at the Brisbane Pet &
Animal Expo in August 2000 and joined us. A little over 2 years later,
that small investment and - their dog’s very own ‘Guardian Angel’
– finally paid off. Read Shamu's story below
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 Some
dogs just don’t want to be found!!....
at least that’s the impression we got when
‘Shamu’, ID-1258,
a beautiful but somewhat stubborn Rough Collie – decided to do a
Houdini one Sunday evening early in September.
Members and regular readers would know by now that most of our dogs are
found before their owners even know anything about it....
for non-members, it’s because our bright yellow tags give finders an
easy way to say "Hey – I found your dog!"
When Shamu’s mum & dad Rob & Angie realised he was
missing... they went and did a quick search up & down their street,
and down around the local creek figuring there was no way he would go
very far .... WRONG!
"We’re doing nothing here" said Angie all the more
anxious now that night had fallen "We’d better get on the
phone to Dog-E-Data!!"
There was tension in Angie’s voice. She had the added problem of
trying to explain to their 2 year old daughter Maddison that her best
friend was missing.
We tried to re-assure Angie that statistically most dogs with our tags
are reported within 30 – 60 minutes of going walkabout....at the worst
case within 24hours.... this time we were proved wrong.
 As
always, the Lost Dog-E-Alert was activated for Shamu.
This immediately e-mailed members in the local area with a link
to our Lost Dog-E-Pages. We also supplied Rob & Angie with a
list of vets in their local area and Council contact numbers.
450 LOST DOG-E-POSTERS!...
The Lost Dog-E-Alert also immediately created a Lost
Dog-E-Poster of Shamu that Rob & Angie could print out and
put up in the local area. (These are free for members - Ed.)
And print they did! There was no way the fact that this dog was
lost would go un-noticed in the local Inala QLD community.
"We basically went for a walk with Maddison in her
stroller and hand delivered about 100 posters the first day. We
put them into every house in our street as well as some in the
local shopping centre, school etc." Angie told us.
After a few ‘sightings’, Rob & Angie realised Shamu was
not where they thought he might be and widened the search area. "We
did the mail drops again after work on Tuesday with 200 posters
then the rest on Wednesday"
In all a total of 450 Lost Dog-E-Posters...
that’s almost a whole ‘ream’ of paper!
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It obviously worked...the Dog-E-Data Call
Centre received plenty of calls – the most harrowing though was the
one where Shamu had been sighted on the other side of Ipswich Road – a
very busy major road! How did he get there in one piece??
Things were looking grim and both Rob & Angie were understandably
quite concerned – this was now looking very serious. And time was
starting to run out. Shamu had been missing almost 3 days now.
 SHAMU'S GUARDIAN ANGEL?
Then just as it looked like Shamu’s luck may be running out, it seemed
like his very own human ‘Guardian Angel’ came to his rescue in the
form of Brian Scott, a retired Collie breeder and pensioner. (at
left with 'Lacey')
Brian saw what looked like a distressed and wandering dog just before
dusk on Wednesday evening.
"I stopped the car and shooed him back towards the suburbs. I’m
not as fit as I used to be so couldn’t go chasing after him"
Brian said. "He looked like a very well cared for dog so I
couldn’t just leave it at that"
Brian realised this must be the same dog he had seen on one of the
Lost Dog-E-Posters – it was Shamu alright!
A DOG ‘LURE’
He got in touch with Rob & Angie and said he was going to go and get
one of his dogs – a female Collie – to try and ‘entice’ Shamu,
an intact male.
But Shamu had other ideas and wasn’t the least bit interested in this
plan.
 Like
Rob & Angie, Brian wasn’t one to give up easily and stayed out
late – VERY late... until about 2am in fact! "Collies tend to
hide when they are lost. Most dogs will keep walking for miles. Not
Collies though... that’s why I thought he mustn’t be too far from
home." He told us later.
Brian reckons he was pretty tired by then so went home for a few hours
sleep. Around 5am, Brian was back into the search again and after
driving around the general area for awhile noticed an animal ‘scuttle’
away over by a group of old, vacant houses.
Finding a door open, Brian went inside, shut the door and searched the
house.
There inside one of the empty rooms was Shamu. Tired, frightened and
very reluctant to go to any stranger.
With his 30 years or so of experience with the breed, Brian slowly
approached Shamu and was eventually able to pick him up and put him in
the car with his other dog. "I was so happy I’d been able to
find him" an emotional Brian told us. "I know what it’s
like to lose a dog myself and I felt very concerned that Rob & Angie
and their young daughter may never see their best friend again"
It was 5:30am Thursday – Shamu had been missing almost four days
Rob phoned us at 7am Thursday and advised that Shamu was safely home. We
were as excited as they were! The only problem is, neither Rob nor Angie
have worked out how he got out – now that’s not good!!
Apparently Shamu’s going to have some R&R at mum’s place
while they work out how he got out. "Not even the real Houdini
could get out of this place when we’re finished!" said a
beaming Angie.
And although she didn’t have much to say, we can tell from the photo
they sent us (top of page) that Maddison was pretty pleased too.
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PAW NOTE:
Despite having a collar & tag and despite being microchipped, Shamu
was found and returned home through sheer persistence. The 450 Lost
Dog-E-Posters were just the start. Putting together the ‘clues’ from
various sightings helped narrow down the search area. It was just lucky
for Shamu that Brian Scott has such a love for dogs that he would go out
of his way and stay up all night to try and find him.
For his unselfish efforts we have given Brian and his family several
lifetime memberships to Dog-E-Data for their dogs.
Top Photo: Shamu & Maddison
taken by Rob & Angie - used with permission.
Photo of Mr Scott & Lacey used with kind permission.
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