Someone REALLY loves their dog!

[eightfingers2.0]

Lost dog posters on nearly every other pole on all three main streets in HPP. Probably 50 posters.

That’s a labor of love!

[terracore]

Bailey ?

[kalianna]

Not Bailey. But I think they're still looking for him. I hope the person who put up all the posters in HPP takes them down when it's time.

[ohwegotpups]

Aloha All,

I am writing to give light and reassurance to anyone concerned about the recent lost dog posters in HPP and popular Pahoa Town areas. I hope a little bit of a back story, "talk story" will help understand the love and efforts gone into this search.

Emmy is just over 2 years old, red heeler fixed female, we call her a "pup" and she's the daughter of our two other heelers. We love and adore her, our dogs are a very active part of our life. 

Emmy has been training for weeks to become certified therapy dog with the goal and intention of being able to use her in school and in the community with hospice, nursing homes, care facilities, etc. I think most of us know and recognize the immense joy and benefits the love of a dog brings, and I wanted to make sure she received a legal and legitimate certification. 

We were participating in one of our weekly training sessions at Queen Lilioukalani Park on Sunday, June 20th. The trainer was asking us to use some retractable leashes in a practice. Another dog came to play with Emmy and in the process, the dogs became entangled. While untangling leashes, the retractable handle part slipped my hand and it recoiled to hit Emmy, SPOOKING her like I've never seen and she took off running like the dickens! Initially I didn't even react much because she does not run off, she's very obedient and comes right back to her name. This situation was entirely different. She was running desperately to get away from this terrifying thing attached to her. She ran out of sight within seconds. 

Fast forward: We search for hours with several friends in the immediate Hilo area, after nearly 4 hours and no signs, we went home to restrategize. Home being by the way, in lower Hawaiian Beaches. Clearly, I am worried beyond imagination at the endless possibilities facing Emmy and her safe return given the nature of the situation. I had never been on social media (or this forum until told by a friend there was a post about us) but I knew I had to do anything possible to quickly get a word out. We'd later learn that she had made it from the Park at about 11:30 across double lanes of highway traffic INTO the Hilo Mall and TJMaxx stores in less than 30 mins, desperately looking for me (we'd done several trainings in this area), leaving bloody prints, and running like hell to get out and on the move. Unfortunately no one was able to catch her there but she had thankfully lost the retractable leash handle. 

By Monday, 6/21, we got a surprising confirmed sighting of Emmy in HPP off of 18th/Kaloli. We were both shocked and relieved she had made it from Hilo to HPP in about a day's time. At this rate of travel, we were hopeful she was on a miracle "Homeward Bound" mission. She'd be home any day now! Unfortunately, that hasn't been the case. 

In the meantime, I've been devoting nearly every waking hour towards some sort of effort towards her recovery. 

The LOVE and support that has come from strangers, friends, colleagues, former students, current students, just about anyone we've met, has been so humbling and astonishing. We had several sightings reported last week, all within the Kaloli area. Friday, 6/25 was our biggest day of sightings, multiple confirmed ones and we responded quickly to a search in the area but no luck. Between canvasing the area (night, day, even spending the night in my car in HPP so I could search throughout the night) I've been making posters, updating social media, now doing sign holdings at the top of HPP intersections to gain more eyes on Emmy, I'm trying to do everything humanly possible to increase the odds of a safe and happy return of Emmy. 

So, bad news first. Emmy seems to be following the patterns of a skiddish/panicked lost dog. 
There's kind of two types of lost dogs: 1) super friendly and warms up the closest friendly face and immediately gets help, 
2) dog enters a survival, primal, even referred to as *feral* mode, where they become incredibly distrusting of people, often even their owners and familiar loved ones (they resume to normal pets once safely home, but until then...) 
We believe Emmy is the later, she is evading people, on the run, hiding out and just not ready yet to seek help from humans. We also believe she is trying to do what many dogs miraculously do, which is simply come home.

So the good news? We have every reason to believe Emmy is alive and well. She's been seen running fine, described as "friendly but scared" seems to still have a collar (with my number etched into the buckle) so if she is found I hope to get a miracle phone call. She's also chipped and spayed. She's healthy and in peak physical shape. Since she seems to be finding food and water along the way, and most likely hiding out or laying low during the hot periods of the day and moving at the cooler, late/early hours, she is lost, but trying to come home. The good news is that we have yet to see her dead on a road from being hit by a car and therefore, have every reason to believe she's still in the area.

We are making hard efforts to guide her along Railroad. From last Monday-Friday she was for sure in Kaloli area, always seen somewhere along the mid 20s give or take. It would make sense she traveled RR from Hilo to HPP. 
Dogs also have magnetism abilities, meaning they have an internal compass and are able to sense direction. So if Emmy's instinct is guiding her, while she may be lost with the specifics of HPP, she knows "I live East and by the water" we are also hoping to help her along the way with clues, like leaving out dirty clothes with our scent, walking her parent dogs along the trail to leave their scent, etc. We are confident that if she can make it safely from HPP to Hawaiian Beaches, she will know where to go from there. 

