September 11, 2013
Pattie was a black Labrador Retriever who was enjoying a family weekend camping when she decided to go on her own adventure from the campsite. She had been ill recently and was very thin for a Labrador. She was wearing a red collar!
After much searching by family friends and volunteers there was no sign of Pattie even though the owner had heard a possible yap in bushes near the campsite.
Four days later Tiga was called in by the local Dog Lost area Co-ordinator and Tiga started from where she was last seen at the campsite. Tiga tracked from here past the reception and on down the lane taking a right turn down some steps leading to an angling club reservoir where someone said they had spotted her at 10 p.m. one night. Tiga carried on turning left into a road which eventually went down to the fish markets on Hastings seafront. Tiga then tracked back from here after finding it hard to pick the scent up from the strong fish smells! He took us up to the country park where apparently a couple had reported that they had heard a dog panting in the thick undergrowth a few days ago. They had also met another person who thought they had heard a dog too.
There were also reports of other sightings back at the campsite so Tiga and I decided to camp out all night at the campsite keeping watch but there was nothing.
In the morning we had a call to say that there was a sighting back at the Country Park and we were on our way. Despite seeing eight black Labradors all wearing red collars Tiga again picked up the scent and headed from the Park down the East Hill steps back down to the fish market and and then tracked back towards the campsite in the opposite direction that we had already tracked but the scent ran out before we reached the campsite.
Pattie had now been missing 10 days and Tiga was not picking up any more new scent and despite there being a number of possible sightings by campers at the campsite Tiga could not confirm these.
The owner soon had a call from someone to say that they had got Pattie and that they had had her for a week having seen her on a route that Tiga had tracked and where the scent stopped. They saw that she was so very skinny and without a collar thinking she had been neglected and felt sorry for her and took her in and fed her but when they saw a poster and realised she was a missing family pet that had been ill they contacted the owner who went to collect her.
I was absolutely delighted that Pattie was back safe with the right family and although I can understand the actions of the finder it was somewhat frustrating that the family of Pattie were under so much stress as were the children, there were so many kind volunteers looking for Pattie, so many posters going up which then had to be taken down and Pattie was enjoying 5 meals a day, please can I ask anyone else thinking of keeping a dog they have found, to think twice and at least go to a vet to get the dog scanned and go down the correct channels to save a lot of heartache.
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Tiga and Yogi's diets are supplemented by Phytoforce Veterinary Herbal Tonics provided by Phytoforce.
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Tiga and Yogi are kept in peak condition by the team at Galen Therapy Centre. The centre was established in 2002; They specialise in treating dogs with chronic muscular pain; enabling enhanced mobility and health. It also has been in the forefront of interpreting how behaviour and muscle pain manifest in our dogs.
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