Finding Bobo: One Clever Dog

Bobo, a 2 yr old, mostly black sheltie/pom mix and his 5 month old puppy, Rocky, had only been at the petsitter's for 24 hours before he got lost. The owners live in Vienna, Virginia and the dogsitters live in an apartment near downtown Silver Spring, Maryland.

They were being walked along a quiet side street a few blocks from the apartment when some vicious dogs grabbed the inquisitive puppy's head as he was looking into their yard, dragging him through the fence into the yard and started mauling him. The petsitter dropped Bobo's leash and jumped over the fence beating the dogs in the head to rescue the puppy. By the time he was able to get back over the fence with the injured pup, Bobo had fled in terror and was no where to be found.

He must have run for several blocks in blind panic before stopping only to find he had no idea where he was. However, he was very resourceful and managed to find water, food and shelter in this strange and frightening place. The track followed Sligo Creek for over a mile (we found his little footprints in the muddy bank) then another mile up into a very nice old neighborhood where he licked the grease off the bottom of a grill and ate some cat food one family had on the porch for their outdoor cat.

Over the 7 days that he was wandering the streets of Silver Spring he slept under decks (at one point leaving some hair when he got tangled in some bushes). His track took him through the restaurant district (the street is closed off at both ends for a couple of blocks and there are bistro tables set up all along the area) and Brando was so good as he followed the trail between the occupied tables with all of that tasty food on a busy Sunday afternoon.

After tracking for nearly 8 hours over two days, I was so shocked when we turned the corner and found ourselves only a few blocks away from the scene of the attack. I had been watching Bran and not paying attention to our location. I was so impressed at how clever Bobo was to find his way back to his petsitters apartment. It was a conscious thing, too. He walked right up to the fence where the puppy had been dragged through and then went on up the street to the front entrance to the apartment building. Unfortunately, it was probably at night and no one saw the sad little black dog trying to get in. The fact that within a block of the building he was able to find a fountain for water, a real estate office that was putting out food for feral cats and a safe haven where he could sleep in the heat of the day, enabled him to stay put so we could trap him. Brando was so excited when he found the little den in the bushes. There was absolutely no doubt we had found Bobo's hideout.

I told the owner, Claudine, to sit nearby and talk to him, open a can of Fancy Feast and don't move. Any movement in his direction may have sent him running again. I told her that if she had to leave before he came out she should set up a feeding station with one of her shirts and some of his food and a bowl of water. They set it up as instructed, raking the ground around it so they could see the footprints. When they came back around 11:30 the food was gone and the footprints looked to be the right size so they set up the trap I left for them. At 5:30 am, when it was still a little dark, Claudine's dad went down to check the trap and saw a little shadow moving around in there. He didn't want to scare him so he sat and "talked" to him so that if it was Bobo he would not be frightened of him. Finally, the animal in the trap moved toward him and he could see that it was indeed the missing dog. He opened the trap door carefully and Bobo ran out to him jumping up on him in excitement. He knew he was rescued and was going home.

Thank you again to Eddie’s mom for referring us to Claudine and helping to bring her little boy home.

Sam

Good morning Sam

Last night we sat in Bobo's suspected den for about 45 minutes, calling his name, to no avail. We put out a feeding station and when Claire checked on it a few hours later they were indeed his paw prints. She set up the live trap with a can of cat food, some dry dog food, and a bowl of water, with a trail of dog food leading to the open trap. This morning around 5:45, Dad went to go check the area and saw a shadow in the trap (it was still dark outside and Bobo is a black dog, making it difficult to see). He sat by the trap, cooing and calling Bobo just to get him used to his voice again. After about ten minutes he opened the door of the trap and Bobo, reluctantly at first, came out. Once he was out he jumped on Dad's lap, giving him wet doggy kisses. In the car he crawled out of the backseat and sat on Dad's lap the whole 25 minute drive home. When we brought him in Rocky, the puppy, was ecstatic, and the two wrestled for about an hour.

Sam, we cannot thank you (and Brando) enough. All your hard work has brought us so much joy and relief. Thank you for spending so much time and energy bringing our doggy back home. We are extremely appreciative.

Lots of love,
Kamelia (Claudine’s mom)