Piper is home!

Piper is home! Can you even believe it? Ah, the power of prayer!

some words from Cheryl---

I am happy to say my Girl is back home. Doesnt that sound amazing? I never thought I would be able to say that.!!!!!! Piper is very happy to be back home. She wagged her tail non stop, checked out all of the crates. Ran in the house so excited.Greeted me with tail wags and kisses. She was happy to see us. She found her crate she used here before ran in circled laid down then came back out. I know she knows she is home.She has lost weight. She has some bite wounds but they are healing. Her nose is really sore. She is very hungry. Doesnt want to go outside. I think she is going to be fine in time. I am So Happy she remembers me, the house and feels secure. Its really amazing and wonderful to hug this little dog again. I really wasn't sure I would ever get the chance I hope everyone knows how grateful I am for all of the help Hugs Piper and Cheryl

Just amazing! Poor little Piper doesn't want to go outside. She probably never wants to see the outside again. Thank God for everyone who played a part in getting this girl back home.

Piper goes home tomorrow!

Just wanted everyone to know that Piper gets to go home to Cheryl in Iowa tomorrow!

Here are a few comments from Cheryl--

Piper was brought into the vet clinic yesterday in pretty sad condition. She had been attacked my some kind of animal. She has bite wound marks on her body. She was very dehydrated, weak, sore and in mild shock. I know yesterday would have been her last day alive in those woods.Makes me shiver to think of it. Thank God she followed the 2 dogs home and was too weak to run any longer. She was found and taken to the Neumiester Animal Hospital in Dubuque. Dr Mary is a wonderful compassionate lady, Great vet who knows her stuff-LOL and they gave Piper wonderful care. Today her blood work is Good, she is now drinking and eating on her own. She is still sore and on Pain meds and Clavamox. I V has been removed this morning. She walks out on a leash to potty and everything is working properly. Chris stopped to visit her today and fed her, walked her and they gave her a Baby Shampoo bath. Piper will need time to rest and recuperate. Stay on the meds and watched for any sign of infection in the wounds. She will be walked out on a leash they don't want her running or jumping ect yet. I will take her to Dr Frost for a recheck and another fecal check in 3 weeks unless she shows any clinical signs of infection or issues before then.

We are all just so thankful that Piper was found and is alive and well. Her recovery will be a long one, I suspect, mostly because of the emotional toll that has undoubtedly taken on her. She is an amazing little dog though--and truly blessed by God!

PIPER IS FOUND!!

BEST NEWS EVER!
From Cheryl Collins of Wire Fox Terrier Rescue Midwest---

I am so excited, happy and emotional right now. Maribeth called me, Chris called her. Piper has been found. She did exactly what I had a feeling she would do. Piper saw 2 other dogs a German Sheppard and a Australian Sheppard and hung out with them. My guess is all day. Puppymill dogs have such a strong Pack mentality and they do trust other dogs. Thank God these two Big dogs were kind to her. When they opened the door to let their two dogs into the basement to sleep last night Piper followed them in.They live on a farm in Galena Territory North along that logging road. That is all we know right now. Maribeth is going to call the man and get more info. Chris picked her up and she is now at Chris's vet in Dubuque. She has blood on her fur but we don't know anything else right now. I have to call the vet and talk them. I am so emotional right now I cant think straight all I can say for sure Piper is safe. Happy Tears I am going to Bring Piper Back Home !!!!!!!!! Thank You Thank you ALL so much for everything you All did. Thank You so much for your prayers and your love and Friendship I wish I could reach out and just give everyone of you wonderful people a BIG HUG

I will post more info as I get it!! THANK YOU GOD!!

The Search for Piper Continues!

Friends--I cannot thank you all enough for your support and interest in helping find the missing rescue dog, Piper.

The good news is that the active search for Piper continues and that a new scent was picked up as recently as Sunday....the volunteers were to head out again today to search.

More good news is that Wire Fox Terrier Rescue Midwest has dedicated a page on their website to information about the search for Piper--click HERE! It is awesome information and has good pictures for us all to see. Please check the site frequently for updates.

WE ARE NOT GIVING UP!! Piper is still out there, being resourceful and we owe it to her to find her and bring her back to love.

Again, thank you all---please continue the prayers---I truly believe it is what is sustaining Piper.

Karin is gone, but the search for Piper continues

As most of you know, Karin and her tracking dogs had to leave early this morning so we won't be getting updates from her any longer. Karin on;y stays out with her dogs for 5 days and she was in Galena since last Sunday. She was tired and her pups were tired. We are so thankful for the work she did, the hope she gave us and the information she left us with.
Maribeth from Wire Fox Terrier Rescue Midwest and her husband are in Galena. They cannot continue the work Karin was doing--no one really can without tracking dogs, but she is continuing to get the word out there. At this point we have to pray that Piper makes herself known to someone--that someone sees her--it's the only hope we have to get her back home. It's snowing tonight in Galena. Pray for the little girl.

