For Heikke the afternoon of July 18, 2007 seemed like any other lazy summer day, until the Bernese Mountain Dog puppy, went missing in what seemed a split second of time.
At first, there were no worries - Berners are generally laid back, with meandering rather than bolt and run dispositions - so he would not have gone far on his own, but his owners saw their worst fears became reality when a quick scan of the neighborhood revealed no sign of him.
Within the hour, neighbors close by were notified that Heikke was lost and many joined in the search for him. In addition to regular ID tags, he had a chip implant. A call to the service provider notified them of his loss, but chipped animals need to be scanned at a participating vet to be identified in the system. In the event he was stolen and sold, he would first need to be taken to a vet by the unsuspecting purchaser before there was any chance he could be scanned. This could take time!
By evening, Heikke's absence was felt deeply by his family members as they now contemplated the first night without him home. Incredibly, even after two weeks and much searching, there was still no sign of him!
The owners sent out a status report two weeks after Heikke's disappearance. By now, a very large group of friends, colleagues and neighbors were involved in the search. Here is an edited transcript of what transpired - just look at how determined they were to bring their guy home!
Things that have been done to date:
- All vets within a 43 mile radius have been personally contacted, notified of Heikki and been encouraged to scan new patients. [This is almost 600 vets.]
- 4+ hour brush search was conducted on Wed afternoon/evening July 18th (the day he disappeared) covering ~16 acres with 16 people including County Fire.
- He has been reported stolen to Home Again (the microchip people) – this activates a notification to vets in a 25 mile radius of 95030.
- He has been registered as missing with the three major area shelters.
- He has been reported missing to the national Bernese Mountain dog message boards and enthusiast and rescue groups.
- The local farmers markets and flea markets have been monitored.
- There are lost/stolen dog ads on the web: Craig’s list, MissingPet.net, DogDetective.com, HomeAgain.com, BayEquest.com, Pets911.com, Dogster.com and the K9 Amber Alert Yahoo group.
- There are lost/stolen dog ads in the local newspapers, both major papers and neighborhood papers.
- There is a reward of $1000.
- Flyers have gone to all of our neighbors.
- Flyers have been posted in the neighborhood and around the valley – especially at pet-related businesses and on busy community bulletin boards, like those at coffee houses and grocery stores.
- Flyers have been forwarded nationally…and have been hand posted in such places as the rest stops on Hwy 5 and around Tahoe.
- All guests and workers on our street on July 18th have been cataloged and their employers notified of the missing dog. [including the garbage company and the county road maintenance crew].
- He has been posted as missing on Adobe’s internal employee site.
- Police and the County Sheriff have been notified.
- County Fire has been notified.
- He has been reported as missing to a variety of dog social groups: Society Dog and Menlo Dog Owners group.
- The SF urban dog walker community has been notified.
We’re currently working on:
- Finishing up contacting vets to a 50 mile radius. We are providing a flyer and asking vets if they scan incoming patients for microchips – (many don’t). We are also mentioning our lost 4 month old Berner in the conversation and encouraging them to keep an eye out.
- Contacting vets in certain areas BEYOND the 50 mile radius in key areas…most notably Marin County and Monterey County.
- Contacting the 59 shelters and animal services and rescue groups in the greater Bay Area beyond the Santa Clara Valley. [They have been lower priority as they tend to scan for microchips as s policy.]
- Canvassing the 17 Bay Area dog parks, in addition to those non-dog parks/beaches popular with dog owners.
- Contacting the Pet Sitter community (yes, they are an organized group!)
- Getting posted on the internal employee websites of Google and Cisco.
- Thank you for caring. Thanks especially to a few key ‘guardian angels’ that have helped to provide resources, hours and days of legwork and enthusiasm. It has really kept us going. It is important to note that ALL of those who have helped most were complete strangers prior to this. While we don’t have our little fur ball buddy back, we do have a renewed faith in humanity and community.
You can imagine everyone's delight when we received the following email three days later:
