Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, April 29, 1993 TAG: 9304290335
SECTION: NEIGHBORS PAGE: N-13 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MARY JO SHANNON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Her escape meant 36 days of relentless searching and the haunting fear that she might never be found for her owners, Skip and Kay Carlson.
In November, the Carlsons moved from the Washington, D.C., area to a 45-acre former dairy farm in Catawba. Each evening, after returning home from his job in a dental lab in Roanoke, Carlson would take his five dogs for a run.
Just after a light snow in February, as they neared the back boundary of the farm where only a barbed-wire fence separates it from a wooded ridge, Greta spotted a deer and took off.
Carlson called her, but to no avail. He returned the other dogs to the house and tracked Greta in the snow until he lost the trail. Then, in his car, he followed "the loop" - Virginia 600 and 779 - calling and looking, calling and looking. He got out of the car at times and walked, hoping she would pick up his scent.
At night at the kitchen table, he and Kay made up fliers: "Missing Dog, 75 lbs., black and rust, floppy ears and short tail."
"We didn't mention she was a Doberman," Kay said. "So many people think they are vicious, but we've had Dobermans for 20 years, and they are sweet, loving dogs."
Greta has been with them four years, since she was a pup. They were determined to go to any length to find her.
Later, after many false leads, they identified her breed on new fliers. They expanded the area of distribution as time went by without results. They notified dog pounds and humane societies.
The first real lead come after three weeks. A woman driving to work at Catawba Hospital spotted Greta halfway up the mountain. She saw a notice at the Mini Mart on Virginia 311 and called Skip Carlson at work.
Now the search focused on the area near home. New fliers were distributed, and Carlson checked in at the Moose Lodge, where the bartender made a sign with Greta's picture.
"One of the guys there said he had fed that dog three nights," Kay said. "Actually, he saw her in the woods, put out table scraps and watched her scarf them up and take off again. That was at Masons Cove."
Almost four weeks had passed. Someone on Virginia 779 reported seeing a dog feed off a deer carcass on the side of the road. Carlson was sure the half-starved animal would return to the carcass to feed again. He was determined to keep watch until she came.
Kay Carlson, waiting at home, was surprised when a woman called, saying she had the dog at her house. She lived near the spot where the deer was lying, but when she went to find Skip Carlson, he had left.
Kay said she was almost ready to go check out the call when Skip Carlson returned. "We rushed back to get her, and I cried when I saw her. She was a skeleton in skin - but so happy to see us. And the other dogs were so excited when we took her home. I didn't know animals would miss one another or show such feeling, but they did."
The veterinarian advised them to give her rice and chicken-noodle soup to help hydrate her, and she responded well. At her checkup several days later, she weighed 50 pounds, down at least 25. Her pads were worn thin and raw from traveling many miles in the mountains.
She had survived bitter temperatures, the blizzard of '93 and 36 days and nights alone. Hereafter, she probably will be content to run within the boundaries of the farm.
by CNB