Update from Richmond

After getting checked out by the closest 24 hour animal hospital, Leo was picked up by his rescue, Atlantic Region Central Border Collie Rescue (ARCBCR) on Thursday afternoon, and he was taken back to Richmond. (His foster parents left for a previously scheduled trip out of the country a day before we found out that he was hanging out at the Best Western.) They sent an update and a couple of cute pictures . . . to add to all the other pictures of this adorable boy.

Leo is doing GREAT and VERY happy to be back!

He had an exciting couple of days as Emily went to Alexandria to pick him up from the vet that next afternoon, he stayed the night with her and then the next day, Diane went to pick him up at Emily's, then he came to my house where everyone was meeting... I put him in my backyard and he made himself right at home and was just smiling as he was so happy to see someone he already knew! He romped around the yard then settled in on the basement floor very content with himself... little bugger!!

Then his original foster Mom, Sandy, came over... well as you can imagine there were tears of joy and relief shed for the little guy as we thought for sure we would never see him again! He greeted Sandy with lots of tails wags and smiles... :-)

He then went back to Sandy's where I saw him yesterday and he was very content and happy once again. He was limping a bit on his back leg from his previous injury so we are going to have that checked out and then post him for adoption to hopefully find him a forever safe home that will love him dearly.

ARCBCR can not say THANK YOU enough to the volunteers and everyone involved in the recovery of our boy ... Please tell EVERYONE, THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!! His recovery would NEVER had happened without all your hours of hard work and dedication, Leo thanks you and so do all of us!

With deepest appreciation for everything!
EVERYONE with ARCBCR

And finally, a group of Team Leo members got together Sunday evening (June 19th) for dinner at Altantis in the Bradlee shopping center in Alexandria. We had a great time relaying what we each remembered of those last days -- and late nights -- that zipped by so fast we almost missed them. We recommend to everyone that you try it some day: getting together with some total strangers to locate and recover a lost dog that you've never met before. It's good stuff!!!

PS We are pulling down the signs posted around Alexandria and Arlington. Please help by pulling down any you see that we miss! Thanks!

More Pics!

Leo Pictures

We have a few pictures!

Here's one prior to capture, of Leo near the trap:

Want to see what a dog looks like within an hour after he comes off a 5 1/2 week run? Here you go!

Why would this boy run?????? I have no idea!!!!!

More photos to come!!!

Thursday Afternoon Brief Update

Update: I found out that, after getting checked out by the vet, the decision was made to leave Leo to board overnight at the 24-hour vet in Alexandria, to which he was taken, until arrangements were made for ARCBCR to pick him up today. He was badly in need of a bath! But everyone agrees - he's a LOVE! On the ride to the vet center, he would lean on one person while reaching over to kiss another. He was clearly SOOOO relieved to be in safe hands at long last.

Pictures: Will come as soon as possible! There are some pictures from the hours leading up to his capture that pumped up the volunteers during a tense time (thanks to Jim Poor for the camera donation a year ago!) and then hopefully more pictures following the capture.

Celebration: If anything calls for a celebration, this is it! But we know that if we don't do it soon, it won't be done. So, with all of the critical participants that we want at the celebration, we will have an impossible time scheduling one that everyone can be at. Please do your best to keep open the evening of Sunday, June 19th for that celebration. Can you recommend a food establishment in Shirlington? A club house at a nearby community? Please use the Comments for any suggestions as soon as possible, and stay tuned for the time and location!

One Last Fundraising Push: Clearly, there were MANY players that contributed to the success of this mission (and I intend to eventually provide a list!) but there's one in particular that we want to fundraise for so that the rescue organization's funds aren't depleted (any more than necessary) to cover her services. Those close to the operation know I'm speaking of Sam Connelly of Pure Gold Pet Trackers, whose help we couldn't have done it without. Sam was there to consult with when we needed insight into how Leo might be reacting to what was happening around him. She pulled the two consecutive all-nighters to come from Baltimore to build the trap that eventually contained Leo; monitor it, break it down, and then come back and do it again. She strategized and re-strategized with our volunteer team, and "pulled the trigger" at the moment needed to contain him! She returned a third day to break down the trap and deliver our first (traditional) trap to the person we borrowed it from. We want to see her be as richly rewarded as possible for her invaluable contributions, so please -- donate to her through ARCBCR (see menu at right) or bring cash to the celebration on Sunday. She promises to be there!

