Lelo Is Settling in at Home

Lelo's vet check-up after going missing for nine days was good! She had lost four pounds, so with only a couple of pounds at most to spare, she can now stand to gain a couple back. (When she was first adopted last June, she was overweight, and she got to a pretty good weight, no more than a pound or two above perfect.)

The nice man that found her, Charles, tells us that he had never been mushroom picking in the place where he went when he found Lelo! It's an area that doesn't get a lot of traffic (only foot traffic is even possible), though Lelo's dad, Dan, had been to that area looking for her the day after she went missing. Charles wouldn't have seen her had she not been barking for his attention when he came into her view. Smart girl for calling out to him even though she was clearly as frightened of him as she was generally frightened. She may have been there as long as 24 hours when he found her.

Seeing how much help she needed to get calmed down, he sat with her for a time and talked to her before even attempted to untangle her from the thickets that trapped her right where she was. Once he did that -- and she still had her harness and leash! -- they went to the parking area. When they got there, he went up to the first person he saw and asked her if she knew if anyone was looking for a lost dog. The woman took one look at Lelo and said "Uh, yeah! She looks just like the dog pictured on that flier over there!"

Imagine how happy Mariana and Dan were to get the call, and how happy Lelo was to see them! By this afternoon, she was starting to return to her old self, after initially being a bit out of sorts when she got home.

Here are a few photos taken of Lelo and her family today -- one day after she returned home:

 

Thanks to everyone that helped, in any way, in the search for Lelo. It was appreciated more than you will ever know.

Lelo is HOME!!!!!

Lelo was found a short while ago, tangled in a thicket!

From Mariana: An Army Vet hunting for mushrooms found Lelo at Southrun intertwined in in shrubery and logs. We have her and have an appt. with the vet at1:50p.m.

Because she was entangled and not able to get away (for how long, we'll never know!), the man was easily able to contain her. He led her out on the trail, and encountered another woman, and together, they found Lelo's tags with the numbers to call Mariana.

If you can help pull down the hundreds of fliers posted in the last week, please meet at South Run Park in the first parking lot, across from the dog park entrance (which is located at 7550 Reservation Dr, Springfield VA 22153), at 1pm on Sunday. (Pulling down fliers can actually be fun when people are stopping you to ask if you found the dog, and you can say yes!!!!) Then let's find a place to go celebrate afterwards!

Jump Start the Heart

Checking shelters for Lelo using http://www.petharbor.com/ is now a part of daily life. So about mid-day Friday, there was a picture of a beagle who resembles Lelo an awful lot. So Mariana called the Fairfax County Shelter and one of the staff said that that beagle had a microchip and the owner had already picked it up.

More checking of the feeding stations -- sometimes it was empty, other times the food was still there. A camera has now been set up to monitor one of them.

Plans for the evening were to pick up a trap, so that it would be ready for use if a pattern can be established.

Fliering and biz carding this weekend. Thanks in advance for helping if you can.