Lost male black lab cross - Keswick

[lostdog4]

Was just referred to this great site.
Jake, our 9yr old lab cross got out of our yard Sat Oct 6 during an approaching thunderstorm (which he is terrified of). Have had numerous POSSIBLE sightings reported but by the time we get there the dog is gone. One report claims he may have been picked up from the roadside 1km from home but has not been turned in anywhere yet.
He is 9yr old, 45 Ib's and knee high. Is mostly black with a small white patch on chest, brown lower legs and white toes on three of his four paws. Also has small scar above one eye. He is very friendly with people but is aggressive towards other dogs. When stressed (thunderstorms, loud noises) he will tremble and drool excessively and will be inconsoleable. He was NOT wearing a collar and is NOT microchipped. BAD BAD BAD on my part. Any info please is much appreciated. A REWARD is being offered for his safe return.

[Chris21711]

Shirley1011, had a good idea that you print some business cards with Jake's picture, people are more inclined to carry them with them. She posted on the wrong thread (she is a self admitted blonde).
You said that he was spotted 1km from home, whereabouts exactly?
Have you been to the Georgina animal shelter yourself, sometimes a phone call is not enough. Any animal that is injured and picked up by animal control in this area is taken to the Sharon Vet on Leslie St. have you checked there?
Good Luck in finding Jake.

[lostdog4]

The business cards are a fantastic idea. Will get on that tomorrow.
Jake was (we think) spotted at Glenwoods & Woodbine 1 hour after he got away. An elderly man had stopped and was approaching a dog matching Jakes description. If it was Jake (how many medium sized black labs would be running loose in my immediate area at the same time) he would have readily gone with him and gotten into a car. He loves car rides.
I visit a number of shelters on a regular basis. Getting to know the staff by name now. Have visited literally EVERY vet and clinic from Beaverton to Uxbridge and from hwy 400 to hwy 12 and left posters with pictures. I make a point of talking with the staff at each clinic to make sure Jake is more than a picture on a piece of paper. I will be following up with each of them on a regular basis to keep Jake fresh in their minds.
Also in regular contact with Toronto animal control to check on dogs they have picked up or had surrendered. I will leave no stone unturned or any lead uninvestigated.

[Chris21711]

What Shirley meant by pm her is: on the right hand side where it says Welcome then your user name, you will see that it says Private Messages, you can click there and send a private message to Shirley which is not seen by the rest of the forum. She has extensive knowledge on searching and as we all know will be only too willing to help.

[shirley1011]

If you would like to send me a private message with your email address, I would like to keep in touch with you and help in whatever way I can.
The Greek Rescue Group has been doing an intensive search for Leon a rescue that was brought from Greece and went missing in the Barrie area. They have been helping those of us with lost dogs there to keep watch when they are doing organized searches.
Have you tried contacting the lady that runs the North Simcoe News. She has run several ads for me. It is a local paper that goes into rural areas and is delivered by mail so it does go to all the homes in Oro-Medonte, Severne, and south of Barrie. She will do it free for you with a picture but it only comes out every other month but it is on their web site.
Also have you got the Pet Harbor site that shows you the dogs as they come into the Toronto Animal Control Shelters? I found that was just great..they are there with pictures and you can check several times a day.
I know the heart ache you are feeling but don't give up hope...they just can't disappear.

[lostdog4]

Hi Shirley, I do not have any means to send a PM from my login page. I must be missing something. I will try to contact the admin to find out whats wrong.

The area you are referring to is quite a ways north of me. Need to focus my energies in my immediate area right now. Even that requires me driving 30 - 45 minutes to check on sightings. The area around me is very rural still, and developments are separated by what seem like miles and miles of bush and open field and farmland.

I really appreciate the offer of help. Its seems like none of my family has the same concern or sense of loss that I have for Jake. My other half said to me tonite, "are you ever going to give up" implying I'm spending too much time and money looking. Its only been two weeks and I'm not even close to giving up. Don't think I can ever give up. There are dog lovers and there are dog lovers I guess.