Back later with a fuller update!

Nancy Despeaux
TesterDesp@aol.com

Got 'im!!!!!!!

Wow! That was fun!!!

Sure, easy for me to say from Myrtle Beach where I am this week. It was tense for the volunteers, and it took a lot of man hours, a lot of tasks, a lot of patience. But we got the dog! It went down something like this:

A custom trap - that looks more like a small dumpster than a trap - was rebuilt at the site by Sam for the second night in a row. It required monitoring because while it traps a pet, with a little time, the pet can collect himself and figure out how to get out of it.

Now, earlier in the evening when he was hovering around this enclosure trap, Leo had bumped up against it and the door shut. So, Sam decided to rigged so that, rather than Leo tripping the plate inside it when he was eating his feast, she would pull the door shut at the right instant after he entered it. The problem was that she couldn't really see him from her best possible angle. So the plan became that volunteers would be in phone contact her while watching Leo from the second floor balcony. True to the plan, when he was all the way inside the trap, volunteers gave her instructions to pull. She did, and it went off without a hitch!

As we've seen before, he was actually, apparently, relieved when he could no longer run! Not surprisingly, he's a sweetie who licked everyone around - including the male volunteer (we'd gotten word that he might have some problem with males).

Leo was spirited right to a 24 hour vet, where he is now. His rescue organization is making plans to pick him up.

Watch this site later on Thursday for word about (1) a celebration we'd like to have, probably at a Village at Shirlington establishment, probably Sunday eveningj and (2) fundraising to cover the cost of payment to Sam with Pure Gold Pet Trackers. Tune back in for that.

Thanks to everyone for your support and your volunteer efforts, your well wishes, and for being a part of the Leo recovery effort!

Nancy Despeaux

Wednesday Update

If you've been checking for updates over the last few days and been disappointed that there have been none, this time it's not for lack of hustle bustle activity on the part of many volunteers! There's been so much activity that blog posts would need to be updated almost as soon as they are published. But here's the latest:

After establishing Leo's location first via a stray dog sighting called in to Arlington Animal Control, who were aware of Leo, then keeping him there via the set up and monitoring of a feeding station, we had a sighting by a volunteer. With 24 hours having passed since that sighting, we are bringing the lost pet tracker back to trail Leo's scent. (Leo's collar was found by volunteers, by the way, where it appeared to have gotten caught when he was trying to get water. The collar is now being used for a scent article.)

We are now seeking new contributions to cover the cost of the tracker, so please click on the icon at left for ARCBCR, Leo's rescue, organization, if you can be a part of a successful track by helping fund it.

Fingers crossed for a good report after tonight's track!

UPDATE WEDNESDAY EVENING: when our volunteer checked the camera this afternoon, it became more than clear that Leo had never left the area at all. Some of the MANY photos will be posted to the blog later.

This development resulted in cancellation of the track as it would no longer be necessary. So the trap is back in play tonight.

My last text message from the site volunteer had him hovering around the trap. I'm waiting for another update.

So, hopefully he goes in, and his time on the run ends. Cross your fingers, and gets your pets to cross their paws!

There's our boy!

Wow! Within a few hours of setting up the camera at the new feeding station we get some good shots of Leo. More to follow on the humane trapping effort.
If it looks like he is favoring his left back leg, it's probably because of a lodged bullet in his right back leg and a healed fracture. In the words of his rescue group founder "Our boy has not had an easy life."

Two sightings over the weekend!

