DELMAR — After nine days on the run, a 6-month-old brown-and-white Shih Tzu named Puppy went home to her family on New Year’s Eve. The Bethlehem Police Department’s animal control unit teamed with veteran volunteer dog finder Jillian VanAlstyne, Bethlehem police officers and nearly 30 community members to locate the pup and bring her home.
According to Bethlehem Animal Control Officer Andrew Schmidt, Puppy had been last seen Dec. 22 at about 4 p.m. when she pulled free from her leash held by her new owner while walking near Route 9W and Hague Boulevard. The owner followed Puppy to the Jericho Drive-In ice cream stand when Puppy then ran under a fence. She left a clue — her jacket pulled off by the fence wire.
VanAlystne, who was instrumental in the search, said the puppy had been adopted only the evening before and was unfamiliar with her new location.
Jillian VanAlstyne
The chase is on
VanAlstyne, who works closely with Bethlehem’s Animal Control officers, learned about the missing pup shortly after she was reported missing and got to work. “It’s just something I like to do,” she said.
Nearly thirty people, including volunteers and police officers, assisted in the effort by driving around, hunting down paw prints, putting up posters, searching woods, and working with animal control. “It was a real community effort,” VanAlstyne said.
A team of searchers immediately started tramping through the cold in the area where Puppy first got lost. Schmidt said thermal imaging was used and the search continued until 11 p.m. By morning, several sightings were reported, some at least a half mile from the disappearance site, but no one could find her.
Over the next ten days, hopeful rescuers spent dozens of hours putting up missing dog posters, posting on multiple social media sites, erecting trail cameras and feeding stations, replacing feeding stations, and even repeatedly calling in drone services. Schmidt spent about six hours of his own time every day, after or before his regular shift, searching for Puppy.
Puppy stuck under the shed.
Jillian VanAlstyne
“I did it because the volunteers were out there doing it too so I wasn’t going to just get off my shift and go home,” Schmidt said. “That dog had to deal with traffic, the cold, foxes, owls, and coyotes.”
“We grilled about five pounds of bacon over ten days,” VanAlstyne said. “We were grilling meat on the waterline.” The burnt meat’s smell was intended to lure the lost dog to a trail camera. But Puppy never showed up.
According to VanAlstyne, Puppy, who weighs only about six pounds “just kept moving.” By the time she was caught, Puppy had logged about six miles, with sightings recording her odyssey as traveling from Jericho Drive, to Elm Avenue Estates, to Spindler Court, to Feura Bush Road, crossing the Delmar by-pass at Murray Avenue, seen on Parkwyn Drive and Jordan Blvd., returning to Wemple Avenue and Beacon Street, hopping to a field by Hewitt’s Garden store on Feura Bush road and then back to Feura Bush Road until she was captured on December 31.
Each time, the volunteer rescue crew and Schmidt would move feeding stations and trail cameras to where Puppy had been spotted.
The team never took a break and worked through Christmas Eve, Christmas and New Year’s Eve. On Christmas night, Puppy’s owner, who also participated in the search, saw Puppy trying to pick food out of trash lying on the ground in the Journey Road area, but Puppy ignored her new owner and, instead, ran off into the woods.
Jillian VanAlstyne
Dog tracks were followed, more woods searched, and on December 28 traffic was even stopped when Puppy was seen running down the middle of Feura Bush Road. She again eluded her captors and ran off into the woods on Murray Avenue, but her tracks were lost.
Schmidt said in addition to searchers, people took photographs of shih tzu paw prints and circulated them so searchers could differentiate them from fox prints. Someone offered to bring his shih tzu to the search to lure Puppy with that dog’s scent. Someone else offered to leave his recently deceased shih tzu’s dog bed on his porch to entice Puppy. Others bought flashlights and one person even bought the last package of bacon at a local convenience store on New Year’s Eve Day for $10.
Puppy surrenders in neighborhood shed
The rescue team’s big break came on New Year’s Eve at about 4:30 p.m. June McCarthy, 15, was exercising in her basement at 20 Darnley Greene in Delmar and spotted Puppy through a window. She signaled the alarm throughout her house. Her sister Maeve, 19, lost no time and ran down the street barefoot to get the alert phone number from a poster on a nearby telephone pole and called VanAlstyne.
Jillian VanAlstyne and June and Maeve McCarthy feed Puppy under the shed.
Jillian VanAlstyne
Mike McCarthy, June and Maeve’s father, said VanAlstyne arrived within five minutes, with about 8-10 other volunteers, including Animal Control Officer Andy Schmidt hot on her trail to fill McCarthy’s backyard with help.
In the meantime, McCarthy said they knew from the poster not to chase Puppy, so instead they started blocking off escape routes out of the shed. Luckily, McCarthy was renovating his basement and had plywood lying about, which he donated to the cause.
McCarthy set up a small warming stove for the volunteers, handed out handwarmers and blankets, and cooked deer meat to help lure Puppy to a spot under the shed where she could be retrieved. McCarthy said Puppy ate it all, but still could not be reached.
VanAlstyne and Schmidt, along with June and Maeve McCarthy lay prone on their bellies with Van Alstyne extending her arm through the small gap, but could not get to Puppy. Schmidt said they had about ¾” of snow stuck to their jackets when they finally stood up.
After about two hours, McCarthy proposed ripping up the shed’s floor boards. “There was no other way to get her out and this thing had to come to a conclusion,” McCarthy said. He supplied the tools and crowbar to rip up his own shed floor. “Next time, I’ll just use screws so if a dog comes by, I’ll be prepared for it,” he joked.
“What was the choice?,” McCarthy asked rhetorically. “Not get the dog? Sometimes when the world calls on things, it’s nice to serve.”
When the floorboards came up, VanAlstyne netted Poppy and pulled her out. Schmidt said it was not a minute too soon. “The dog looked like she had given up. I felt she would not have lasted another night,” Schmidt said.
VanAlstyne then hustled Puppy into her car with the engine running to warm her up. A Bethlehem police officer who arrived on the scene gave Puppy a warming blanket.
VanAlstyne said her window was cracked open only about an inch so she could speak to people. “There was no way this dog was getting out,” she laughed.
The next thing VanAlstyne remembered was Puppy’s owner being beside her car and returning Puppy.
VanAlstyne could not commend McCarthy enough. She said first he pulled out so many things to secure the shed and then at the right moment, he literally pulled up the floorboards of his shed so rescuers could get to Puppy.
She said it was a miracle that Puppy had survived the December 26 snowstorm, was not eaten by predators and avoided hypothermia. Schmidt reported that Puppy was doing well and had been checked on December 31 at an emergency veterinarian clinic, as well as later seen by her regular veterinarian.
Don’t chase your dog
VanAlstyne and Schmidt offered tips for retrieving runaway dogs. Schmidt emphasized immediately buying a GPS collar upon acquiring a new dog. “90% of our loose dog calls come when a person just got their dog because they are afraid in a new environment and look for opportunities to get away,” Schmidt said.
“Don’t chase your dog,” VanAlstyne said. “It only frightens them more, particularly if they are in an unfamiliar area.” She also counselled against calling to them, yelling at them or following them in your car.
Instead, she advised turning sideways, sitting down and inching slowly towards the dog. She said offer “high value food” as a lure. For owners, she said once the dog catches the owner’s scent, the dog is likely to relax and become approachable.
She explained that dogs have very heightened senses, so they will hear a human coming before the human sees them and runoff. She said the key is to turn off the dog’s “fight or flight” instinct because “they will run.”
“You are never going to outrun a dog, no matter what size the dog is,” VanAlstyne warned. Even a six-pound puppy.