Mountaintop Natural Pets

Source: OregonLive.com, Mar 7, 2010

The story of the man, his dog and the lost and found began on a spring day two years ago near an open field in Chicago.

Roger Mallette  was playing with his black lab, Ike, when his cell phone buzzed. Mallette turned around, took the call and Ike took off.

“It was extremely painful,” Mallette said Sunday at his office in Southeast Portland. “I never got over it.”

For the longest time, it seemed to Mallette the story would end right there and he’d never see Ike again. It seemed like all he could do was nurse his broken heart and tell friends about the dog that got away. But then, late last year, Mallette got a phone call and the whole story changed.

Mallette, who is 45,  found Ike on Craigslist in 2004 when he lived in Seattle. He went to pick him up and found his new friend in a muddy backyard, bounding around, full of energy. This did not bode well.

Ike is a runner. If he’s not on a leash, he’ll sniff around and take off. Mallette estimates that in their first few months together, Ike ran away five or six times.

But Mallette always managed to find his dog. He gave Ike a rabies tag and had a microchip implanted between Ike’s shoulder blades, both of which identified Mallette as his owner.

Together, in early 2007,  Ike and Mallette moved to Chicago. It was there, in spring 2008, when Mallette took that fateful cell phone call.

He’d taken Ike off the leash to play ball with him in a grassy lot. One minute, Ike was running around, chasing the ball. The next minute: gone.

Mallette put up fliers and placed an ad on Craigslist. No luck. He eventually gave up, too distraught to get another dog.

In late 2008, Mallette moved to Portland. He owns and operates a company that makes cycling jerseys and he wanted to be in the sport’s epicenter.

This is where he met his fiance, Elizabeth Everman.  He told her all about Ike.

“I’d heard all these stories about him,” said Everman. “Roger, whenever we saw a lab, would almost tear up.”

That’s where the story stood in early December, 2009.

Then early one morning, when Mallette was asleep, he got a phone call. It was a woman from a dog shelter southwest of Chicago. She had Ike, she said on the voice mail. Call us back.

“I about fell out of bed,” Mallette said. “I was in utter disbelief. I was so caught-off-guard I was hoarse. I could barely talk.”

Apparently, Ike had run away again and someone in Romeoville, Ill., southwest of Chicago, called the animal control department. An officer came and picked Ike up.

After the microchip and the rabies tag confirmed that Mallette was the owner, Mary Helton gave him a call from the shelter.

“He started crying,” Helton recalled.

With help from a friend, Mallette had Ike flown to Portland several days later.

Now when he tells the story about his dog, it has a happy ending.

“I have to say man, it’s the coolest thing,” Mallette said. “The greatest gift the universe has ever given me.”

Source: HoustonChronicle.com, July 28, 2009

Like a couple of wily outlaws, Daizy and Hank slipped away in the wake of Hurricane Ike. Hank was found quickly, but Daizy eluded capture for nearly 10 months.

By the time she was returned from her escape, she was 14 pounds lighter and covered in ticks and fleas.

“We were telling the kids all the time that if there’s any dog out there that is going to make it on its own, it’s Daizy,” recalls Joe Bauer, whose family owns the two Blue Lacy game dogs.

“It’s an awesome story,” adds Leanne LaRocca, who played a key role in this tail-wagging dog tale.

The story begins last September, when Ike blew down Joe and Kathy Bauer’s backyard fence. The Clear Lake couple decided to board their animals while repairs were made, but the dogs got away from the kennel before the job was finished.

Volunteer search parties, including LaRocca and her roommate, Teresa Reich, combed the area. Once Hank was back, Joe Bauer took him out for long walks in search of the other dog.

On the evening of July 16, LaRocca spotted a yellow dog near her home, and she thought about the Bauers’ lost pet. She tried to follow with her car but lost sight in the dark.

Three days later, the same dog came down the sidewalk. She and Reich jumped in a car and got close enough to see its face.

“She happened to look up,” says LaRocca. “ … It was Daizy.”

Again, the dog dashed away, back “to the place where she was living in the back with all the brush.”

Apparently, Daizy had been hiding out in an overgrown easement around electrical towers about a mile from the kennel.

LaRocca alerted the Bauers.

Last Thursday, just before midnight, the Bauers caught sight of Daizy for themselves. When Kathy called her name, the dog hesitated and trotted away. Kathy followed and continued to call.

“Here it is 11:30 at night and I’m in the middle of the street,” Kathy Bauer says, “and I don’t know how many people I’m waking up, but I really don’t care.”

She whistled, and Daizy came running to her.

Considering all she’d been through, the pet was in good shape after spending most of a year on the run, according to the veterinarian who examined her Friday.

LaRocca and Reich are cast as heroes in the adventure.

“I told Mrs. Bauer things happen for a reason,” says LaRocca. “And I don’t know why me and that morning, but I was supposed to see her and this brought Daizy home. For me to be part of this is just incredible. I’ll never forget this for the rest of my life.”

September 24, 2008 * PRESS RELEASE

It has been over a week since Hurricane Ike made landfall in Texas, and since that time thousands of stranded animals have been rescued and taken in by humane organizations across the state. Many of these organizations are overwhelmed by the number of animals coming into their shelters. Residents who left their pets behind during Hurricane Ike need to contact their local shelters, and make immediate efforts to reclaim their companion animals.
“It is crucial at this time that residents with pets who were left behind during Hurricane Ike make themselves aware of deadlines set by their local shelters, and begin reclaiming their animals. Each shelter in Texas sets its own deadlines determining how long they will keep these rescued animals, so time limits will vary from one organization to another,” said Lou Guyton, The HSUS’ Southwest regional office director. “It is our number one priority to reunite these animals with their guardians as soon as possible, but many shelters will be forced to transport animals out or put them up for adoption if they are not reclaimed within the specified deadlines.”

Members of The HSUS Animal Rescue team have been on the ground in Texas rescuing animals and providing sheltering support since Ike hit the coast. The team has already rescued hundreds of animals in communities devastated by Ike. The HSUS is currently on the ground offering support to Galveston County Animal Services with its animal sheltering operation, and performing animal rescues on Bolivar Peninsula.

For more information about disaster preparedness, visit humanesociety.org/disaster.