LOST DOXIE!!!!

Poor little Gus, a 2 year old puppy mill doxie, slipped his harness and ran away from the adoption event he was at on Saturday, September 26. In front of my very own eyes he miraculously managed to get across a busy highway and run into a private country club. We are now searching high and low to find him.

Gus came to us from a West Virginia puppy mill about a year ago. The Homeless Animals Rescue Team (HART) helped raid a mill and took about 46 dachshunds. He was one of the more skittish ones and still is to this day. A lovely family ended up adopting him from us and tried extensively to work with him to help calm him down and stop being afraid. They tried everything this past year with some progress, but not enough for him to be truly happy. His fear of men is just too strong. Gus attached himself to his mom, but would never allow for his dad to get close to him. He would bark nonstop and go to the bathroom and just not relax when he was in the same room with him. After much deliberation and anxiety the family decided it would be best for Gus to be with someone he could feel safe and happy around.

I picked him up from the family and brought him to the adoption event at the Chantilly Petco. A lot of folks were interested in the cute little guy, but we really had to weed through the applications to find the perfect home for him. We had a potentially good applicant apply for Gus and they were walking him through the store and I was 5 feet behind them. We were headed outside for an interview and all of sudden, pretty much unprovoked he wriggled out of his harness and bolted out the door.

Generally chasing a dog is a bad idea because they will only keep running because they think you are playing with them. However with Gus and his skittishness it only seemed like a good idea to go after him and try to keep an eye on his location. A few of the HART volunteers ran after him through the parking lot of the shopping center and finally he stopped in the grass right before the highway. I was 2 feet from him and he stopped and looked at me. I was trying to coax him back over to me or at least away from the road and then all of a sudden he darted and I screamed as loud as I could. I think the folks driving knew something was up when a crazy lady in a red hoodie was standing by the road screaming and flailing her arms - so traffic did slow. It was enough for Gus to safely cross and get to the median, where he looked back and then ran again to the other side of the highway and into the golf course.

A few more volunteers followed him in and had a dog with them and did actually see him at one point. I believe they said he stopped to look at the other dog, but when they tried to close in on him he ran again. We spent all day looking for him in the rain and gave up when it was dark. The next morning flyers and cards were being posted and handed out to let the whole area know what was going on. It really is like looking for a needle in a haysyack, but we will find him!