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Chilly’s Night Out – A Lost Dog Experience

May 15, 2017 by HelpingHands 12 Comments

Chilly the Poodle is a very well-behaved dog. As the “Ambassador” for Helping Hands and therapy dog, he rarely misbehaves. He rarely even barks or makes any noise!

On a recent Sunday evening, we let Chilly out into our fenced yard when he told us he needed to take care of business. When it was bedtime, we realized Chilly wasn’t in his usual spot (by the bed) and looked for him throughout the house and outside. He was nowhere to be found!

THIS IS THE MOMENT – As a pet owner – panic sets in – we have a lost dog.

If he’s not here, where could he be? The gates were not open outside. Where could he have gone? Did someone take him?

As we thought about it, we remembered hearing some fireworks that night. It was the Sunday of race week at RIR, and RIR had switched the main race to a Sunday afternoon, so we deduced that some race fans were celebrating that evening.

Problem – Chilly only has 2 things that really freak him out – fireworks and thunderstorms. It is not out of the realm of possibility that Chilly could jump the fence if he is scared. Therefore we knew that he had somehow left the yard to run away from the noise.

WHAT TO DO? Operation “Find Chilly”

We scoured the entire neighborhood (starting at 10pm) calling for Chilly. One of us walked while the other one drove.

During our search, we got a call from Jackie, Lori’s business partner. A former colleague at Helping Hands had seen a posting on Facebook about a loose dog with Chilly’s description being seen near the Patient First on Parham Rd. near Interstate 64. She called to make sure Chilly was ok, and obviously he wasn’t since we were out searching for him.

The hours grew long as we walked at least 5-6 miles going in circles around all possible streets in our neighborhood… yelling for Chilly after midnight on a late Sunday night/Monday morning. We decided to call it quits at 2:30am so we could implement part 2 of Operation “Find Chilly” at 5:30am in the morning.

After sleeping a little over 2 hours, we were both energized. Lori called Jeff and Anna from Wicker in the Morning at Lite 98, told them the situation, and they put out a call to listeners to be on the lookout for Chilly. Lori had the pleasure of meeting Jeff and Anna one week earlier when she dropped by to see Kat Simons with her daughter Lexi. Jeff and Anna kept calling us every hour or so to check on our progress. They received a call that helped us narrow our search to the area bordering Parham Rd between Yolanda and Bronwood.

We posted the news on Facebook, and received so much support and many shares.

SUCCESS

Lost dog, Chilly the Poodle found after being missing for over 12 hours.
Lost dog, Chilly the Poodle found after being missing for over 12 hours.

While we were searching, someone called Helping Hands to tell them that Chilly was in their yard. They closed the gate and we went over to the house to get Chilly. It turns out that the couple who found Chilly in their yard were friends of ours who have known us for decades. Their house was on Parham Rd, which is a very busy street. According to a 2010 traffic study, approximately 25,000 to 30,000 cars would drive by their house every day. There were stories on social media of traffic slowing down as this multicolored poodle crossed Parham Rd. And Chilly had NEVER been to their house before, it was all just a coincidence – a coincidence that we are very grateful for.  Listen below for the announcement from Jeff and Anna on Lite 98:

https://www.helpinghandsvetva.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Wicker-Promo-050117-Chilly-Found.mp3

Several days later, we figured out how Chilly got out. He busted through a screen on our porch. Lori loves a good project so she made sure that Chilly (and Bella) will never be able to break out of our screened porch again by installing reinforced wire on the outside.

Screen where the escape happened - Fixed!
Screen where the escape happened – Fixed!

 

LESSONS LEARNED

Pets are so dependent on us, and losing a pet, like what happened with Chilly, really challenges confidence in your ability to be a good parent. While we tried to remain optimistic, we both prepared ourselves for the worst outcome, trying to be thankful for the time we have had with Chilly while at the same time feeling sick to our stomachs with dread.

How fortunate we are to have such a famous, well-behaved and recognized pet. What about those pets that go missing that aren’t so colorful? Or in a section of town not conducive to searching, or next to even busier streets? We were able to call the media and have them do a shout out, but that avenue is not available for most pet owners.

We are also so fortunate to be in the age of social media. Chilly’s sightings were reported on Facebook, and allowed us to focus our search in one section of the neighborhood. Even if Chilly had not been found that first day, the social media reaction made us feel confident that eventually we would find Chilly. Strangers who had experience with lost pets gave us additional online resources.

Going forward, we have two takeaways from this learning experience:
1.) We are looking into options for real-time tracking of our pets. We don’t want to have to attach an iPhone to their collar, but we have found some options. One option is Tile – a tiny bluetooth tracker that you can attach to the leash. Another option is Whistle – a GPS tracker for dogs. Do you have any other suggestions? We would love to update this story with a comprehensive list of options for pet owners.

2.) We would like to provide a one-stop resource for people who have a lost dog or cat. We welcome your suggestions for any websites, apps, resources that could help others find their family members. Please let us know by commenting below or on our Facebook feed.

