Positive Sighting September 25th

We received a call yesterday morning from a resident who lives off Wake Forest Road in McCoy. The caller saw the flier we posted Monday, which we posted because we'd already recieved a sighting in the general area, for Thursday or Friday (24th or 25th). This caller is certain that she saw Izzie on Friday (25th) at around 3 PM. The dog that she saw was traveling on Wake Forest Road towards Shale Road. It appeared she had a short chain/leash attached to her collar.

While canvassing the area and speaking to neighbors, another resident reported seeing a small black dog in the area at around the same time.

We distributed and posted additional fliers on Wake Forest, Longshop and Whittaker Hollow Roads and are focusing our search efforts in the quadrant bordered by these roads.

If anyone is available to help search please call 540.577.9739.

Weekend Update

Brief weekend update from Karen. The camera at the feeding station is in use and starting to capture some images, though none yet of Izzie. As you can see, searching for Izzie is a full-time job for Karen, and any & all support she can get is appreciated.

Camera at the feeding station -- Saturday was a washout here...the camera couldn't keep up with the pelting rain and blowing foliage. Today's pix were better; Scruffy and a boxer mix who lives nearby. One of a neighbor's old dogs made his way to the feeding station as well. Here's the best of the photos.

This last shot is the neighbor's dog who made his way to the feeding station from the house. He was waiting for me this morning at the feeding station (a first). Probably had something to do with the three pounds of hamburger meat I mixed in with the dry food at the feeding station yesterday!

Fliering & search area -- We expanded our posting and search area out Mt Zion to Big Lick Rd and Norris Run..

Craigslist -- reposted the ad which had expired, and expanded the Craigslist posting to include Roanoke as well as New River Valley.

News media advertising -- renewing the ad to run in the Roanoke Times Wed-Sun, and running an add in the News Messenger, which reaches the New River Valley

Friday Update

Today's the day the camera will be installed at the feeding station, and it will be nice if we can finally see some pictures of Izzie eating from it!

But Karen is smartly keeping all options open, and still checking Craigslist and any other sources she can think of, trying to find Izzie. Right now and this weekend, she is working to pick up on a lead she got last week that got lost in the shuffle -- of a dog matching Izzie's description in Radford.

So, who's reading this blog from Radford? Have you seen Izzie?

Tuesday Update

Good news in that we think we have found someone with a motion sensored camera we can borrow... but we'd like to keep the appeal open so that we can hopefully get a second camera in case it's needed for more feeding stations.

Scruffy was seen again Monday! After walking the south side of Glade Road in the afternoon, following Tom's Creek to Hoge Pond and crossing open farmland on the east side of Brookfield Road, Karen saw Scruffy hanging out around Backwoods Lane again.

The feeding station has been gradually moved and continues to need daily replenishing. The rawhide bones are disappearing as well. The camera would help us know if it's Izzie, Foxy, Scruffy, or some other as yet unknown dog.

Keep those positive vibes flowing for Izzie to be brought back to safety.

Monday Morning Update

Update from Karen

Over the weekend, Karen had heard from one of the two people that sighted Izzie last week, saying that after she looked at the photos on the blog, she decided that the dog she saw wasn't Izzie. Certainly we're glad to know this if it's the case, but obviously it was a let down. So Karen caught up with the other person that had seen a dog matching Izzie's description on the same day. He viewed Izzie's photos on the blog and is "98% certain" the dog he saw at 3:30pm on the 15th was indeed Izzie. This is good news, and it's the latest sighting we now have -- last Tuesday.

Karen visited the house closest to that sighting and has spoken to 3 different people who live or are visiting there. One guy that she spoke with had been away for a month and just returned late on the evening of the 15th. No real help there.

Old Creek Road is part of the daily loop, and Karen is over there at least 4 times daily at different times. She's securing permission to walk the area. Ever the optimist, Karen noted that the good news with the rain today is that maybe she can pick up some paw prints around the creek bed.

Izzie is SOOO lucky that Karen has been able to keep her spirits up, and isn't giving up after so long (more than seven weeks now), as many, many people who have lost their dogs do. Ask anyone who has lost and dog, and they'll tell you it's hard to keep going week after week. But the support of all Karen's and Izzie's friends helps make it possible for her to keep going! Keep that support coming!

Saturday Update

IMPORTANT: WE ARE LOOKING FOR THE LOAN OF A MOTION-SENSORED WILDLIFE CAMERA that can capture photos of whatever animal is obviously eating from the feeding station. Since rawhide bones are being included and are disappearing, we believe this is a good indication that the culprit is at least the same species as Izzie! Please call Karen at (540)577-9739 if you have access to a camera and can loan it out for a good cause.


