Sable is so lost! Can anyone help?
 

Sable, our Shepherd/Norwegian Elkhound cross has been missing since
the end of August/06 from our cottage just south of Orillia on Lake
Dalrymple. I think we have done all the things we should do with ads,
posters, fliers etc but still no Sable. I think I have posted him on all the
internet sites I can find. We live in Oshawa which is about 75 miles from
Orillia where all the sitings have been. Sable has been seen many times
along Lake Simcoe from Beaverton around the lake north and back down into
Barrie going in and out of cottages looking for home. The last confirmed sighting we had was in Hawkestone just off the rail trail in late January.
We have had a couple of other sightings but none confirmed, the latest
Feb. 12th.
We are fearing the worst but hoping for a miracle. Sable is a survivor and has some good hunting skills and a very thick winter coat.
We go to the SPCA in Orillia whenever we can but with the distance it is
difficult.
There have been so many incredible and caring strangers we have met
thru it all and for all their kindness I am grateful.
It has just been my son and I in the search for Sable. We have spent countless hours driving to Orillia and running down leads. We have had some folks call us and say they have Sable but when we get there it is not him and the SPCA is called and hopefully they are reunited with their owners and for that I am thankful.
We are not giving up but the search has been very long and stressful and
without new leads it is very discouraging.If anyone can give us any ideas on
how to proceed it would be most appreciated.
My heart goes out to all of the others who have missing pets.....it is just heartbreaking...

I'm so sorry your Sable is missing. I don't live anywhere near or have any advice other than don't give up hope. At least you're still getting sightings. My thoughts are with you for a good result. Sable please come home. Have you thought about maybe leaving articles of clothing that smell of you in some areas where he's been sighted. Maybe he'd return to the clothing and someone would see him. Just a thought.

Thanks so much for your thoughts...we have left clothing, food, we have taken our two females in heat to sighting areas.
We have put in a toll free # for sightings 1-800-445-6395
We tried a humane trap in a couple of area but nothing
Has anyone tried animal communicators. We have tried a couple and one
was helpful to some extent but....not sure

Is Sable microchipped, tattoed or licenced ? If so, what I did when my grrrl was missing was fax, mail or email a picture of, in your case, Sable and his info to every Vet, Animal Control Services and Groomer's in that part of Ontario. Also try the Feed Stores, the local BIA's and the local Commerce Association. Hawkestone and Beaverton are a heck of way from Orillia ~your boy is clearly looking for you ~ best wishes :fingerscr

Thanks for your suggestions.. Sable is microchipped, tatooed, and he
did have Oshawa tags as well as id tag with info on it. When he was
sighted in Barrie back Nov. 3rd he still had his collar on. There has been
a couple of sightings since then but with a brown leather collar and a
piece of broken chain on it. We can only presume that someone did have him and he broke away. He is a very strong dog.
I have been in to most of the vets in the Orillia/Barrie area and left
flyers with them. I have been into the pounds and shelters and have
emailed anywhere he might be heading from Haliburton/Midland to
Toronto.
People have been so kind in reporting their sightings but most of the time
it is a day or two later and by then he has moved on again. We have had
a couple of sightings that have been within hours but by the time we get there he is not there. It sometimes seems like we are tracking a "phantom dog".
Again thanks...knowing someone cares helps

Shirley ~ we do care. While not everyone on this board will respond, most of us will pass your info along to other boards or to our Vets or to SPCA's or we will keep simply keep your sweetie in mind

Never give up hope. If you put up posters a month ago, do so again in a bright pink. Phone, fax and mail and post again and again. I've been there, I know and I am happy to report I got my grrrl back, I wish the same for you.