The police officer monitoring the Best Western on S Glebe Road reported a loose dog to Animal Control last night matching Leo's description. While they were not able to capture him due to his fear of people, the Police Officer was able to verify that the dog she saw looked like Leo. We are very happy he is not proving as elusive as we thought, but his proximity to roads like 395 and South Glebe and chance of getting hit by a car means we don't have alot of time. He appears to still be traveling over large distances, but it seems to be in the same general routes. We really need to get some fliers up in the surrounding area. Contact us if you can help out! The flier is available to download on the right or we can send it to you via email.
Thank you to the jogger, the woman staying at Best Western, the Animal Control Officer, the Police Officer and everyone else that helped us get the word about Leo!

New Sighting

Details to follow. Called in this evening, occurred on Friday. Same are - along Walter Reed near Beauregard.

Saturday Night's Efforts

To generate a sighting of Leo, a group of volunteers staked out the Shirlington dog park on Saturday night for about 4 hours. What we discovered is that there is a LOT of traffic all the way up until midnight along Four Mile Run and even bicycle traffic along the W&OD trail. So now we believe, even more than we did before, that the hours that Leo is traveling Four Mile Run are the early morning hours, not so much the late evening hours. We want to try a later stakeout, and we're looking for volunteers that can hang in there starting at midnight (for a first shift, at least) and going until 5am. We have a plan for how it, so please contact me as opposed to doing it on your own.

Although the sooner the better for this, we expect it to be Friday before we are likely to get people that can volunteer hours like that. If you can participate this coming Friday and/or Saturday night, please email me as soon as possible.

We also still want to speak with the jogger that saw Leo at 6am on the morning of Saturday, July 11th. We think that you did not reach Leo's foster when you called, but that possibly it was a wrong number. We'd very much like to get any more information you have about what you saw. Please email me.

Nancy

Status and Update

No, silence is not golden. No news is not good news, in this case.

Right now I'm just grabbing a few minutes to share a couple of photos from the feeding station, even though they aren't Leo, and also to say that there's plenty of activity at the feeding station but little to indicate that it's Leo. We haven't caputured him in photos, but we do have rawhides and dog biscuits at the site, which we believe are less likely to appeal to a lot of the other types of animals - especially the rawhide. And it's always gone.

I assume this is a feral cat, but hey, if you know someone looking for this cat, email me.

There was also a report -- very vague though it was -- of a jogger who saw a dog matching Leo's description this morning at 6am. We got no further information, including no way of reaching the caller to ask more questions. But we believe that he has seen this blog. So, if you are, or know, the early morning jogger who may have seen Leo, please contact me using the email icon at right.

Marshmallows left for this raccoon nearby might help keep him full and away from Leo's feeding station, but on this night earlier this week, there was no such feast for him.

Check back later today or this evening for an update, and please email me if you can spend some time this weekend helping look for Leo

Nancy

No Leo On Camera But . . .

. . . at least we fed a hungry black & white cat! Stray cats need to eat too, right?

Sure, it was depressing, but experience tells me not to get too discouraged even though that's the first reaction.

Thanks a million to those that are printing out the cards and handing them out or putting them on cars. I've got more areas to cover if you too are available to go out this evening, get some exercise and fresh air . . . or I guess polluted air to be more accurate since high traffic areas are the order of the day. Just email me - even if you already know what area you want to cover, let me know that so I can make sure it's not already being covered by someone else.

Post-July 4th Weekend Status/Update

Sunday we got the feeding station outfitted with a motion sensored camera, so soon we should be able to see if it's Leo that's eating from our feeding station. I'm not making any predictions yet. We need sightings to know if Leo is still in the area, and the 4th of July fireworks could have easily caused him to flee the area. But hopefully instead, he just hunkered down more. This particular holiday does hysterically increase the incidence of lost dogs, so hey, maybe he found a friend.

As for spreading the word throughout the tracking area, we are putting together a plan to utilize volunteers to hit shopping centers and flier the cars there with the smaller size fliers or business cards. Go ahead and contact me now (email icon at right) if you can give 2 hours one evening after work and I will have directions for you.

Now, fingers crossed that our monitors find pictures of Leo on the camera.

Update from the Friday, July 3rd Track of Leo

Yesterday's track of Leo's wanderings lead the tracker to where Leo's den is, which is great news. A feeding station has been established close to the den, and we have a few monitors for it. Hopefully we have enough but if you are able to serve as a backup, please use the email icon at the right to email and let me know if you can participate. We can give you a briefing on what it's all about to monitor a feeding station.

