Coco

Coco is a nine-month-old Labradoodle whose owner, Jim K., works in the Cedar River watershed.  He has had her off-leash before, with no problems, but on Thursday afternoon, January 15th, 2009, something spooked Coco away from the truck.  Jim called for her, but this made her move away, possibly because of some stress in his voice.  He moved closer and knelt down and called her, and she bolted off into a swamp filled with blackberry vines.  Jim and his coworkers spent a long day looking for her and calling her name.  The blackberries and water required him to go back to the office to get thick gloves, loppers, and rubber boots.  When he contacted Missing Pet Partnership, Kat advised him to stop calling for Coco.  I went out to help look, but we saw no sign of Coco, not a tuft of fur, or a footprint in the mud.  Jim left her favorite blanket, her toys, and her food bowl near the gate when we left for the night. 

On Saturday, I brought Kelsy out to see if she could pick up the scent trail and give us a direction.  Jim and his family had posted signs in the nearby town of Selleck.  When we pulled up to the gate, Coco was standing there waiting for Jim.  I advised him, per Kat's instructions, not to go toward Coco.  We got out of our trucks and played catch with a tennis ball and a Frisbee while ignoring Coco.  We talked in a normal tone of voice, and did not look at her.  After just a couple of minutes of this, Coco went up to Jim's daughter, Zoey, to get the Frisbee from her.  Zoey gently grabbed her collar, and Coco was back to her old self, happy to be with her family.  Remarkably, Coco was very clean after spending two nights in a blackberry infested swamp.  Jim and his family will become new members of MPP, and Coco might come to training and be a target dog for us to find.