Lost, but not forgotten...

Thank you so much to everyone who has offered their time, support, determination, and enthusiasm to bring little Gus back home. However it is with a heavy heart that we bring you this news: Our little doxie’s remains were found close to the golf course by an anonymous caller. While we can't say with a 100% certainty that it is Gus, there are far too many similarities to say otherwise. Our final act of love for Gus will be to cremate him and to always cherish the short time he was with us.

This finding would not have been possible if not for the help of all of you. Whether it was checking the grounds, fliering, posting to Craigslist or Facebook, donating funds, printing materials, or just hoping and praying, you all are tremendous people with very generous souls. Unfortunately, our story did not have a happy ending, but knowing there are people like you out there is a comfort for all other lost dogs. May they all be brought home safely.

With the conclusion of our search we do need volunteers to help remove the fliers that were so well posted in the area. Please check out the map to see where they were posted and if you do remove them please let us know so we can update the map and eliminate duplicate efforts. Thanks again for all that you have done.

With much gratitude,
The Find Gus Team

Another Track for Gus

Thanks to a really successful fliering effort from Thursday evening through today, we completed the fliering we wanted to do north of Route 50. These were the most important areas since our best information has been that Gus is on the International Country Club grounds, and this area is on the north side of this busy road. We know that we need to also flier the south side of 50 -- the homes, apartments and townhomes on either side of and behind the Greenbriar shopping center -- so we are still looking for folks that can cover that side. Thanks a mil to those volunteers that have started that section! But we can breathe a little easier knowing the highest priority areas are fliered.

And that fliering came in very handy during the track that we ran this evening, with Laura Totis and her dog Chewy, with LJT Training. Just about everyone we spoke to was already aware of Gus, so the word is getting spread effectively. Thanks MUCH to everyone that helped out.

Here's how the track went down, starting at the 16th hole, where we know Gus had been:

It did not take long for Chewy to pick up Gus's scent and start trailing it. We did find both feces and muddy prints that we feel could be Gus, and since the last rain. But we later found out that no fewer than two dogs roam the grounds regularly -- the club owner's dog does so daily; another employee's dog does so less often. Because of them, it's more chance than a certainty that what we saw was evidence of Gus.

But Chewy did get excited in a few areas. One was at this tree stump, which had been dug under. Gus couldn't fit inside it, but he may have attempted to hide there or otherwise spent time at it, given Chewy's interest in it. She was not looking up inside the tree, so it wasn't something that scurried up that had her attention.

Another area was in a drainage pipe. The photo here is funny looking, I know, but Chewy wasn't clowning around on purpose. She has to have smelled Gus in that pipe for her to be trying so hard to stuff herself into it. However, if Gus was there when we were there, Chewy would have given a completely different signal.

We found a couple of ways that Gus might get out of the golf course and into the neighborhoods outside the course, which may give him another source of food if neighbors there feed outdoor cats. Chewy showed us those ways out. One was a gate with plenty of space for Gus to get through; the other was a hole in the fence that interested Chewy very much.

When we left the golf course, we went to the neighborhoods on the other side of the fence line, and got permission to go back and find the gate. (Finding the hole in the fence from the other side would require more than we could give it at this point.) While in that neighborhood, we saw an outdoor cat scooting around. In speaking with neighbors to get permission to walk back on their property, they confirmed that the cat's people feed him on their back deck. So, that could be a source of food for Gus.

When we approached the gate from the nighborhood, Chewy didn't get excited like we thought she would based on her interest when we approached it from inside the golf course. So we're now less confident that she is using that gate to move between the golf course and the neighborhood. But we do still feel it's possible, or that she is using the larger hole in the fence that we were not able to investigate.

The rest of the story, which really refers to the implications and what we need to do based on what we've learned, has to be continued. I'm beyond beat from being on my feet for so long! But check back for the rest.

Thanks for all the effort so far!

Thanks to everyone who has come out to post the flyers for Gus these past few days. Tomorrow should hopefully take care of a good chunk of the area as well. At the adoption event today biz cards were passed out to a lot of the cars in the parking lot as well. Hopefully, Gus will be found before next Saturday though, but if anyone has time or some kids that need service hours or need to get out of the house, putting cards on cars in the Greenbriar parking lot would be fantastic. Let me know.

And a huge thank you to our CHIPIN contributors. YOU are amazing. :)

-Meg

CHIPIN Widget

The CHIPIN widget is currently set to collect funds at my personal PayPal account. However, it will be changed to the HART PayPal account later on. For any of you that make a donation in the meantime, I can always send you a thank you for your donation letter for tax purposes. Thanks so much! :)

-Meg

UPDATE: Now set to HART's PayPal account. Thanks!

Status as of Thursday, Oct 8th

Thanks for checking in to see what's happening with the search for Gus!

MAP: A map has been added; see the margin at right (Resources/Links section) for a hyperlink to the map. Over time, the map with (hopefully) show sightings. As I'm posting this update, the map mostly shows areas we want fliered. The map should enable you to flier on your own; however, it's critical that you email us once you have fliered so that we can update the map to show the areas you have covered. (We will do this in reverse once Gus is found.)

FUNDRAISING: We know it typically takes quite a lot of money to search for a lost dog, so we are starting a fundraising effort. See the ChipIn fundraising icon at right for an easy way to donate! Any amount you can contribute will be appreciated and will help. The funds will be channeled to HART, so they are tax deductible, but ChipIn allows easy earmarking of the funds intended for the Gus search to go to it. Some of the more costly expenses we might incur include more tracking sessions by Pure Gold Pet Trackers, robo calls by FindToto, newspaper advertising, to name just a few.

Please plan to come out and flier with the group on Sunday at 1pm. But by all means, please fliers sooner if you can!

Flyering push, 10/11/09, 1:00 pm

Please plan to join us on Sunday for a flyering push! If you can get out before Sunday, that would be great--our goal is to get about 1,000 flyers up by the end of Sunday (that's about 25 flyers per person per hour . . . so we need a lot of help!). Remember, all flyers must go up in plastic page protectors.

Where: Greenbrier Shopping Center; in front of the Petco (13053 Lee Jackson Mem Hwy)

When: Sunday, October 11, 2009, at 1PM

What: Flier the area and search for Gus.

What to bring: 50 copies of the flier (can be e-mailed to you, or we will print out extras to give to you when you arrive), 50 plastic sheet covers (to protect the fliers from rain). 50 thumbtacks to hang your fliers. Gus’ business cards, to hand out to folks you meet while fliering. Stinky treats, like hot dogs or cat food. A leash. Water and a snack for you.

What to wear: Wear comfortable walking clothing and a red shirt or jacket so we can easily identify you as part of the search team.

Please let us know if you can join us, and also where you flyer so we can both keep track in terms of organizing the search, but also so we know where to deflyer once Gus is home!

Thanks,

Daphne

NEED HELP TO POST FLYERS

Howdy! We need to start postering the neighborhoods with Gus flyers ASAP! We basically need to start over because the original ones posted were not in plastic and are most likely destroyed by weather and time. Please let us know if and when you can help out. It's really important that this happens right away. I need folks for Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday efforts. Please comment if you can help. All are welcome!

I also really want to thank our new group of volunteers who came on to this search party. You are awesome. I would also like to thank a very generous kind soul who has paid for a tracking session to find Gus. Each and every one of you brings him one step closer to home. :)

If you can start flyering ahead of time, please see the attached map for the areas to target! Thanks!