Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Missing BC Hattie

A friend of mine's Border Collie, newly imported from the UK has gone missing. She's been gone since the 6th of November. I truly believed she would be back by this Saturday and when she wasn't, I went into do something mode. I remember an ad I saw a few years back about this woman pet detective, but could not remember her name. I did a bit of web surfing and found her name- Karin Tarqin. She's a retired PO and did SAR while in that capacity. Anyway, after looking at her website and all the good information on it, I called her. Last night I got a call from Karin. I was almost asleep, but she got me wide awake. This woman does not fool around. Within a minute she was asking where previous sightings were, telling me things about this dog that I did not know, and pegging her roaming behavior based on her breed. It was well, incredible.

I called a friend of mine who has been searching along with Hattie's owner and for a time was talking on two phones. I then had bowed out since most of conversation was about locations the dog was seen and I don't know the area. Later, my friend called and told me that she was duly impressed with how this woman knew her stuff, and Karin told her that Border Collies are very savvy when it comes to going "roaming" as she calls it, and to not give up hope. I was so stoked after that phone call, it was hard to go to sleep. We believe based on the map of the sightings, and that dogs in the first few days circle, but then spiral, that she is moving eastward, and the sightings will become less frequent, but she will spiral back to her hub, which seemed to be near Rt 80. Other tips like driving around in cars is generally fruitless, but plastering predicted sighting areas with laminated signs is very helpful. Karin has tracking dogs at her disposal too. When we first talked, I asked her if she had heard of the author Virgina Lanier- this woman wrote mysteries based on a handler who trained Bloodhounds for man trailing. These were EXCELLENT books and really whetted my appetite for this kind of work. You know what Karin said? "Yes, I modeled my business after her". It was at this point I knew that Karin had her stuff together and I told her I would love to get involved in this work. I am going to follow up. Who knows, maybe a new sideline for me....


So, fingers crossed we can get somewhere in our search!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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