ohmidog!

Some folks in Arlington, Mass., are searching for a missing dog — one so big children used to ride on him.

He has been gone for 60 years.

He’s believed to be a Labrador-mastiff mix, and he’s missing his tail.

If you haven’t figured it out by now, he’s a statue — missing from Robbins Farm Park since about 1950.

According to Boston.com, Roland Chaput and fellow members of the Friends of Robbins Farm Park decided earlier this year to make at least some effort to find the dog and return it to its original home.

“Maybe it is in some guy’s backyard and he forgot all about it,” Chaput says.
Since the early 1900s, the dog — he has no name — sat atop a hill at the park.

But where he came from, like where he has gone, isn’t known.

According to a history of the park, by Oakes Plimpton, the statue belonged to the land’s previous owner, the late Nathan Robbins, a member of a well-known Arlington family that gave the town several of its public buildings, including the library.

Robbins married May Robbins in 1902, and around 1912 they moved into a house on the farm. While it’s not known where the Robbinses obtained the statue, it has been speculated that he was procured for use as a make-believe guard dog.

Chaput says the statue was probably cast iron, but could have been bronze. He says it was about four feet long, and modeled after a Labrador retriever, or a mastiff, or a mix of the two breeds.

Nathan and his wife May, by some accounts, had a major falling out in the 1920s, and went 20 years without speaking to each other, though living in the same home. A 1929 Globe article reported that May was suing her husband for financial support and claimed that, though her husband grew potatoes, he would only give her rotten ones to cook for herself.

The farm was owned by the Robbinses until 1942, when the town obtained the property for use as the purpose of using the land as a park.

Around 1950, the old farmhouse was torn down, and the statue of the dog disappeared, possibly taken by a memberof the demolition crew. Or maybe not.

Not even the dog’s sculptor is known for sure. One member said it was initially thought to have been made by famed Arlington sculptor Cyrus Dallin, but recent research suggests that wasn’t the case. Now they suspect the statue was a copy of one made by 19th century Rhode Island artist Thomas Frederick Hoppin. It was called “The Sentinel.”

The group has located similar dog statues in Houston, and is considering having a copy of one of those made if they can’t find the missing one.

Chaput said they’d even consider paying something for the statue’s safe return.

“I want it to go into the playground, where the kids can have their picture taken with it,” he said.

Anyone with information about the statue is asked to call the Friends of Robbins Farm Park at 781-646-7786.

(Photo: From the book,”Robbins Farm Park, Arlington, Massachusetts: A Local History,” by Oakes Plimpton)

Felix, a dog, finally found a home.

But not until after traveling a pretty bumpy road. 

In December, the beagle-German shepherd landed in the Nash County Animal Shelter in North Carolina, where, after going unadopted, the day was nearing when he’d be euthanized.

His cause was taken up by a local animal rescue group, Promoting Animal Welfare in N.C., which  persuaded a rescue group in Vermont to take him in.

Arrangements were made to ship him north, where he was deemed more likely to get adopted.

As the Rocky Mount Telegram tells it, Felix and another dog were headed up Interstate 95 in January when the van they were in crashed in Emporia, Virginia. Both dogs were ejected from their crates and the vehicle. The other dog was hit by a car and killed. Felix disappeared.

Felix spent the next three weeks wandering as dog lovers in North Carolina and Virginia joined forces to try and find him. They created “Operation Finding Felix” — a Facebook page that quickly drew more than  1,000 followers.

Frequently, sightings of him were reported, by residents and truckers who also were keeping an eye out for him. But none panned out. Promoting Animal Welfare offered a $600 reward for his return, and a search dog was hired to help track him down, but neither led to immediate results.

Each weekend, volunteers searched for the dog around Emporia, posting fliers, hiking through the woods, and enlisting the help of others, like the manager of a local Burger King who allowed volunteers to post fliers about Felix inside the restaurant.

On Feb. 24, one of the restaurant’s customers, Pat Holland, saw the dog’s picture and realized she had seen him by her apartment earlier that day.

She rushed home and found the dog on a neighbor’s front steps.

“He looked like he was hungry, so I put some food out there for him to eat and put some water out there,” the neighbor, Marty Newkirk said.  “The next thing I know he was laying down at my door.”

Newkirk had let the dog inside. He was planning on letting him stay the night, and even thinking about contacting apartment management about the possibility of keeping him.

Newkirk and Holland called police, who had also been cooperating in the search for Felix.

“They were looking for the dog also,” Newkirk said. “Everybody in Virginia was looking for the dog.”

Volunteers from the North Carolina rescue group came and picked Felix up, Newkirk said. “They started crying because they were happy to see the dog, I started crying because they were taking him.”

Back in North Carolina, back where he started, Felix finally found a home.

Before his ill-fated trip north — while Felix was getting neutered, and vaccinated, and treated for heartworm — he was being fostered by a young woman. She’d tried to persuade her boyfriend and his family to adopt Felix. Already having a dog, they declined.

When Felix got back to town, after all he’d been through, they changed their minds.

