Rescuers on the ground...      Karin on the phone... A very tired Morkie gets home!

Finding Darby... a puppy mill rescue goes missing. Just one day after meeting his new family, little  Darby escaped through a small hole in a fence and was on the run. Witnesses and his new family were able to keep him in sight  for 2 miles. The frantic Morkie crossed a 4 lane highway and continued running. Thus began a journey that none of us will ever forget. We as a rescue, left the next day for  Enid to post fliers that we made and to help look for Darby. We walked in pastures, fields and dirt roads in the  vicinity of the last sighting.  Residents in the area were contacted and given fliers as were veterinary offices in the area. Darby was micro-chipped so Avid and Home Again were notified that he was lost. On Sunday, March 8th at 11:30 p.m. we got a sighting of  Darby. A lady had seen him in her headlights and attempted to get him to come to her. She got close enough to see his collar and to describe  his markings.  A confirmation that he was alive our there among all the coyotes! We knew it was Darby but he was now over 3 miles from where he escaped. It appeared that he was heading east.

One week later we still do not have Darby and the sightings have stopped. We will not abandon this little guy... we all load up and head to Enid again, (Darby was lost in an area that is about an hour from where most of the volunteers in our rescue group live). We contacted P.I. Karin TarQwyn and she guided us as we set out. She also designed the professional posters that would ultimately lead and guide us to Darby.  We hung the posters in the area where he was last been seen and decided  we would work our way towards a more populated area of Enid about 2 miles east of his last sighting. Darby's foster mom, Elizabeth,  was on the phone with Karin much of the time. Karin coached us through out the day by looking at aerial maps as we searched. Then an Enid phone number came across the call waiting while we were on the phone with Karin. We could not believe it! It was a call from a gentlemen who had seen the posters.  He said he not only had seen Darby but that he was looking at him right then.We all loaded up and raced to the location. Karin was still on the phone warning us:  "do not chase him".. "sit down on the ground to get him to approach"..." Have some one get ahead of him" ... "He must not feel threatened". continued top of next column

Darby goes home continued... When we finally see him he is running across an open field. He ducks  under a fence and runs through a housing addition. As we are following behind him, a lady yells that she just saw him run across her yard into the golf course. We temporarily lose sight of him but then another call... he is running in a freshly plowed field. We are trying not to  chase him but  that is really very hard when you have to keep a fleeing dog in your sights. We are talking all the baby talk we can muster but we are now pretty exhausted. We don't run across fields and roads for a living like Karin! People in cars are seeing those wonderful posters  and they continue to direct us as they drive by. These passer bys give us  a lot of information and inspiration and we keep running. Suddenly Darby tracks back to the south heading towards a very busy street.. We jump back in the car and began driving to the heavily traveled street. We see a small service road running along side the pasture and  can see Darby in that pasture now walking near a fence. We take the dirt road in an attempt ot get closer to him.

I am now just exhausted and I have to sit down. I began talking to Darby in a quiet  tone of voice and surprisingly he stops and then begins to walk towards me. The whole time I'm talking to him in a calm, regular voice but I am nervous and excited beyond belief.  When he gets within my reach I know I need to catch him but I'm fearful that if I stand up to grab him he will take off on the run again. So I scoot across the dirt on my bottom. I  hold out my hand out and speak to him in almost a whisper. I  get my other  hand around him and pull him into my body. Its over! As Karin suggested,  we quickly take him back to the car before celebrating. Darby lost about four pounds while on the roam during those six days. Other than some cockle-burrs that  rubbed a sore on his chest he is in pretty good condition. He was very happy to see his foster mom and she him. After this experience, Darby's foster mom decided that she really missed hime and wanted him to spend the rest of his days with her. So he did get a forever home! Thank you Karin for what you do. We would not have captured this guy without you. Some people may not realize that you can help them many times without ever bringing out the dog team. We are so glad we made the call after another rescue group told us about you. Elizabeth, Donna & Kathy...& Darby too!

 Copyright 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013  Karin TarQwyn