Finding Tinker: The Tracker Process in Action

On July 28, 2005, I received a phone call stating that my mixed-breed female, Tinker, was missing from the Harford County facility where she had been boarded with her brother, Mosey. Even more frightening -- the facility had not bothered to call me until 12 hours after she had gone missing, she was headed into the woods toward the Gunpowder River, and she had run off during a thunderstorm. I was handed her collar and leash, and was basically on my own to find her.

(It was an extremely emotional and frustrating time, and there are details I cannot go into here. I will focus only on the highlights of the Tracker Team experience.)

During initial visits to the local Humane Society and a nearby rescue, I learned about Tracker Teams. I had no idea such a thing existed, but it offered a ray of hope.

Afterward, while at home creating flyers, I put out quick emails to the rescue the dogs had come from, and to my list of dog-owner friends, asking about local trackers. Two replies said the same thing -- call Laura Totis. While waiting for her to call back, I spent the rest of the day getting the flyers printed, leaving them on mailboxes, talking to homeowners near the facility, and calling Tinker's name while driving around. Did I feel foolish? Sure...but it's part of the process. I guess it was also part of the process that Mosey chewed a hole in the sofa and destroyed an ottoman while left home alone to worry about his missing littermate, but that's another story. All we could do at the 24-hour mark was worry and hope.

The following day, I extended the search-and-flyer circle, which brought me to a local vet's office. I noticed a business card for Sam Connelly of Pure Gold Pet Trackers. I later discovered that Sam is Laura Totis' business partner, so I had stumbled into the right place!

While explaining the situation to Sam, I was immediately put at ease by her confidence in her search dog. She asked if Tinker was microchipped (she is) and if I had employed flyers (I had).

Sam arranged to meet me at the boarding facility an hour later. Fortunately, something had told me to put Tinker's collar and leash in a Ziploc bag, so I had them with me as scent articles.

Sam's search dog, Brando, is a large golden retriever (hence "Pure Gold") with a typical golden personality. But once the vest and harness went on, that dog was all business. I opened the bag with the collar, and that big golden head plunged inside -- he took a long sniff -- then started tracking around the building. Then down the driveway to the road. There's a very busy route right outside the facility, and I held my breath waiting to see if they would cross the road, but they didn't. Instead the dog brought Sam back up the driveway and across the parking lot to the restaurant next door. When the team returned, Sam told me that the search dog's behavior indicated very strongly that Tinker had recently visited the back door of the restaurant. Although it was 48 hours after she vanished, she could still be in the vicinity.

By then, it was near midnight. It was heartbreaking to go home a second night without Tinker, but we made arrangements to meet the next morning for another try. Sam asked me to bring Mosey along, and she would bring someone to walk him as a lure dog.

Again the next morning, once the vest was on, Brando was absolutely focused on the job at hand. Even more interesting - after taking another long sniff of Tinker's collar, then making first contact with Mosey, the search dog gave him a look as if to say, "I recognize your scent, but I'm not searching for YOU..." and soundly ignored him while picking up the trail.

My heart dropped when this time, the search dog crossed the busy route and concentrated for a while on the grassy area alongside the road. I was terrified that Tinker had tried to cross the route overnight, and was lying dead in the grass...or had become confused and headed north instead. After about five minutes, the dog's interest in that area waned and he came back across the route and headed in the original southerly direction. I resumed driving around the neighborhood, calling for Tinker, while they searched on foot.

About 45 minutes later, my cell phone rang - breakthrough! One of the homeowners had my flyer, had seen the team in their vests walking through a sheep field, gotten curious, and went outside to see Tinker running about 50 feet ahead of them.

Sam later told me that she had been led to the field, saw Tinker lying in a stream in the field, and was relieved to see her get up, but she ran away from the team.

A few minutes later, another homeowner called me (again, the importance of flyers) to say that her husband had captured a dog that matched the photo, and had her on their back porch. I arrived at their house to see the tracker team about 25 feet away on the other side of a fence. And even better...Tinker. She was wet, muddy, and stank like sheep dip...but she was the most beautiful thing at that moment.

To my way of thinking, it was a tie. The tracker team found Tinker, and she ran from them to that particular house.

A few minutes later, when we all met up in the designated spot and I brought Tinker out to make contact with Brando, I was amazed. His facial expression changed from that of the determined, businesslike, just-the-facts-ma'am search dog. His eyebrows raised, his tail wagged, and he was genuinely happy. It was as if he was saying, "I found you...I win!" 

Fortunately, it was a happy ending. I'd told Sam when we first met that I only wanted to know what had happened to Tinker, and if we actually found her alive, it would be a real blessing.

I got lucky. I had the safeguards in place, I took action, followed the full process, and I got my dog back.

As I type this, Tinker's stretched out over my feet, and it feels like all's right with the world again. Sam, I can't thank you enough for your efforts and your emotional support, and I'm now a great believer in the Tracker Team concept.

- T. B.
Baldwin, MD