(Photo: Rocky Mount Telegram)

After a Valentine’s Day hearing, a Texas judge will decide who should have custody of Victory, a bearded collie who is missing her nose.

Victory was found last month wandering in Hutto, Texas, outside of Austin. Her fur was heavily matted. She’d sustained puncture wounds. And her nose appeared to have been cut off.

Since then, an owner has stepped forward, saying Victory (not her original name) had run off a month earlier, and that the loss of her nose was the result of an autoimmune illness she was being treated for.

After she was found, the 4-year-old dog was treated by a local veterinarian, then placed in a foster home by Austin Pets Alive, which began a fundraising campaign and raised $2,000 for the dog to undergo skin graft surgery on her nose last week.

The surgery was canceled after a man called saying he owned her and wanted her back, said Laura Stromberg Hoke, a spokeswoman for Austin Pets Alive.

A judge will hear the matter Thursday, deciding whether the dog should be returned to her owner or remain with Austin Pets Alive, according to the Austin American-Statesman. No charges have been filed in the case, but police say they “wanted a judge to hear the information they had gathered during the investigation.”

Hutto animal control officers found the dog Jan. 9, and initially suspected she’d been the victim of abuse. The owners of the dog — who authorities refused to name — said she had run away around New Year’s, according to Hutto Police Chief Peter Scheets.

Police say they are still investigating whether the dog lost her nose due to medical neglect or abuse. Veterinary records show that the dog was last treated for lupus nine months ago but had no follow-up treatment, the police chief said.

One type of lupus that occurs in dogs can cause redness, scabs and ulcerations on a dog’s nose.

Scheets said there is also a possibility that the dog was injured after she escaped from her home and before she was discovered by police.

The hearing is open to the public and will be at 4 p.m. Thursday (Feb 14) in Hutto Municipal Court, 401 W. Front St.

You can find an update on this story here.

(Photo: Austin Pets Alive)

Mystery writer Dennis Lehane is hoping surveillance video from a nearby McDonald’s may help shed some light on his own personal whodunit — the Christmas Eve disappearance of his beagle, Tessa.

The author, who has offered to name a character in a future novel after the person who finds and returns his dog, says Tessa escaped after a visiting friend left open the gate into his Brookline yard.

Some sightings of the dogs were reported after that — the last one being at a McDonalds in Brighton. Lehane told the Boston Herald that the manager of the restaurant has agreed to review surveillance tape to see if Tessa might have been picked up or lured into a car.

“He’ll have to see a lot of videotape. I’m hopeful he will see a dog in the dark on Christmas Eve,” Lehane said. “I hope for the best, but it’s too easy to get your heart broken.”

“I’ve never had a dog this loving,” Lehane said of Tessa, who his family adopted from Beagle Rescue in Florida two months ago. ”She’s the kindest, sweetest dog.”

The author of Gone Baby Gone” and “Mystic River” said he’s been moved by all the community members who have offered help and support.

“What we’ve seen every step of the way is humbling. I’ve never seen more people help. It’s ridiculous. This is the reason I love this town.”

A family from Canada, visiting the U.S. for Christmas, is hoping their dog Ash turns up in Detroit, where she escaped from a U.S. Customs officer last Friday and ran away.

During an inspection of their car at the border, the Wilcken family, of Waterloo, Ontario, handed their dog over to customs officials, who placed Ash in a crate.

As she was being returned, she pulled her head out of her collar and ran from the inspector holding her leash.

Customs officials apologized for the incident, and have been searching for the dog, a Jack Russell-pug mix, according to the Detroit Free Press.

The family drove on to Atlanta, but plans to return to Detroit on their way back next week and check shelters.

“Everyday, our son says something about that dog. I remind him of the nice moments we had with her. … We have two presents on the tree for Ash,” said Ana Wilcken.

The family has received dozens of messages of support at the address they set up in hopes of finding their dog – helpfindash@hotmail.com – but none with information about the dog’s whereabouts.

Employees at the city animal-control shelter said they they had not seen the dog, adding that none of the dogs now in the shelter will be euthanized until Jan. 7, because the shelter is on a holiday schedule.

Bring author Dennis Lehane’s dog back to him and he’ll name a character in one of his next novels after you.

That’s the promise that Lehane made on his Facebook page after his beloved beagle disappeared from his Boston home this week.

WCVB.com reported that Tessa, went missing  Monday, and was last seen around 4:30 p.m. that afternoon near a gas station in the neighborhood of Allston.

Lehane is the author of several best selling novels, including “Mystic River” and “Gone Baby Gone.”

He posted on Facebook that Tessa was microchipped, but that she wasn’t wearing any tags when she was left out in the yard and apparently jumped a fence and ran away.

“It’s possible she’s staying in some good Samaritan’s home right now or has tucked herself away on a porch,” Lehane wrote. “But if anyone sees her or knows of her whereabouts, please reach out to this page.”

The reward:  “Naming of character in the next book for anyone who gets her back to us! (No, really!)”