Here is an update about Maribeth--

She is staying over in Galena until tomorrow afternoon. She has been busy if you knew Maribeth that wouldn't surprise you-LOL She had over 160 new flyers made. Gary and his wife took some and She took some. She drove all over the rural roads and put her flyers in or on Mail boxes. I know this isn't legal but she did it anyway. She put them each in a zip lock bag because it was raining. They are now distributed Every where and each farm home has one. She talked to everyone in town, bar, restaurants, shops you name it she stopped. She also talked to some people who were outside when she stopped at their mail box. One very nice man said he walks the woods 5 miles everyday and he will watch for Piper. Another man who used to live in Chicago promised to watch for her too. She took some flyers to a company that delivers propane to all of the farm homes. They are going to give their drivers a flyer to look for Piper She just told them to call day or night if they see her. Chris the mail lady promised to go get her or take her Lab and go find her if there is a sighting. Maribeth talked to Chris today and really liked her. She also met her friend Abby who is a dog handler and can pick up Chris's dog any time she needs her and Chris isn't around. Abby is young and has a lot of dog knowledge. She also is going to keep searching.

We have covered this area to the MAX and will continue to keep looking for our Piper. Maribeth feels and I agree that we Have to have someone see Piper and we need to get her face out there and let everyone possible know we are looking for her. I believe she also talked to a couple of UPS drivers who deliver packages in the area.

The search for Piper

This is from Karin Tarqwyn, the professional searcher. Today was her final day.

Today was a long one and we were able to cover a lot of ground but also ran into places where we either were not allowed or could not get to. We had to leap frog over properties and around barriers. I was never so glad to have a mail carrier helping me… Chris… you are amazing! Every time we ran into an obstacle she knew how to get to another place where we could scan for scent… I could never have covered the ground we did today without her.
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Although we covered a lot of territory it was also a little disconcerting as Piper’s scent is now at least 2 ½ miles south east of where she went missing from. All in all… Piper herself has most likely covered 8 to 10 miles or more. The K9s are used to following scent trails based on a scent alley… truly more like hunting dogs than foot step for foot step man trailers. This is what we need in this work and today really exemplified why. Much of the area Piper has covered is passable by a small dog but not by a large one. That said…. there were several areas of fencing where not even Piper could get through. I am sure in her travels she has pinballed off the many square wire fences as she journeyed on.

The map shows in detail how we worked through the day. Today’s color is pink. We tracked over 3 miles today but I am sure Piper ran several more as she covered similar ground.

Based on todays search results I have to consider Piper in an elite group… that of the extreme roamers. Those dogs that have no bonded interest to their surroundings so they hit the road and travel great distances. My experience with terriers is that sometimes they do spiral and come back into the area but sometimes they do not and just continue their travels in a haphazard fashion. It is important to note that when a dog is on the roam they live in the moment… they are not human they do not have a plan or an agenda or motivation to get somewhere. The environment and circumstance decide which way she will go next.

Find Toto donated a broadcast today and they called a 3 mile square area to include the city of Galena, the Galena Territories and residences to the south where we tracked today. They are a great company… I work with them a lot in a very specific way. We customize all our work and broadcasts to the specifics of each dog and search area covered.

We have three volunteers who have stepped up to takeover when I leave and MariBeth just arrived from Chicago. I will continue to help guide the search efforts but I have some very tired dogs who are ready to go home… I am pretty tired too. Chis... one of the volunteers has an incredible dog I have been working with the last two days… She has been able to discern Piper's scent accurately… tell us when she has it and can track her as well as tell us when she does not have scent. She has worked along side Cade, Mason and Brodie and she is an exceptional dog. Chris will use Faith to help with the search when she is available.

We should keep the signage up and efforts alive. At some point Piper will slow down… but no… I cannot say when but I will tell you that we have recovered tougher cases than this… The key is to keep the awareness up in the communities.

Keep the faith… Be well.......
Karin, Cade, Mason, Brodie and Paco

Piper--"This was an excellent day!!!"

News tonight from Karin! We are very excited!

This was an excellent day!!! The little dog paw prints in the nature reserve were Piper’s. Mason and I hiked in to scan them for scent ( over a mile away and with 21 degree temps), and Mason picked up her trail and ran towards the river. It was pretty exciting… and makes so much sense!

Lead dog Cade had sore feet. They are cracked from the hard crust snow and ice and I really thought he would not be able to work today. He was not happy about this. The dog shop in town had these disposable booties called "Paws" and they worked wonders. We put those on and Cade was ready to go. He and I went up to the bridge and walked in under the bridge. Cade picked up Piper’s scent and tried to run across a frozen marsh… Piper being smaller could do this. .. Cade and I not so much! We continued on up against the mountainside and then the scent trail turned up a logging road. We checked this with three dogs… it was Piper’s trail and it went into a private agricultural field. We were told not to go any further so we had to figure out another way in… tough when there are hundreds of acres.

