This is a story with a happy ending, and who doesn't love a story with a happy ending? It is the story of Heidi, a deaf Cattle dog mix who was lost 3,0000 miles away from the people she loved.
It is also the story of how one dog touched thousands of people over the Internet. What began as a simple plea on Craig's list and the Deaf Dog Yahoo site, became an orchestrated exchange of information, passed on at lightning speeds. Dog people are notoriously wonderful at forwarding information,and within hours of the dog being lost, pleas for Heidi's return were popping up in email boxes everywhere.

This is the story of how powerful a tool the Internet can be when people use it to reach out and try to help each other.

I am proud to say that I am part of her story, all because I blogged it on Maine Today.com. By detailing her plight, A Dog's Life became the place for people to check for updates and to find out what they could do to help find Heidi. Many people of Portland printed and posted flyers, sent email alerts, made great suggestions to the family, notified nearby work places, left Heidi food, and physically went out and looked for her, while people in California and around the Internet hung their hopes on every word. Dogs lists everywhere pointed people to my blog where many were checking in several times a day awaiting any news of sightings and to learn more about how they could help. It was a place of support and hope.

Basically the story goes like this:
July 7th, Heidi was shipped to Maine in anticipation of her families move from the bay area, to the East coast.
Unfortunately she panicked when she was being picked up, and she slipped her collar and bolted. She was struck by a car, and according to the driver, rolled three times and then got up and fled. Many people tried to find her (including me!) , and she was spotted only a couple of times in nearly two weeks. Her owner Paul, who by all accounts has a tremendous bond with the dog came east to find her, but was unsuccessful and had to return to the bay area and finish up his personal business on the west coast before moving. During this week, Heidi sightings were few.

Back in California, Heidi's family was distraught not only for loosing the dog they loved, but because they felt that the dog must have felt they had abandoned her. For the people who loved her, this was nearly too much to bear. Her owners told me that her deafness had never really been an issue until this happened. It wasn't an issue when they adopted her, or when they trained her. Her deafness was just the way things were. But for the first time in the four years they had her, they wished more than anything that she could hear, so she could hear their calls.

There were no reported sightings of the dog from Wednesday the 13th, until Sunday the 17th. On Sunday the 17th Paul returned to Portland and on that day she was spotted back at the Portland Jetport. I remember when I got that update from Linden in California, I got goose bumps and thought to myself, how can this be? Heidi returning to the Airport, to me was the most incredible part of the story. The dog had been hiding in the woods for nearly two weeks and came back to the airport on the day that Paul flew back. That night Paul camped in the woods at a location where Heidi had been sighted in hopes that Heidi would find him, but the family was gravely discouraged when she was not seen.
But for the first time in nearly two weeks, I was hopeful.
When we take children places we tell them "if we get separated stay where you are and I will come and find you", but how can we communicate this to our dogs? It makes you think that this dog, this special dog had a connection that is inexplicable. She just knew.

Monday night the 18th, Paul was back camping at the Jetport, the last place Heidi had been spotted. Early Tuesday she came to him, after being gone nearly two weeks.
Heidi smelled rancid, she was covered in ticks and she had lost 3 pounds, but other than that, she was in great shape.
Many people have written to me wanting to know more about how Paul and Heidi are doing now, and I will tell you all after this weekend when I meet them in person. Can't wait.

A Dog's Life Heidi blogs
Lost Dog Alert
Update for Heidi the Lost Dog
Desperatley Seeking Heidi
Heidi has been found!
Be sure to click the picture link in the comment section of Paul and Heidi. Great shot!

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