In the meantime, I kindly ask for your love and support in our search. The first post saying "a labor of love" was absolutely right, I will do anything I can to get her home. I won't be able to have peace in my heart (no matter the outcome because I do recognize some lost dogs never make it home) if I don't try everything I possibly could. My strategy has evolved as new information has come to light, including several articles that emphasize the need to saturate the last seen area with big, neon posters-- that has been the MOST effective way of pet retrievals. 

I want to reasonably reassure EVERYONE that once this situation resolves or if after a good amount of time unfortunately Emmy doesn't make it home, it has always been my intention to do the right thing and remove the signs. I plead for your compassion and patience in the meantime because it could take her several weeks to come home. I've been shocked at how many first hand accounts I've heard through this hellish ordeal of people offering their own lost dog experiences and MANY of them similar "I lost my dog.... and it showed up X days/weeks (even months/years!) later! So don't give up hope!...." I simply had no idea this happened as commonly as it did nor that dogs are even more amazing than I could ever imagine. 

Emmy knows she is loved, she was born at our home, her dog parents are her companions and she is the joy of our life similar to having a loveable 2 year old toddler. She can feel our love and I know that so long as she's alive, she's trying to make it home. 

The GREAT news? The more eyes/ears on our situation the best chances we have of Emmy coming home. If HPP residents are aware of a dog missing in the area, especially if she gains a high profile, someone will be more likely to call me if they see her run by and help us try to locate her in such a large neighborhood. I was surprised (a bit disappointed) when we were talking to people in our search who either hadn't seen our large posters (yet) or hadn't seen her posted on social media. I mention that because that's why I've been even more encouraged to do sign holding in person at intersections as well as putting up more bright posters, with my number easier to read, and with a different profile picture of her. Even if someone hasn't seen her now, one day, when she happens to run across their street they might think "Omg! That's that dog that's missing!" versus "oh, dog running loose, must be a neighbor's and will go home soon"

Sorry for the long post/explanation. I just want everyone to know how much we love Emmy, how dear she is to soooo many people and also how much future people like students, veterans, hospice, or care patients would benefit from Emmy's unconditional love and happy demeanor. I've yet to meet a dog I didn't love and while they are all special, Emmy is extraordinary, and that's why she deserves the effort she's getting. 

I thank you in advance for your reading, caring, sharing and understanding. This is a very difficult time for our family but we are so encouraged by the love and support of this amazing community. If you see/hear anything, please contact me directly at 808-640-3280. 

Thank you for allowing me the space on your forum, I hadn't even realized this was another social outlet until someone alerted me to the post. Thank you OP for your kind words/recognition that yes, she's truly loved. 

Again, thank you for the patience and yes, I will eventually take down the signs.

[HereOnThePrimalEdge]

Thanks for posting.
I’ll keep an eye out for her here in lower HPP.  I’ve seen her photo so know what she looks like.  Emmy sounds like a great dog, let’s hope we find her.

[sistersue]

Thanks for posting.
I’ll keep an eye out for her here in lower HPP.  I’ve seen her photo so know what she looks like.  Emmy sounds like a great dog, let’s hope we find her.

Australian Cattle Dogs are the toughest and smartest of dogs.  Since she is spooked, no one can catch her.  But if anyone sees her I hope they put food and water in the street for her.  My daughters' dogs became lost a few years ago in Hawaiian Beaches and we were in hell for 3 weeks.  Some people locked them in cages, fed them, and didn't even bother to call the phone numbers put up all over the Beaches neighborhoods.  When we put up signs of a large reward, she got them back.  Money talks.  
Please let us know when you find her.

[AaronM]

Waiting to hear the good news...

[Volcanoite]

Please call Babs Fry, Pet Recovery Specialist based in San Diego. Free phone consultation: 619-249-2221. https://talkinganimals.net/2020/09/babs-...pecialist/

---

I would also like to add a story from years ago of our rescue Red Queensland Healer that escaped as we were putting her in our yard for the first time at her new home. She was gone for nearly four months with people calling in with sightings all over our small town in the Eastern Sierra of California. We finally got a call on the fourth of July when a family that had been miles from town out by themselves had a dog run under their car to "escape" the noise from fireworks. We were happily able to get there and coax her out of her hiding spot to take her home. She was thin, dirty, and covered in ticks but was otherwise healthy. Don't give up hope and please call Babbs Fry for advice.

[terracore]

We had a dog show up to our house one day. Literally snuck under the fence and darted in through an open door and jumped on the couch like he belonged here. He had been rolling in pig feces so I quickly reminded him that he didn't. The humane society was already closed for the day so we cleaned him up and the next morning took him down and they scanned him for a microchip and he had one that linked him to the owner's information.

They called the owners and left them our contact information and we took the dog back home. Later that day the owners called us. They had lost their dog several years prior and had given up looking for him. The dog had gotten out and whoever found him decided to keep him. But he was reunited with the original owners after several years thanks to the microchip.

[HereOnThePrimalEdge]

Good news!
I read elsewhere that Emmy has been found.  
I don’t have Facebook so not sure if this link will function:
https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=115844567409547&set=pcb.1432884100409325