Molly's Rescue
On the final day of our family's Disney vacation, in which we were celebrating the adoption of our four foster children, we received a phone call from our adult son that Molly, my 3lb Chihuahua that he was watching for us, had dug out from underneath his backyard gate and was missing. Molly is just like my child and we were devastated. We immediately loaded up everyone and headed home on the 5 hour drive to try to find her. We joined the search for Molly around 11pm and searched all night. The area Molly was missing in was a very rural area that had desert area surrounding it and unfortunately a lot of coyotes in the area, which was a major concern for us. Molly was not familiar with the area and definitely not an approachable dog, which was another concern we had.
When morning came and we still could not locate Molly, I was desperate and remembered seeing an ad for K-9 search dogs on the Craigs list lost and found ads. I called and explained the situation and Deborah was at our home within hours with her team of dogs, Riley and Dudley, to begin searching for Molly.
Watching Deborah, Riley and Dudley work was truly remarkable. They began tracking Molly's scent from a cotton make-up remover pad, which we put in a plastic bag with Molly's collar in it. Unfortunately, or so I thought at the time, my son had taken Molly's collar off of her due to the bell on it bothering him. In retrospect, I know that the collar provided a perfect and undiluted scent of Molly for Riley and Dudley to track.
Dudley began his job and upon sniffing the cotton pad he was told to "find Molly." Dudley immediately went to the area that Molly had crawled under the gate and began tracking her to the east of the home. Deborah then traded the dogs out and Riley went to the same area and began tracking in the exact same direction, confirming Molly had left in this direction.
We then took the dogs to an area in which there was a sighting of Molly the evening before. The gentleman that attempted to catch Molly met us there and confirmed that when Riley took off tracking Molly again from this location, she was going in exactly the same direction that he had seen Molly run in.
For the next hour or so, my husband and I followed behind Deborah, who was on foot with Riley or Dudley, in their van to allow her to trade out dogs often, to assure they were both on the same track and allow them to rest. After about an hour Dudley took us across a major roadway a couple of miles away from the home, in an area that led into an open desert. My heart dropped when the dogs went in this direction. My greatest fears of Molly being hit by a car or killed by a coyote were more likely to occur in this unpopulated desert area.
Riley and Dudley finally came to an area that they kept circling for what seemed like an eternity. Later, I was told it was approximately 20 minutes. My greatest fear was that they had lost Molly's scent , which would indicate she was taken into the desert by a coyote and I would never see her again.
At this point my husband, myself and Ashley, my daughter-in-law, began walking the area and searching. I had almost lost hope at this point and began preparing myself for finding Molly dead or not finding her at all, when Ashley screamed "I found her!" Molly was curled up in a hole that was in an area that had about a four foot drop from where the dogs were circling. My husband jumped down and grabbed her and she has not left my arms since.
I am truly amazed at the obvious amount of work Deborah has put into training Dudley and Riley to help families locate their lost pets. Molly was found in an area that we never would have searched had Dudley and Riley not taken us there.
Molly has since been to the vet and the orthopedic surgeon and has a broken pelvic bone that more that likely occurred when she fell. She is in the process of of healing and doing well and we were just advised today that she will not need surgery.
I cannot thank Deborah and her awesome team of dogs enough for bringing our Molly back home to us. Keep up the good work and God bless you Deborah, Riley, Dudley, and Higgins, who is Deborah's newest team member in training.
A million thanks.
Molly's family