We are so thankful to the entire community for helping us get Chilly back. He is as much a part of our family as our children, and we like to joke, we had four-legged children way before our two-legged ones 🙂 Next time you see Chilly, be sure to give him an extra rub or hug as we are having what we consider “bonus time” with him.

Robin Roberts is as happy to meet Chilly as we were to welcome him home!
Robin Roberts is as happy to meet Chilly as we were to welcome him home!

Filed Under: Helping Hands Clients

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Nadene Zuidema says

    May 15, 2017 at 11:04 am

    I am so glad Chilly was found so quickly. Often this isn’t the case and good or not so good samaritans pick them up thinking they have been dumped. I have volunteered for years with a few folks to help recover lost dogs. We use the Missing Pet partnership website for training and ideas for recovering. We believe that many shelter/rescue dogs are missing beloved pets and their owners have no idea how to find them. The Missing Pet Partnership does offer training. Looking forward in seeing Chilly at the next Pet event.

    Reply
    • Veronica says

      May 15, 2017 at 2:43 pm

      Thank you so much Nadene!! We are so happy to have him back♥

      Reply
  2. Kerry says

    May 15, 2017 at 3:24 pm

    I agree with the other commenter that MissingPetPartnership is a very good resource.

    There are also Pet Tracking dogs that can come out to track your dog. Pure Gold Pet Trackers is in your area. Dogs Finding Dogs are out of the Baltimore area.

    You have several different types of options for tracking collars. This website breaks it down pretty good!

    Most cities/counties have animal lost and found pages- one for Richmond is https://www.facebook.com/LostFoundPetsRichmondVA/

    Make sure to alert local shelters, rescues, animal control, vets, pet stores. Put up flyers within a 3 mile radius, wider if you can. Do not rule out your dog being taken to a shelter outside of your immediate area-we’ve had cases where dogs are taken an hour or more away when found.

    Have your dog microchipped and keep the information up to date! There are many lower cost microchip clinics-local shelters often provide these.

    Keep tags on your dogs with current information.

    Always check your fencing especially after storms or if work has been done in your back yard (workers can often leave a gate door open).

    Leaving dogs unattended in the yard puts them at risk not only at getting out, but also being stolen.

    So happy to hear Chilly is safe and back home!!

    Reply
  3. Sue McGuire says

    May 15, 2017 at 4:11 pm

    Happy that he is back. What a relief! He is sooo sweet.

    Reply
  4. Terry Bowles says

    May 15, 2017 at 6:52 pm

    So glad chilly was found safe. Such a scary thing.

    Reply
  5. Veronica Eligan says

    May 15, 2017 at 8:53 pm

    What a Happy ending.!!!?
    I met Chilly this past February. To hear this happened a moment ago made my heart sad. Chilly is one of a kind. He is good dog/people.
    suggestion: let’s work on a Minnie alert devised the pet can ware on their collar that will let us know when our pet is too far away-away from us we are paged. I’m sure this is possible and sure I’m not the only person who thought of it.

    Reply
  6. Sharon Brewer says

    May 15, 2017 at 9:05 pm

    Post fb…next door….and signs ….call area vets
    We have deaf and blind dogs!

    Reply
  7. Kay Love-Wood says

    May 15, 2017 at 9:17 pm

    OMgosh. I took share and asked others to share. So so excited that the big guy was found safe. Thanks goodness that Chilly was safe

    Reply
  8. Ginger Zarske says

    May 15, 2017 at 11:07 pm

    I get posts from pawboost lost and found pets. It’s statewide and they seem to reunite a lot of the pets who are reported. I’m so glad you found Chilly none the worse for wear. I met him when I brought my feral cat, Simon, in for a dental several months ago. What a lovely dog!

    Reply
  9. helen says

    May 16, 2017 at 6:50 am

    I have several cats on 3 screened porches built for their pleasure: I used/carpenter did, PET WIRE, 9 times stronger than normal porch screen. THEN my carpenter tried to do thru it with knives, etc. STRONG>
    so, I feel my cats are safe from raccoons, etc. AND, I never put food out there to possibly attract wild animals AND lastly, the only door entering these porches is alarmed by
    vector. My outside yard fence is checked twice yearly by a pro for any problems which might occur. I still watch my dogs outside thru a window, just in case………and the gate to my rear yard has a code in which to get in……….with spikes on top AND pig wire coveringit but not showing; one dog is tiny. I have done my best to make all safe…

    Reply
  10. Debbie Gilliam says

    May 21, 2017 at 8:06 pm

    I’m so happy Chilly is home with his family….I live in Newport News and a lot of people use PAWBOOST ……and from what I’ve seen is that it is very effective…..more times than not the furbabies are reunited with their families….again, so happy Chilly is home…..him being anywhere near Parham Rd. Is a very scary thing…..

    Reply
    • Jake Pasternak says

      May 22, 2017 at 5:08 pm

      Thank you Debbie for the heads up about PAWBOOST!

      Reply

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