Phred had the right idea -- since Delta is so shy, you should set a trap for him!

One of our dogs had been a stray living on her own for almost 3 years (which we learned later after having first spotted her). The little black dog had "taken up residence" at a huge trucking terminal a mile from our house. The truckers all tried to befriend her and took turns putting out food, but no one could ever get within 30 feet of her. The truckers told us she considered the terminal her home, though, and lived around and under the trucks and trailers -- spring, summer, winter and fall.

When I first saw her, it was during the bitter cold winter of 2002-3. I couldn't bear to see her suffering in the cold (she was a short haired dog, too!) and like the truckers, I had no luck at all getting close to her. So we hired a professional trapper to set a large trap in the area she frequented most often. I baited the trap with fried liver, and in two days, during a blizzard, she went in for the food and we caught her.

It is very likely that a trap would be the most positive way to catch Delta. When dogs get as skittish as he obviously is, trying to coax them to you can sometimes scare them off and you might never see them again.

PS: The little black dog is now our beloved "Sweetie". In the last two years, we have borrowed the trapper's trap and used it to catch two more stray dogs, one of which we kept. Neither was "on the run" as long as Sweetie, though. They were all lured into the trap with fried liver.....dogs simply cannot resist the smell of fried liver! I highly recommend it for bait!