From Karen, late Saturday afternoon --

We've been out all day canvassing, posting and distributing fliers on the south side of Glade Road east of Brooksfield Road and north of Prices Fork Rd. Areas revisited and canvassed include Old Mill,Walnut Spring Roads and Stratford View Drive.

Friday Update, Weekend Plans and Keeping the Faith With Foxy

We continue to focus our search efforts in the area north of Glade Road. While viewing the map, please note Tuesday's sightings are on page 2. This is alot of ground to cover and sometimes we feel like we're looking for a needle in a haystack. The foliage is beginning to wither with the onset of autumn and it is easier to pick up the wildlife trails which criss-cross the rough terrain.

Thursday evening we ran across the elusive Foxy sitting on the side of Bobcat Lane. We threw chicken in her direction from our vehicle while keeping a respectful distance. Foxy played it cool for about five minutes but the aroma of the freshly-roasted chicken was too much for her to resist! She was soon eating out of my hand and appeared to be enjoying human contact.

We continue to ask for and receive permission to search the properties on Mt. Zion Road that share borders with properties on Bobcat Lane. Again, old logging and mining trails are serving us well. The feeding station is getting alot of action and is replenished daily. Rawhide treats discriminately placed are disappearing at night.

Tuesday Evening's Sighting Report

Izzie was seen crossing Mt Zion Road and running up Welcome Lane around 7 PM.

We were in the area and met the sighter within 20 minutes at the exact location where Izzie crossed Mt Zion. Opus and I walked the nearby area and spoke to several residents on Welcome Road until darkness fell, and then returned to the feeding station on Glade Road and staked out the area until 11:30 PM.

We are returning to the area today.

Karen


Update posted on Karen's Facebook wall late Wednesday afternoon:

Walking, talking, posting quadrant bordered by Glade Rd, Mt. Zion Rd, Old Creek Rd and Buckshot Lane. Another sighting from yesterday at 3:30 PM close to last night's sighting.

(The sighting from yesterday afternoon was called in today.)


Important Update Saturday from Karen: The woman who reported Tuesday's 7 pm sighting called me today. She saw the dog she thought was Izzie again today and after looking at the blog photos realized it was not Izzie.

Sunday Morning Update

This update from Karen covers the last several days; you can see how hard she's working -- and how much she's learning about the goings on of the animals around here!


What a week! We've been going non-stop since Tuesday's sighting and subsequent sightings on Wednesday and Friday. I'm an adrenaline junkie by nature and was pounding the pavement until I hit the wall last night. I'm trying to be patient and wait for sightings but always end up walking, talking and fliering fueled by hot sightings.

Carol and Julie (mother and daughter) own the family homestead and farmland on the south side of Glade Road (area of last week's sightings) as well as 80% of the quadrant bordered by Backwoods Lane, Glade Road, Buckshot Lane and the top of Brush Mountain on the north side of Glade Road. Julie lives on the property south of Glade Road; Carol lives 15 minutes away and drives Glade Road several times each day.

They are huge animal lovers, intelligent and all-around wonderful! They are continually rescuing, fostering, feeding, spaying/neutering, vaccinating, etc. the dogs and cats who wind up on their land. They work with the local and regional rescue/humane groups. They are trying to coax two dogs while helping find Izzie.

The first dog is Scruffy. He has been sighted, almost daily, for about six months. (His picture was posted on this blog a few days ago.) Carol saw Izzie with Scruffy Tuesday; she knows the dogs who run in the area and is certain the dog she saw was indeed Izzie.

The second dog is Foxy. She is about the same size as Scruffy, all black, fox-like ears, long-haired. Four years ago, Foxy was taken in by two vet students who lived on Bobcat Lane. She was spayed and given a rabies shot. Foxy escaped from the vet students about a month after spaying and has been running loose in the area since. Julie and I talked about Foxy on Friday; she had not been sighted since May but Julie is confident she is eating at one of the feeding stations.

Yesterday I was driving "the loop" as night fell; my headlights picked up a pair of eyes at the foot of the farm driveway (close to the feeding station). I stopped the car and got out to get a closer look (hoping, praying it was Izzie).

It was the elusive Foxy! She stared at me and I kept my distance while talking to her softly for five minutes. Neither of us moved and I slowly backed away, got in the car and left. I called Julie and let her know: she was so relieved! Foxy is known to travel at night and is elusive; sightings are few and far between. Easy to figure with her dark coloring.