“She’s smart, fast, and immeasurably sweet. She doesn’t have a mean bone in her body,” he posted.

Lehane was getting numerous suggestions from his Facebook fans, from hiring a doggie detective to assembling a beagle posse to search for Tessa.

How big of a reward would you post for the safe return of your lost dog?

A couple in Warren, Texas, is offering $50,000 — and putting their house up for sale to come up with the money.

Their dog Sir, a chocolate Lab, has lived with the couple for five years.

Charlie Parker said he and his wife have no children, and that Sir was like a child.

The dog disappeared from their property on September 15.

The couple posted fliers at local businesses, but they have yet to hear anything, according to KFDM. (Click the link to see the video report.)

When he disappeared, Sir was wearing a camouflage collar, the Parkers say.

Anyone with information is asked to phone (409) 547-2297 or (409) 200-6008.

The dog who took an 11-mile ride stuck in the grill of a car has been reclaimed by her family.

On Tuesday evening, a family from Dighton family was reunited with Suzie, who had been missing for nearly two weeks.

Animal control officers had dubbed the dog Lucky after she was struck by a Toyota Camry Sept. 20, became wedged in its grill and was and transported 11 miles across Rhode Island before the driver stopped.

The dog’s journey ended when the driver stopped at the East Providence Police Department, where officers and animal control personnel removed her from the front of the car.

“Thing’s as happy as can be. It’s fine,” said the dog’s owner, who asked not to be identified. “My daughter loves the dog to death … she was wicked upset when we lost it and wicked happy when we found it,” he told the Taunton Daily Gazette.

A family pet for the past six years, Suzie escaped their enclosed yard in Dighton on Sept. 20 by digging under the fence.

“Dog digs like a backhoe,” the owner said.

The owners learned about Suzie’s story after her story of survival spread across the country on Monday and Tuesday.

“One of my buddies called me on the phone. He caught the 11 o’clock news on T.V., and he said, ‘Hey, I think your dog’s on T.V.’”

A basset hound named Molly, missing for three years, has been found 1,000 miles away from the home she disappeared from in Fort Hood, Texas.

Molly was picked up by police in Prescott Valley, Arizona, who found her wandering the streets — but looking like she hadn’t missed too many meals.

The owner of the rotund basset was located through a microchip on the dog, police said, and she plans to pick her up when she returns from her tour of duty in a month.

The owner, who wasn’t identified by name, was happy to hear Molly had been found, according to the Daily Courier in Prescott.

She told police she had returned from one deployment in Iraq, went on another mission, and while she was gone Molly ran away from the house of a friend who was watching her.

Members of her family in Tucson will be keeping Molly until she returns.

If you think only dogs look out for their fellow pack members, check out this story.

Elicia Calhoun, an agility trainer, competitor and speaker, rolled her car while traveling through the Arizona desert last week.

All six dogs aboard were thrown from the vehicle.

What happened next — and you can read the full details at Petweekly.com – is equal parts sad and inspiring.

In the immediate aftermath, other motorists stopped and helped a bruised and battered Calhoun find three of the dogs, all alive – BreeSea and Iceman, both border collies, and Destiny, an Australian shepherd.

Three more were missing, including her 13-week-old Kelpi puppy named Tsunami, who had been secured in a crate in the front seat; another Australian shepherd named Nika; and Tobie, another border collie.

When the paramedics insisted Calhoun get in the ambulance, she refused until bystanders, including a border patrol agent, promised to keep looking for her dogs.

While Calhoun was being treated for cuts bruises and a punctured lung, word of the accident hit the Internet, and, within a matter of hours, 3,000 people had joined in a newly created Facebook group, many of them offering to help.

Calhoun, against the advice of doctors, signed herself out of the hospital to continue searching for her dogs, and learned as she was leaving that Tsunami’s body had been found.

According to the Petweekly.com story, by Deborah Davidson Harpur, volunteers were showing up to help in the search by then, and others were offering their assistance from afar, including animal communicators, pilots, ranchers who lived in the surrounding area, and HAM and CB radio operators. Someone even volunteered a military heat-seeking device.

By then, the number of members of the Facebook group had grown to 6,000.

Sadly, Nika’s body was found in the median of the freeway. With the three surviving dogs found initially, and the two later found dead, that left only one unaccounted for — Tobie

Elicia slept outside that night, in case Tobie came to look for her, and other volunteers slept in their cars or camped alongside the road before resuming the search for the remaining dog the next day.

That morning, Tobie was spotted by a volunteer. Elicia rushed to the location, spotted the dog running down the highway in front of a truck and eventually got Tobie to come to her.

Iceman, Destiny, and Breesea have some minor injuries, but they, and Tobie, who had been hit by a car, are expected to fully recover in the coming months.

Calhoun, on Facebook, offered thanks to all those that helped:

“Words cannot express my gratitude. I have just been home a few nights and am finally starting to absorb the impact of what has transpired. Walking into my house that first night was indescribable. My life is changed in so many ways now. I realize how blessed I was in surviving this crash.”

(Photos: Petweekly.com)