Anyone remember the Whippet that went missing in February? :D
New York Daily News - By Jonathan Lemire Daily News staff writer
Vivi may still be wandering the city.
The scent of the missing California show dog was picked up by a pet detective in Queens yesterday - renewing hope that the pampered pooch who bolted from her crate at Kennedy Airport nine months ago could be found.
Vivi, the award-winning whippet that looks like a mini-greyhound and can hit speeds of 25 mph, disappeared in February shortly after competing at the Westminster Dog Show at Madison Square Garden.
The team of volunteers searching for the dog has been frustrated by a string of false leads. But they were encouraged yesterday after a team of tracking dogs from the Oklahoma-based Pet Detectives Inc. discovered Vivi's scent at Mount Hebron Cemetery in Kew Gardens Hills.
"We had been getting discouraged that there's been no sign ofVivi in a long time," said Karin Goin, the pet detective. "The scent we found is no more than three months old, which is good."
Goin's two tracking dogs - Dodger and Cade - detected thewhippet's scent nearly 8 miles from Kennedy Airport and followed it south along the Van Wyck Expressway. Goin will resume the search today.
"Vivi is a nomadic breed who can survive a long time on the move without much food," said Goin, who has a license to track lost cats and dogs. "As long as she's not hit by a car, she could be okay."
Goin has been using the scent from one of Vivi's coats to track the dog, which had been rumored to be moving through Forest Park and around Cypress Hills Cemetery.
Vivi's co-owner Paul Lepiane said yesterday's development was the "first solid information we've had in several weeks."
"It's giving us hope," he said. "It doesn't mean we're going to catch her today, but maybe we're getting close."
"I think she's still running around out there, waiting to be found," said Lepiane, whose co-owner, Jil Walton, finally got married on Friday after delaying her nuptials to continue the search. "Vivi's a survivor."