My other dogs and I walked and walked yesterday. There are so many places Izzie could be. We were on cow trails, creek beds, wildlife trails, logging and mining trails, farm roads, Forest Service Roads, main roads and the Heritage Park Trail. We could hear the canons from Lane Stadium; they go off each time the Hokies score, and they scored 52 points yesterday -- go Hokies!! We covered the north and south sides of Glade Road; I'll guesstimate an area covering one and a half square miles. We all slept well last night!

Do You Recognize This Dog?

This is Izzie's new friend; let's refer to him as "Scruffy" for now. Izzie was sighted with Scruffy on Tuesday, September 8th and twice on September 11th.

We received a phone call from a school bus driver who had seen them traveling together at 6:45 this morning. After he completed his run, this nice man phoned us and returned to the area and helped canvass.

When we arrived, Scruffy was milling around Glade Road near Walnut Springs Farm and eluded us. He crossed Glade Road and ran into the woods on the east side of Bobcat Lane.

After speaking with several people in the area, we found out they have been trying to capture Scruffy for the past 3-4 months to see if there's a collar underneath all that matted fur.

We canvassed the area from 8 AM until 4 PM today and will return frequently hoping to cross paths with Izzie. A feeding station is nearby.

New Search Area

Based on yesterday's possible sighting and information received from local residents, we are concentrating our search efforts on the south side of Glade Road.

Check out the map for details about the area.

Possible Izzie Sighting September 8

We had another sighting today at around 12:30 of Izzie with a long-coated brown dog. They were running on the side of Glade Road towards town. When the sighter stopped her car, the dogs took off into the woods.

I was about 10 minutes away posting fliers and had Opus and Bittie with me. We drove to the area of the sighting and walked the dogs. They both reacted in the vicinity of the sightings.

We searched the area on foot for around two hours, talked to people, posted more fliers. It's such a large area to cover, and sparsely populated. I'm headed back out there this afternoon.

Also, this morning I was back in the area where Izzie went missing -- reposting fliers in case she is trying to get back there (in light of Saturday's possible sighting which is fairly close to where she went missing).

While out, I met a woman who lives in Northend on property that backs up to Route 460. The woman owns a dog, and she said that he has been barking and staring at the culvert for the past two nights. She's going to keep an extra eye out if the barking continues. She showed me the culvert that runs under 460 and comes out on Redbud Lane. I checked out the culvert from both ends; it's very possible for Izzie to make her way through. This may have been how she got under 460 the night she escaped.

Possible Sighting Sat 9/5

A woman called Sunday evening about 7pm to say that she saw a dog matching Izzie's description on Saturday evening (9/5) around 7:30. The dog she saw was running up Hidden Valley Drive, which is a private driveway off Tom's Creek Road with five home. It's opposite Givens Lane, and about 1/2 mile off of Route 460.

The caller didn't have the flier when she saw the dog, but she recalled having seen one in town. She went back out the next afternoon, Sunday, to get the phone numbers from the flier at the YMCA Thrift Store on North Main.

This location where she saw the running dog is less than a mile from where Izzie went missing. And it's about that same distance to the area where Sunday morning's searching took place. This was well before the tip came in, but it was a good area to search in.

In checking out the sighting, Karen was able to speak with two of the five residents living on Hidden Valley Drive. She made plans to return to the area Monday, Sept 6th, on horseback. A lot of ground can be covered in the fields surrounding Hidden Valley Road and a couple large farms across Glade Road on horseback!

Friday Morning Update

From Karen, regarding Wednesday's sighting and other efforts going on to locate Izzie:

We were out there again late yesterday afternoon until after dark. Spoke with 3 people (in addition to the guys who reported the sighting late Wednesday night) who said they also saw a dog who could possibly be Izzie on Route 42 and on two side roads off 42.

One lady near the AT trail head said her dogs have been barking at unusual times at night. She told us she would keep her porch light on and check around (she leaves dog food out at night for her dogs) when she hears her dogs bark.

Unless we get a sighting report away from this area, we are hiking that area tomorrow. Blacksburg will be covered in case we get a sighting report near town.

Heritage Park is covered by 5 folks and their dogs who walk the park daily and carry flyers and talk to people they come across. There is a big mountain bike race Saturday and Sunday which leaves from the bottom parking lot of the Park. We posted flyers all along the route.

