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The Bizarre Disappearance
In 1996, "Poquito Oso Negro" (Pooh Bear's full legal name)
was allegedly abducted from her home in Florida. Details remain
sketchy as to the identity of the culprit, and the dog prefers not to
point any fingers ...er, paws.
''She not talking," says Ms. Lesne.
"All she says is woof, woof,'' her husband Pierre confirms.
And so six years went by as a complete mystery until July 5th of this
year when a "dirty, bedraggled stray" was found running around
the streets of Cincinnati (yes, now we're in Ohio, 620 miles north).
A stranger, who identifies herself only as "Peggy", rescued
the pooch, gave her a bath and had her checked by a
veterinarian. Here's where the magic grain of rice comes in...
When the Chips Are Down
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A tiny subcutaneous microchip was scanned by Dr. Cheryl Devine at the
Oak Crest Animal Hospital. Years ago, the chip, manufactured by American
Veterinary Identification Devices, had been injected just beneath the
skin, between the dog's shoulder blades. This procedure of digital
dog-tagging had just been introduced at the time and is now becoming more popular in the United States
(although in
Australia, low-cost microchipping has been mandatory since the passage of
the Companion Animals Act of 1998 (see The Scoop Feb. 17: "Dog
Comes Home for Christmas").
"It was real exciting,” says Dr. Devine about the discovery. "You always
hope they'll have a chip. But you never expect them to have one."
Thus, Pooh Bear was identified and traced to her Florida home.
The kind stranger, Peggy, flew down south with Pooh on July 17 to make
sure the dog made it safely.
Around the World in 80 Days...
or would you believe "Around the Alleghenies in 80
Months?" Pooh the Pomeranian covered at least 1200 miles.
That's 8400 in dog miles.
Soon, Pooh was reunited with her old family, which included all the old
familiar faces as well as some new ones: "Tokyo Joe",
"Static", "Porsche" and "Mia-yow", the cats,
"Templeton" and "Disney", the rats, and
"Max", a Sheltie who was two years old in '96 when he lost his
playmate.
"'I swear,'' says Ms. Lesne, "if a dog could cry, that dog
would have."
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Pooh Bear2
50 Miles and 11 Months to Home
HONEOYE, N.Y.
(USA) — A dog by any other name would smell as... er, well...
Another dog by the name of "Pooh Bear" was found in urgent
need of a bath, "darting in and out of traffic on Routes 5 and
20" in upstate New York. This was on October 2, 2001, and at
the time, the journey was only half over.
If you thought dog-breath was bad, just imagine how it smells
after eleven months on the road. But that's probably not why Ms. Gartley was crying. ...Welcome home, Pooh Bear!
(Photo: Burr Lewis)
In February 2001, Pooh Bear the German Shepherd mutt went missing from
her home in Greece, N.Y. (near Rochester). Betty Gartley and her
family searched for months with no luck and eventually moved to a new home
in Ontario County, 50 miles south-east.
Little did they know that the 9-year-old pooch was hot on their
trail. Early this year, she found her new "old" home.
"There's just no way of knowing how this dog that was reported
lost last February in the town of Greece found its way to
Canandaigua," says Ed McGuigan, director of the Ontario County Humane
Society (OCHS), which was where the dog was taken after being picked up
off the streets in October.
Technology to the Rescue Again
This time, however, it was not a state-of-the-art digital microchip
that bridged the gap between dog and home. It was a good old
television set.
The OCHS described the mysterious stray on a television adoption
program, and Lee Gartley, Betty's husband, just happened to hear the
report.
"We didn't even know there was a humane society in Ontario
County," Betty says. "And even if we had known, I would
never have thought that she would wind up being so far away from
Greece."
The family immediately contacted the shelter in Canandaigua, just
around the corner from their new home.
"When Mrs. Gartley came in to look at the dog," Mr. McGuigan
describes, "you could see from the dog's reaction to her that there
was no doubt that it was her dog."
Betty says: "I think that getting her back is a miracle."
Part 2 
More Proof That Miracles Do Happen
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