It sounds like you've done everything possible that there is to do. Will Sable come to a stranger if called? I hope you are re-united with him soon. Good luck and good vibes coming your way. :fingerscr :pray: :goodvibes:

Thanks...I will do anything to find him. I don't know if he would come..spoke with a pet detective out in Washington State and she doesn't think he would. She says he will be in survival mode and may not even come for us.
We have a couple of things we are still looking into...long shots but any shot is better than none after this long....one fellow thought he saw someone walking Sable north of Orillia and knows the area he was from....a farmer
told another wonderful soul who has been keeping me posted in an area
west of Orillia that a "coyote" who was injured had taken refuse in a loft
of a local barn. Sable has often been mistaken for a coyote (one of the
reasons it takes people seeing his picture to realize it was a dog they saw
and they don't call in the sighting for a few days) and we have an
unconfirmed sighting on the trail outside of Coldwater as well to follow up on.
Thanks to everyone who gives me the courage not to give up.

Fingers crossed that one of the tips leads to Sable. Good luck and keep us posted. :fingerscr :pray: :goodvibes:

Well the one lead - the coyote didn't work out - the farmer
says it was definitely a coyote.
I feel so helpless. A month ago we were getting leads every week..
lots of sightings and spent almos all of my time following the leads and
looking for Sable...no nothing and I don't know what to do.

Awww Shirley,I am so sorry,I could imagine nothing worse than not knowing:sad:
It is possible someone has taken him in,liked him and kept him,maybe a farmer who is not necessarily going to rush him to a vet.
But please don't give up hope of getting Sable back,we are all:pray: that you will get that one very important phonecall:fingerscr

Thanks for the optomism!
The one thing that really upsets me that in my search for Sable I have
come to find out that Vets are not required to scan for a microchip and
that someone who has picked up a stray dog or even stolen a dog
may not ever caught. My next crusade is to have a new "patient"
pet be scanned as a mandatory procedure by the vet. A list of
lost and stolen pets could be sent to the vet for them to check.
I'm sure there are a lot of pet owners who could have been saved a lot
of agony if this was mandatory.
Again, I am hoping for a miracle.

Don't ever give up, Shirley.....miracles do happen.

[QUOTE=shirley1011]We live in Oshawa which is about 75 miles from
Orillia where all the sitings have been. Sable has been seen many times
along Lake Simcoe from Beaverton around the lake north and back down into
Barrie going in and out of cottages looking for home. The last confirmed sighting we had was in Hawkestone just off the rail trail in late January.
We have had a couple of other sightings but none confirmed, the latest
Feb. 12th.[/QUOTE]

I don't know the area in Ontario but is Sable heading towards Oshawa? :fingerscr :pray: :goodvibes:

Oh Shirley. I am so so sorry that you are going through this. My heart is absolutely breaking for you. I can't even imagine what you must be going through not knowing where he is. :sad:

Your post really hit home for me because our dog Raven (a female shiba inu/shepherd mix that we adopted in Bowmanville 6 months ago) is so strinkingly similar in appearance to Sable in the pic you posted. I honestly did a double take when I first looked. People often tell us that she looks like a coyote too. Raven tolerates the cold exceptionally well with her winter coat in and is a natural hunter so I think it's entirely possible that Sable could fend for himself through a cold Ontario winter.

I'm going to email the picture of Sable to my in-laws, aunt, uncle and cousins in Barrie and tell them to call me immediately should they ever see a dog in their neighbourhood that looks like him.

Please know that I'll be praying extra hard for Sable. :pray: That he finds his way back to his loving family after all this time. Please don't give up because miracles DO happen! :goodvibes:

By the way, it's nice to see someone from my neck of the woods on here! I only wish it was different circumstances that brought you here. (((hug)))

Wow! I took a double take too and if it wasn't a female .... most folks
who have called on sightings have said how much he looked like a
coyote and then seeing his picture in the paper they knew it had been
him. We haven't had any calls in the past couple of weeks....but then
maybe someone does have him...... We love him so much and miss
him terribly and we have searched so hard to find him and I hope if
something has happened to him he knows how much we loved him and
spent so much time following leads and looking for him. Thanks for
your prayers and your encouragement....I hope he has made it.

Had a call...but not him
 

WE just had a call from Washago north of Orillia but when we sent
her thru coloured pictures she said the dog she saw had no tan on him
so I guess it's not him...but we need to go up and look. At least we
know kind folks are still looking for our missing Sable and pray someone sees him. I feel so helpless being this far away from where he was lost.

