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Keeper’s story began on November 20, 2006 when the 14 month old, border collie escaped at Reagan National Airport as he was being transferred from his crate to the car by his new owner... Our story began on Saturday, March 3, 2007. Another manager, Suzanne D’Alonzo, and I were in the lobby of the Animal Welfare League of Alexandria when the receptionist took a call about an injured stray dog walking along the side of the Capital Beltway – an 8 lane highway. We quickly realized that the dog was on the Fairfax County side of the beltway which was unfortunate, because our Animal Control is not able to respond to calls there because it is out of our jurisdiction. We transferred the call to Fairfax County, but knew it would take them at least a half hour to get there because their jurisdiction is huge. Suzanne and I looked at each other and both said “let’s go” at about the same time. We knew we could be there in less that 5 minutes and our plan was to scoop up this injured dog and get it to a vet if necessary. We grabbed some towels, leashes and treats and ran out the door. The dog was exactly where the caller had said – on the embankment of the beltway between the Eisenhower Ave and Van Dorn Street exits. We pulled up on the shoulder and the dog immediately, but slowly, limped up the bank towards the woods. He was clearly injured and walking on three legs. We got a really good look at him and I said “Oh my god Suzanne, that is the National Airport dog - Keeper” and she said – “I think you are right”. It seemed impossible because I knew the dog had gone missing before Thanksgiving – but I was sure it was him. If it was him, as we suspected, he was nearly 12 miles from the airport and on the opposite side of the treacherous Capital Beltway. It is here that I have to give enormous amounts of credit to Cynthia Pearson (the official owner of Keeper) whom the dog had escaped from at the airport. I had met her once at the shelter the day after the dog was lost at the airport, since that time – along with a huge entourage of volunteers – she had called and visited every shelter within 25 miles of the airport. In addition, she had blanketed the area with fliers and posters with Keeper’s photo and continued to call and follow up on the lost reports at each of the shelters and rescues. She knew many of our front desk staff on a first name basis. If she and her team of volunteers, had not done these things, and insisted that the “Lost Dog” posters remain hanging on our shelter bulletin board, even after all those months, we may have never made the crucial connection that this Border Collie was in fact, Keeper. Suzanne and I followed Keeper that day – he didn’t bolt away - but kept his distance. He finally gave us the slip after following him for about 15 minutes through the woods. We continued to search but he seemed to disappear. At this point we returned to the shelter and began to make calls. We tried to contact Cynthia (owner) but could not get through. I reached another woman, Davida Hall, who had been heavily involved in the initial search. She is a friend of the breeder who had owned and trained Keeper for the first year of his life. She and several other volunteers had spent over a month searching for Keeper near the airport and surrounding areas when he was first lost. Davida came to the site immediately and together with myself and another volunteer from the shelter, searched into the evening. In addition, we spoke to many neighbors in the area and learned that this dog had been in this location since early December just a week after he was lost. They had called Animal Control from Fairfax County numerous times but they had been unable to catch him and he would always disappear. Thus began an 8 day ordeal that involved many people and a lot of prayer….. Davida went home Saturday evening and posted the “sighting” of Keeper on several web sites including Craig’s List. From those postings we got a lot of encouragement and messages from two people who I believe were ultimately the key factors in capturing this dog. The first was Katherine Szafran, who called to volunteer her two VERY in heat Australian Shepherds to try to entice this un-neutered boy to come to us. Un-neutered male dogs have been known to let their guard down in the presence of a female dog in heat. The second call came from Sam Connelly of Pure Gold Pet Trackers. She was a God-send in providing me with information on how to catch a dog who does NOT want to be caught. After giving her all the details she told me that she felt fairly certain that he would need to be captured in a humane trap. This sounds relatively easy but there is more to it than meets the eye. Fairfax County had come out and set up a trap in the area, but because they could not monitor it through the night they would come in the evening and close it. The only thing they caught was the neighbor’s cat. First, you need to establish a feeding station, then make the trap desirable and non-threatening and most importantly, the trap must be checked a minimum of every