Its my fault that Jake is missing and I will do everything in my power to get him back. I fought with both Sunoco and Tim Hortons head offices today to get them to allow me to post posters on their premises. It was corp policy not to allow ANY postings anywhere on the property. I had that policy overturned today and placed posters at both Sunoco and Tim Hortons. Score 1 for me and Jake.

I will not give up on my friend and companion.

[shirley1011]

I know it is very upsetting when you feel alone in your search for your lost pet. You have to keep up the search until you have exhausted all avenues.
I am impressed that you got the policy overturned...I didn't manage that one...Tim Hortons especially is just the greatest place to get the word out in their drive thru's.
Hope is the one thing that we will always have that our pets will someday be reunited with us and no one should be able to take that away.
Some thought I was crazy but I even had an animal communicator who gave us very specific information where Sable had been and after finding the location, he had in fact been there. There is apparently a very good communicator in the Barrie area that was used for Leon.
Dogs can travel so far so fast, that was the mistake we made with Sable, we underestimated where he would go. We should have started out futher and worked back in, advertised a little further away.
If you would like to keep in touch please email me at shirley@decorativeglass.com

[Chris21711]

Was just wondering if you have had any sightings of Jake.

[lostdog4]

Nothing concrete so far. Several false alarms but I check out each one. At least I know there are alot of people looking for Jake and for that I'm grateful. Two calls yesterday about the same wandering dog. One from a man that walks the area regularly and the other from a Canada Post Carrier. Found its home and locked it in the backyard.
Had one report to the animal control office late this afternoon that convinced the staff there to bolt out of the office at almost closing time to check it out. I got a relay call and headed to the same area and roamed around for an hour. No luck on my part but I'll have to check with animal control in the AM to see if they had any luck.
When I look at this situation I see something in people that I don't see in day to day living. When it comes to an animal in distress everyone comes together regardless of age sex religion social status or ethnic background. What a different world we would live in if we all adopted the same approach in our day to day lives.

[Chris21711]

I agree. It would be nice if politicians would realize the special place that animals have in peoples' lives and change our cruelty laws. I wish you luck in finding Jake, everytime I'm driving to Keswick I take a different route just in case I might see him. I was looking at the Georgina Animal Control site this morning and there is a dog showing that resembles Jake that was picked up in Mount Albert on the 13th, if you haven't already maybe it might be worth checking out. It was hard to tell, their photo was not that great.

[lostdog4]

I and Jake appreciate the effort.

I checked the site thru petfinder.com regularly but didn't see the dog from Mt Albert. Where do you look? Don't want to miss anything.

There was a dog there picked up from Udora that really set me back. I had a call late one night from someone claiming he found Jake in a bush eating garbage. He had dropped the dog off at a nearby kennel who agreed to keep him overnight. He didn't realize at the time but saw a poster at Tim Hortons later in the evening and called me. It was the first "positive" sighting I had had in almost a week and I was ecstatic. When I arrived the next morning to collect Jake, to my horror it was not him. My first lesson learned. No high expectations. Keep a positive outlook but keep the emotions in check.

Got a call today from a group of highschool girls that thought they found Jake. Went to check it out and found a similar dog running loose. Chased him several blocks thru a number of backyard then finally coaxed him with some treats into my van. I remembered seeing this dog earlier in the week while I was out and drove around till I recognized the house. Turns out it was their dog and were very happy to get him back. Was a good feeling.

[Chris21711]

He was not showing up on their site today. So I called the shelter and told them I had seen him on there yesterday. The girl there told me that it was definately not Jake, that this dog was a shepherd/border collie cross with a severe case of mange (poor guy), probably a farm dog. She said that they are keeping their eye out for Jake.

BTW if anyone reading on this site is missing a purebred Sharpei, or miniature dachshund they are showing on their site as found.

[growler~GateKeeper]

Jake has been found here is his Found Thread: http://www.pets.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=46035