More good wishes being sent your way. :fingerscr :pray: :goodvibes:

Do the confirmed sightings of Sable show that he is heading towards home?

No...he is totally lost. He is circling Lake Simcoe looking for the cottage but he is on the wrong lake. We don't know how he got over onto Lake Simcoe..if someone picked him up and he ran but he has been back tracking around the lake.

Is Lake Simcoe far from Lake Dalrymple? Could you stay at your cottage on the weekends and go searching? Is Lake Simcoe big or can you walk around it? I'm sorry for the dumbe questions but I'm not familiar with your area and I'm only picturing places where we have camped in B.C. :o

Lake Simcoe is a really large lake. It would probably be about 125 miles around the lake. We lost him from our cottage which is about 20 miles to the east. They say that when they are lost they can smell water and the larger lake may have drawn him there. No we can't stay at our cottage...we sold it the week after he went missing so it means driving up there... which we have done sooo many times and I will whenever we get a sighting. The one we
had today, the lady took some photos but the dog was all black but was certainly the right size and shape for Sable.
Somehow Sable got into the town of Orillia. To do that he either had to
cross a bridge which I doubt he would have (it is very heavy traffic due to
a casino in the area) or he went up and around the lake which would have been about 30 miles. Sable has a very high stamina and it could have been what he did.
I just find I am feeling really alone and unproductive right now with no calls to follow up on and that I am failing him. I guess he call today at least means ppl are still watching for him. I hope the weather soon breaks so ppl are out and about more....that is maybe why the calls have been so scarce!
Again thanks for your interest and support, I really needed it.
Shirley

Just noticed on the [url]www.kijiji.ca[/url] site Ottawa location that Jace is
50 km. east of Ottawa. Has anyone heard that is a confirmed sighting?
I hope it is true and that they have had another sighting. I know too
well the feeling of not having any positive sightings....your life is just on
hold fearing the worst and waiting for the phone to ring or finding a
post on the internet. Our Sable is part German Shepherd as well and I
pray folks are right when they say they can make it.
To Jace and Sable....come home boys you are missed and we are all so
worried about you.

Shirley,that was the last sighting of Jace,don't know what the date was,but it was a while back:sad:
We've all had our :fingerscr for Jace and he has some very devoted people looking for him,but I don't believe there has been any sightings for a while.:sad:
Even though people here might not have much to say,other than :fingerscr :pray: ,you should know that we are all anxiously waiting for some good news for Sable and you.
Please do not loose hope:pray:

I found this little update on Jace from another forum...they beleive a female in the area that was picked up recently may have been who people are thinking was Jace..no way to know for sure other than he is still out there somewhere?? I still think of him each and every day....Now we are thinking of Sable too! oh and Homer! Come home guys! Here is the last post on Jace!



[I]Thank you Anna and everyone else for all your prayers and support.

I still think of Jace everyday but am at the point where I am not sure what to do. I still have hope but have given up on actively searching for him as we have had no sightings. I do however continue to call all the pounds and townships between Hawkesbury and Montreal every week, just so that they know that we are still looking for Jace.

Will update once again if I have any news.[/I]

Just came across this thread - I hope your Sable is found safe and well soon! :dog:

I have just had a call from Barrie which is south of where Sable was
last seen. The lady said she saw him last nightin the area of
Huronia St. and Mapleview. She said he ran across a very busy street
and kept running west. She said he was very very thin. She has seen
colored pictures and does believe it was him.
If anyone is in the Barrie area, please keep a look out for him.
We will go up and look around over the next couple of days.
I guess I'm still praying for that miracle

Shirley,please,please I hope you see him too and finally get him home:pray:
I know you've had tons of snow in Barrie,maybe that slows down his running a bit:fingerscr :pray:

Shirley, I hope this means a happy ending is near!

Wishing you all the luck in the world, keep us updated.

:fingerscr :pray: for Sable.

This does sound promising. Sending lots of good luck your way. :fingerscr :pray: :goodvibes: Please keep us posted. :fingerscr

:fingerscr for a happy reunion !:goodvibes:

Any news??? :fingerscr