With dark setting in... we looked for a way to get near the field. As we came around a bend in the road Cade began crying and howling. We had been driving for about 35 minutes and he was riding happily in the back when all of sudden he let out howls. I thought he was sick… so I stopped the van and ran to see what was wrong. The big brown dog bounded out of this crate and ran to the field to the west. He did not seem sick so I gave him Piper’s scent and he took off like he was shot out of a cannon. It was now dark and we could not see very well… Cade had Piper’s scent and he was trying to tell us to stop! It was pretty amazing. He has done this one other time… still it is pretty amazing! We will start here tomorrow.

The maps… The work we did today is in blue. The orange lines indicate the most likely path Piper has taken to get around. Where it says “Cade detects scent” is where Cade began howling in the van and then ran to the Southwest in the field. The yellow line- the half circle- indicates Cade’s maximum distance based on other cases… meaning Piper’s scent has to be inside that radius for him to detect it.

Also Kris the mail carrier has been helping me in the afternoon. The woman is amazing she knows every little dirt road and meandering path up here. She has been a big help.

Hold a positive thought ... The ice and hard pack snow are wearing on us… Tonight I fell on the ice and landed on Paco… not out in the icy woods but in the parking lot of all places. Landed on my butt… thank God for padding. Really scared Paco… me too.

Keep up the prayers and energy

Karin, Cade, Mason, Brodie and Paco

News from Karin!

We got an email from Karin last night and the news is much more hopeful than we originally thought. Here is Karin's email to us.

The word is definitely getting around. Today I was stopped on the road four times... once by a police officer as I was re-hanging signs that had blown down on Highway 20. All were people who had seen the signs or heard of Piper's plight... even the police officer stopped to see if there was anything he could do...I thought for sure he was going to ask me to take down the signs but he flashed his flier of Piper and offered to give me a lift back to my car... this is the response we need... and we are getting it!

The first map shows only the work we did today (does include yesterdays track in red). The lime green lines indicate new trails where the dogs found Piper's scent. We found this new trail from Powder House Hill Rd... it is a continuation of the ravine... It is where the ravine goes under the road, turns into a creek and then goes out towards the river. All the dogs picked up Piper's scent in the new area... each coming at it from a different direction. This is how I confirm the information by giving each dog a different area to start from. When they all end up in the same place.... we know this is a trail. Cade and Mason each tracked up a long driveway from Powder House. Brodie came from the opposite side of the creek and ended at the trail Cade and later Mason would find. No one was home at this house and it looks as if no one has been there for a few days. I looked around and left food near the driveway just in case.

As the railroad tracks were adjacent to this new trail we drove to the river entrance and began scanning the tracks from a 1/2 mile away. The perimeter scans for scent are indicated in pink. At about 1/4 mile Cade alerted that he had scent and ran up the tracks towards the new trail. He ran a little past it and then alerted that he no longer had scent. I had him circle back and he went back to area of the new trail near the house. At this juncture... it did not look like Piper's scent continued down the hillside onto the tracks. We did the same perimeter scan on Powder House with Cade and Mason. Each dog went to the old ravine to the south first and then tracked up across Powder House Rd., up the long driveway and to the creek to the west.

Based on the new information I put up more signs in this area so anyone driving by has to see them. The problem in the area where we have been working is that there are very few people that live up there.

I received a call in the afternoon from a woman who said she saw Piper but she did not know what day. She only knew that it had been about 6:45 in the morning. Another gentleman stopped as I was adding signs in the area and said his wife had seen Piper the same day as his neighbor so just his neighbor had called. It turns out that all these sightings are in the same court... the same court the witness from yesterday lives in. Based on this I took the dogs to the court and gave each scent. All three dogs tracked across the court, behind the far house and headed north into the ravine. This is about where we ended our trail yesterday but about 200 yards to the west through some very thick woods. The witness who called today confirmed that his was the path and direction the little dog she had seen had went in.

Today I also got a call from a great volunteer, Jim Webster. He has agreed to add signs to the downtown and area on the other side of the river. He has a jpg. of the sign we are using and is making his own copies… Thanks Jim! He has also agreed to be a local contact should I leave and we need to keep the search going.

In additions Kris the mail carrier for the area has stepped up to help us. She is not only carrying around a Piper flier in her mail truck but went out with a friend and hiked back into the nature preserve with her labs to see if she could see anything. The nature preserve is about a ½ mile past the area where we found Piper’s scent today. And did I say… all of these places are only available on foot… yep… no way to drive…so hoof it in and hoof it out. Jus like the railroad track scans we did today. Only one way in and out… no roads. Anyway, Kris believes she may have seen what could be small dog prints in the snow out in the nature preserve. Tomorrow, we will check this possibility for Piper’s scent.

Sorry this so lengthy but I am receiving emails from people all over who are praying and crossing their paws for Piper’s recovery… We all appreciate your thoughts and energy towards this goal.

Mommy and I think this is good news and we are ever hopeful that Karin and her team or rescue pups will be able to get on a new trail of Piper's today!

Thank you all for all of your support! We are trying our darnest to get this little girl home!