HikeArizona.COM

Folks, I am writing this post on behalf of a family whose plea for help I randomly saw on the Internet. I spoke to them by phone to get some geographical details and see if any HAZers might pick this area for their next hike, in the hopes of a good outcome.

This family's two dogs got away during a camping trip and are now lost, on Saturday 5/9/15. I'm told they may have scampered after a squirrel, and they know the area so the family was used to them always returning, but they did not. They are both micro-chipped but neither of them had their collars on at the time. The family's craigslist plea is here, including their cellphone information if anyone wants to call for more info:

https://phoenix.craigslist.org/evl/pet/5021269094.html

The ad was not written with us hikers in mind of course, so I got some location details from my phone conversation. Based on these little guys' mom's description of where they were camping, I'm spotting the following GPS coordinates as an estimate:

34.365746, -111.208124

This is, as their ad states, "at Tonto Village off control Road 5-6 miles passed the Double D Bar and Grill." I tracked this guessed location down by talking to her while clicking around on Google Maps, so I am confident that I've gotten as close as manageable given that they do not have GPS coords to offer. They picked a campsite off the "Fire Control Road" (aka NF-64 on Google Maps), on its right side, with a nice overlooking view.

The closest HAZ hike in that area looks to be this one:

http://hikearizona.com/decoder.php?ZTN=19757

I'll see if I can head out there myself this weekend or next. Any suggestions or advice, please post away.

I had a similar dog at one time, a Queensland Blue Heeler, and he was very smart, but loved to run off and chase elk

Blanco has a similar propensity. He is also relatively smart and outdoor savvy however, he loves to chase: elk, bear, cattle, mule deer, white tail, skunks, squirrels, frogs and there was an incident with a Coati that did not go so well for some involved..

I know I am playing with fire, but who am I to stop him from answering the Call of the Wild? After all, its what dogs were born to do, they are a half a gene away from being wolves anyways. Smart dogs come home when they are done chasing things, not so smart dogs end up living in the woods ;)

Or not living.

@Outdoor Lover I consider a microchip to be a necessity. It's such simple insurance.

But out in the woods, it's useless. I occasionally encounter lost dogs around town. If I can get them to come close I'll check for a tag and try to contact the owner. If there's no collar, or no tag, I then have a choice. Do I take the dog with me, bring it home, and perhaps get stuck and inconvenienced watching this dog for a day, two, more as I search for the owner or do I just leave it to run around the park and hope that the owner comes and finds it soon? A few people are true animal lovers and will take the dog home. I think most people can't be bothered or inconvenienced and just walk or drive by and hope for the best.

Having a phone number on the collar is the best way to get a quick resolution to a lost dog. Especially when you are out of the city and none of the people who might encounter your dog has a microchip scanner.

All Vets have a Scanner and would be willing to Scan it for you...There are also Vets that will take the Dog in and turn it over to the Shelter if it's not Claimed...I can think of two that I used to pick up Dogs from, but they were on the West Side...I believe that most 24 Emergency Clinics would do that though....There are also a few Regular Vets that will do it too...

These owners were very dedicated, and distraught. Their fierce determination led to a great outcome. There wasn't a local in that area who was unaware of the missing dogs, so as soon as they were sighted, friendly strangers went out of their way to nab them.

There is a new product out that tracks your dog via GPS in case of a mishap, called Tagg. It needs improvement but I'm unaware of any good competition so far. It needs to be recharged once a week, and has a subscription price in addition to the one-time device price. I've ordered it for Trix but it's on back-order so I haven't received it yet.