The den is not far from the Shirlington dog park, and the track showed that Leo does seem to like that dog park. He probably goes there at night when it's closed and there are no people or dogs around, so it's likely the dog scentsthat remain there that interest him.

During the tracking session, our volunteer spoke to a lot of people in the area and handed out information, and learned that the people in the area for the most part do not know about Leo, or who to contact if they see him.

So, we need to concentrate on the entire area of the track to spread the word -- with fliering (we need volunteer manpower for this), FindToto calls and/or a postcard mailer (we need funds for this). Email me to find out how you can help with fliering or funding one of the outreach methods such as www.findtoto.com or www.lostpetcards.com.

The tracking map has been updated with the July 3rd track. It shows all but the den and feeding station. Here's a narrative version of the track, starting from South Four Mile Run at Walter Reed Drive:

1) Straight (SW) on S Walter Reed Dr to King St
2) Left (SE) on King St to S 28th St
3) Right on S 28th St/Northampton to W Braddock Rd
4) Left (SE) on W Braddock, crossing under 395, to King St & Quaker Ln intersection
5) Left on Quaker Lane, down the hill to the 395 ramps
6) Stayed left to use the 395-to-Quaker Lane off ramp for southbound 395 travelers -- to get to Shirlington
7) Right on Quincy St, in front of the Village at Shirlington, to Four Mile Run Rd
8) Track ended there

Results From Leo Track 2 on July 1st

The Leo tracking map (see menu at right) has been updating with the track from yesterday, the evening of Wednesday, July 1st. With the rain and lightening, the track had to stop before running out of scent, but before stopping, it did show more wandering being done by Leo, as we saw before with his first track. He did leave the Douglas Park neighborhood he'd been spotted in, but the track doesn’t show him to be very far away – yet. It showed him moving south, toward and across Four Mile Run Drive, and doing an Arlington Mill Rd/Shirlington Mill Rd/Four Mile Run Dr loop before crossing back over and ending up outside the Shirlington dog park.

Sam made this comment to me by email: “It was so sad to see the track go up to the front of the dog park and wander around in front of the gate. You can just see him there, trying to get back with his "friends" Dogs who don't trust humans frequently make strong dog bonds and when they are lost they gravitate toward other dogs looking for a "pack" to be part of. However, since the dogs at the dog park and the dogs that are in people's yards have humans somewhere nearby, they hang around only briefly and then move on. When they find another dog that is strayed or a dog on a property that "appears" to be running loose (like those with electric fences) the lost dog may stay and "pack up" with them for awhile. ”

Another track is in order, and we are making plans for one that will start before the heat of the day rather than after it. Thanks for the donations that are continuing to come in, knowing that we are going to need more funds for the second track and then without delay, the outreach that needs to follow it. Remember that the 4th of July is coming up, and the thought of Leo out among those fireworks is harder than the thought of him out there when all is quiet and peaceful. Please check back for more updates, and continue to help spread the word.

Preparing for Today's Leo Tracking Session

As we are preparing for the track of Leo's movements this evening, with Sam of Pure Gold Pet Trackers, let's remember that from that track we are hoping to get an idea of what Leo's general location may be -- nothing is guaranteed, but with luck we'll get some direction about where we should begin anew to concentrate our efforts. We'd like for the track to extend as long as necessary (rather than being cut short like we had to with the last tracking session on June 12th because we had such limited funds). Also, we want to be ready in the new area, if we can get one, to put out a new round of FindToto calls, perhaps an ad in a local paper, a postcard mailer to neighbors, fliers and yard signs -- whatever we can do to make sure that people residing and moving about in the new area are aware of who to contact if they see Leo.

With that in mind, continued contributions via ChipIn -- which uses PayPal, by the way -- will be put to good use, and will leave us in a much better position than last time to act immediately on what we learn from the tracking session. Thanks for all your contributions so far, regardless of how small they may have seemed to you, and thanks in advance for new contributions, and for being a part of Leo's recovery.