Stephanie
8/5/03
The area is one of our new developments that borders the national forest, which in Tucson means mesquite trees,
shrub brush and lots of cholla cactus. It is a young neighborhood, so there are lots of kids and dogs and
joggers and walkers. Hopefully, Leslie's love of other dogs will outweigh her fear of people and keep her
close to civilization. There are lots of horse properties in the area with water troughs, so I am hoping that
the smarts that allowed her to survive for a month in the wild will serve her well now.
Last night, I took Blackie & Nina out to the area she was last seen, hoping she might scent them. We have
papered the area with posters showing how she looks now as well as how she will look when her hair grows out.
She was wearing a bright pink collar and my Airedale Rescue i.d. tag and she is microchipped.
I was out this evening handing out more fliers (the lovely Homeowner's Association had torn down all we posted).
One of the guys I talked to is part of the K-9 unit and took a whole bunch of fliers, which he will hand out
to all the cops who patrol the area.
When I got home, someone I had just handed a flier to had called on my machine and says he is sure that he
spotted Leslie just shortly after I gave him the flier. She was in one of the neighborhoods, which is
fantastic news because coyotes are my greatest fear. She was hugging the houses, but not running . . .
just sniffing around. She wouldn't let him get close to her, naturally. The neighborhood is only
ten city blocks from where she lives. I called Stephanie and she & Jake (Golden Retriever) are out
in the area now and maybe Jake can lure her home. As soon as I get the guys fed, we will all head
back out there.
Keep that Zen flowing . . . I know it is what has drawn Leslie toward home.
Sidney
8/6/03
Stephanie & Jake had a lovely conversation with Leslie last night. She was
quite delighted to see them, but she would NOT be caught. She is running
around happily in the area where they are building new homes, probably
snacking on left-overs from the construction crew. I thought **maybe** I
saw her little head peeping over someone's back fence as we went back to the
car this morning. I didn't feel like I could beat on their door at 6:00
a.m., but Stephanie will go down later this morning to see if it might be
her.
Later ...
Stephanie looked in the back yard where I thought I saw Leslie and there was no dog.
No one was home, but we really doubt that if it was Leslie, they would have been able
to get her into the house. They do have a copy of the flier.
Stephanie and Hap (husband) and Jake (golden retriever) will go back out at dusk,
which is when these dogs wake up and start
moving around. They spend the hot day holed up sleeping, so it is really useless to try
to do anything then. Now that Stephanie and Hap realize just how fast Leslie can move,
they feel they are better prepared to try to catch her.
If they don't have any luck by midnight, I'll go out again.
I feel better now that I know Leslie is hanging around civilization rather than out in the
desert trying to fend off the coyotes and she is in an area of quiet winding streets where lots
of kids play in the streets (i.e., no speeding
cars to mow her down), but the knot in my stomach isn't going to loosen until she is back home.
Sidney
8/7/03
I spotted Leslie twice tonight. Once as I drove up to the construction area where she has been
spotted before, and where I left some boiled chicken and water last night, and once as I was leaving,
trotting along the neighborhood street.
I took Grace with me, hoping that perhaps sisterly love would bring Leslie in, but her fear of humans
was too great. It was heartbreaking. Grace and I tromped all over the area where we first spotted
Leslie to leave a good scent pad for her to return to. I couldn't resist waiting around for a couple
of hours, hoping that she would come back to eat while I was there, but I finally gave up.
I talked to a man today whose business is trapping nuisance dogs. He said that my biggest weapon was
patience. Because she is hanging around the same area, we are to stop trying to go out and catch her.
It would be pure luck to trap her anywhere that we could catch her and we chance chasing her out of the
relatively safe area she is now.
What I have to do is establish a place where she comes back each night to eat and drink. If I hadn't
spotted Leslie when I first drove up tonight, I would have had a lot less faith that this would work.
There is no way to tell whether she is eating the food or whether it is the coyotes, but since she was
right where I left the food and water last night, I am going to continue doing so. On his suggestion,
I am using the stinkiest canned cat food I can find. He says that wafts on the breeze for a long, long
way and dogs love it.
I will do this for three nights and then take out a live trap. I will put the food in front of that for
a couple of nights and gradually move it inside.
The food in the crate that Stephanie and Hap have right outside their front door was eaten last night.
This is about a quarter mile away from where the neighborhood where I spotted Leslie tonight, but she could
easily be traveling that far in making her nightly rounds, so if that continues, we will try the live trap
there first.
Keep little Leslie in your thoughts tonight.
Sidney
8/9/03
I couldn't resist renting a humane trap at noon yesterday and took it out last night and set it up.
I was depressed to find that the food and water I had left had not been touched. Neither had the food
next to the foster home, so I decided to go ahead and set up where I had last seen Leslie. I put food and
water out near the trap, but I decided to go ahead and set up the trap and bait it because Leslie really
likes her crate and I thought maybe she would feel it was a safe place to hide.
The expert I talked to said I had to cover the trap and make it as cave-like as possible, so I threw an
old tarp over it. I taped a sign on the tarp explaining to people what I was doing and hoped that no one
would mess with it. It was still daylight because I wanted to get it set up and then get out of there before
the time I saw Leslie the other night, in hopes that I wouldn't scare her away.