two hours – day and night - because of the extreme cold. Throughout this week we had volunteers who were at the site every day. One of the volunteers, Kathy Schultz, from the shelter went after work each day from about 4:00pm until dark, to walk the woods and leave treats to try to gain Keeper’s trust. Each day we prayed for a sighting because then we knew, at the very least, he was still alive. Luckily he was spotted at least once a day during that week. On Friday it snowed. We all felt so bad knowing he was out there, but it also helped us follow his tracks to know where he had been. The residents of the neighborhood that overlooked Keeper’s territory were crucial during this time as they called us with the exact time and location of each sighting. One family in particular, the MacDougall’s, let all of the volunteers use their home and brought out water, snacks and lawn chairs. On Saturday, March 10, our whole team of volunteers converged on the area. Sam brought in her tracking dog, Salsa, and within minutes she had found Keepers trail and located his “den” which we humans had been unable to find all week. The MacDougall’s offered to let us use their yard for the trapping station, as we knew Keeper had been eating the food we had been putting in their yard that week. They also volunteered to watch the trap overnight so that one of us didn’t have to “camp out”. Katherine brought her 2 female Australian Shepherds in heat and we opened the box of items sent from Keepers original home in Missouri including some old socks and sheep’s wool. Sam helped us get the trap set up and showed us how to camouflage it. All of these things, along with some yummy food, were used to “bait” the trap – as we pranced the female dogs in and out of the trap (even wiping their bottom with some of the wool and putting that inside the trap). The MacDougalls joked that their yard was being used as a “doggie bordello”. On Saturday night we set up the trap but locked it open so we could gain the dog’s trust and not scare him off. That night he ate the food, so the game was on. Sunday night we set the trap. When my phone rang at 10:00 pm I was sure we’d had success, but it was Fred MacDougall saying that Keeper had gone in and ate the food but the trap didn’t close! We were all totally disappointed but we reset the trap. When the phone rang 15 minutes later I was shocked that it was again the MacDougall’s saying we had caught him!!!! I called my Animal Control Officer and we both raced over – along with Kathy who had helped search all week. When I arrived at the MacDougall’s, I expected to see a frantic and terrified dog in the back of the trap, but he was calm and laying at the front of the trap. He seemed to know that we were there to help. When Officer Pete Fitzgerald removed him from the trap he put up little fight. In no time he went and sat next to Pete and even let Pete reach out and pet him. We took him back to the shelter to evaluate his health. By time I got back to the shelter, Pete had Keeper set up in an office and the very tired looking pup was happily eating a warm meal (his third of the night). He was docile and sweet and seemed to enjoy the petting and attention we were giving him. His coat was thick but under all of that fur he was skin and bones. Although his leg was clearly badly injured he did not seem to be in pain and we knew it was an old injury so we chose to wait until the morning to send him to the specialist that Davida had selected. Besides the leg, his only other injury was a quarter size patch of missing hair with a bump over his left eye. It was hard to believe that this was the same dog that had been fleeing from us for the past eight days and avoiding people in general for over 4 months! I had expected him to be terrified of people but he was fine. The next morning, Davida came and took him straight to the vet who confirmed that he would need surgery immediately. He had a compound fracture of his rear right femur and it would need to be reset and cast. Besides a few ticks and being severely underweight, he seemed to be in remarkably good shape. At this writing, Davida has been giving us weekly updates on Keeper’s progress and he has had his cast removed and is doing very well. His only serious problem is that he is terrified of cars. The vet who examined him suspects that his injuries were from being hit by a car at some point towards the end of his ordeal. Cynthia, the owner, along with everyone involved, agree that because of his fear of cars, it would be stressful and dangerous for him to live in a suburban area where cars cannot be avoided. It would simply be bad for both the dog and for Cynthia to be put in this position. After his rehabilitation is complete, Keeper will go back to live out his years on the farm where he grew up. Virginia Dove, the owner of the farm, owns both of Keeper’s parents and several of his siblings who work on the farm. Isn’t that what every true Border Collie wants to be doing??? I think that Keeper’s story truly has a happy ending. Kim Wilson
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