The trailer court is also covered, by two really good guys with the eagle eye who know everything that goes on, and by a wonderful lady who stocks the cat feeding station. She is there four evenings a week to feed, water and socialize the cats.

Possible Sighting Early AM 9/3

We are hoping!!!

A sighter called in the wee hours to say he spotted her with brown dog on Rt 42 in Newport. Says she has been there for days near AT. He described he perfectly...to a "T".

However, cell phone problems overnight kept Karen from getting this message when it came through, so she couldn't get the details and run out to investigate it immediately as she would have wanted to. She got the message this morning.

And as of right now, the caller isn't answering as she's tried calling back, and the voice mailbox is full -- grrrr! But she's going out to check it out as best she can until she can hook up with the sighter to get more info.

Check back later to see what this leads to. And send your strongest, most positive vibes Izzie's way!

Do You Know Whose Dog This Is?

We have found a wonderful family who can take good care of him until his owner is found. They have offered to give him a forever home if he needs one. He was taken to a local vet and scanned for a microchip (there was none). A heartworm test followed (negative) and a rabies shot was administered. He was a complete gentleman during his visit and displayed a quiet curiosity around the many dogs and cats in the waiting area and during his blood test and innoculation. We hope this is the dog Izzie was sighted with on Wednesday, August 26, 2009 and she will show up at his temporary digs.

A Chronology of Izzie Sightings, August 10-28

Izzie was sighted yesterday, August 9th off Glade Road. She seems to be trying to find her way home and is 2/3 of the way here.
August 10 at 8:20pm

Izzie is reportedly traveling with another dog. We are focusing our efforts on the quadrant bordered by Glade Road, Shadow Lake Road, Meadowbrook Drive and Tom's Creek Rd.
August 11 at 2:57pm

Another Izzie sighting on Monday, August 10th! Near intersection of Westover Dr. & Glade Road..very close to where she was spotted Sunday. Still hanging out with a medium sized brown dog. Be on the lookout near Heritage and Westover Hills Park.
August 11 at 10:39pm

Izzie sighting Tuesday, August 11th between noon and 2 in the Heritage Comm. Park walking trails. Possible ID on the dog she may be traveling with, a small brown pit mix (intact) who is allowed to roam at will. His home is in a trailer at the back of the trailer court which backs up to the farm at the end of Old Farm Road, and borders national forest land.
August 12 at 9:38pm

Izzie may have crossed over to the south side of Glade Road and may be heading towards home (Foxridge). Possibly traveling in the Boxwood Dr/Linwood Lane neighborhoods towards Old Mill Road.
August 14 at 12:34pm

LATEST POSSIBLE SIGHTING on Saturday around 2 pm resting in a wooded area with a brown dog on Shadow Lake Rd aross the street from the entrance of Shadow Lake Village.
August 16 at 11:25am

Very good sighting report today...didn't get a call until 8 hours after the sighting however it was near the bridge in Heritage Park...same area as Tuesday's sighting and close to the trailer park on Meadow Brook Road where she has been sighted several times. I will camp out at that site all day tomorrow. Today’s sighting was at 10:30am, near the creek.
August 16 at 9:16pm

Received a call yesterday from someone who overhead a conversation about a guy who had picked up a small black dog with white paws who was very skittish. The guy was pumping gas at the Wilco station (now Citgo) on North Main St. (across from Papa John’s). Went there and heavily postered the area around the gas station.
August 22 at 10:30am

Possible Izzie sighting this morning at 7:30 on Price's Fork Road near Hethwood (Foxridge, our home, is in the Hethwood complex). She had made it across busy Price's Fork Road and was sighted on the Hethwood side.
August 27 at 10:53am

More info on this morning's possible sighting...near the intersection of Prices Fork and Plantation Roads by the Carillion clinic lying in a shady spot. Walked, talked and posted area since the sighting...heading back over now.
August 27 at 2:40pm

After an all day canvassing of the vicinity surrounding this morning 's sighting, darkness has fallen and we will resume tomorrow morning at 6:30. Left food near the sighting and there is a water source nearby.
August 27 at 8:41pm

Early this morning we canvassed the vicinity of yesterday's sighting. We received a phone call last night about a possible Izzie sighting, with a brown dog, near the intersection of Shadow Lake and Meadow Brook Roads between 10 and 11 pm on Wednnesday night. The sighters followed the dogs into the Gateway parking lot of Heritage Park (on Meadowbrook Rd) and the dogs ran off into the park.
August 28 at 9:16am