Pampered Poodle Survives 42 Days In The Wild!!!
http://www.canada.com/fortstjohn/sto...4-3ff2cc39733d
Fort St. John
Pampered poodle survives 42 days in the wild
Zev Singer
The Ottawa Citizen
October 5, 2004
CREDIT: KIER GILMOUR, THE OTTAWA CITIZEN
No longer chubby, miniature poodle Chubbs is safe at home after wandering for 42 days and losing nearly half his body weight. Had Chubbs spent one more day in the forest near Dunrobin, he likely would have died, a veterinarian told the dog’s owners.
His name is Chubbs, and the miniature poodle has survived an almost biblical ordeal.
For 42 days and nights he was alone in the wilderness -- in the brush of Dunrobin, to be precise -- before his owners found him.
Just 4.5 kilograms to begin with, and not much more than half that by the end, the canine from Kanata seemed no match for the natural world. The six-year-old dog, fed with table scraps, was accustomed each morning to eating toast for breakfast, either with peanut butter or Cheez Whiz. He grew up sleeping as often in his owners' bed as his own.
"He is a spoiled dog," said owner Patricia Miner.
Yet, somehow, Chubbs survived.
It was on Aug. 17 that Chubbs chose to make his debut attempt at running away. That day, he was staying in Dunrobin with other people, who the owners do not wish to embarrass, when he accidentally got loose.
Mrs. Miner and her husband, Ron, then spent all their spare time in the search, putting up posters and combing the brush for signs of the lost animal. A number of friends also took up the search, including neighbour Alain Paquin, from across the street, who spent almost as much time looking for Chubbs as they did.
Their hopes were kept alive by occasional sightings, with strangers calling to say they'd seen the dog in the area where he'd gone missing. Finally, after six weeks, a family called to say the little white dog was asleep in their back yard, having been lured by the smell of their barbecue. The dog ran away before that family could corral him, but he was recovered near that spot early the next morning.
When he was finally found, dehydrated and emaciated, he was matted and covered with burrs.
"He looked like a chunk of Velcro," said Mr. Miner. "His ear had to be an inch thick with burrs."
After he was shaved by the veterinarian, it was also clear just how skinny Chubbs had become.
"He walked by the (glass) door in the sunlight and he looked like an X-ray," Mr. Miner said.
The veterinarian told the couple that the dog would not have lasted much longer in the wild. Another day and the dehydration would likely have overcome him. The veterinarian also said Chubbs seems to have survived, at least in part, by eating rabbit feces.
Some concerned families also put scraps out for the dog, but it's not known whether he ever found them. Nor is it obvious how Chubbs kept out of the way of fishers, coyotes and other dangers of the forest.
Last night, in the couple's Bridlewood home, the doorbell was greeted with poodle barking, and as the door opened, Chubbs was rounding the corner into the hallway, paws sliding on the hardwood as he ran.
It's the type of greeting that was missing from the house for his six-week absence, said Mrs. Miner, whose two daughters have grown up and left the house.
"It's not the same when you don't hear that barking when you come in," she said.
For Mr. Miner, the search for the dog at least kept him active in the way Chubbs always has.
"Gets you off the couch, walking," he said.
Mrs. Miner, a maternity ward nurse, said she knows Chubbs is just a dog and that there are many humans in the world far worse off than he is. Her enthusiasm for the pet, she said, doesn't cloud her vision on that point.
Yet, she wanted to thank the people who showed kindness to the small, defenceless animal. She also said the experience, even of searching for a pet, can teach a lesson.
"You don't give up," she said. "You just believe."
