Two lost dogs, but sadly, just one pending reunion

Abby is going home, thanks to a responsible breeder, a devoted veterinarian and a metal message in the dog’s silky ear.

I wish it were the same for another lost dog found floating around the Gig Harbor peninsula – and all the other “unchipped” pets that have come and gone through the years.

Abby is a three-year-old border collie and an apparent dog-napping victim.

She was born in South Carolina, where her breeder injected an identification chip in her ear before selling her to Peter Olmeda, a U.S. Coast Guard petty officer.

A month ago, Abby was found wandering on the peninsula, hungry and flea-bitten to the edge of baldness.

The Olmedas have never been to Gig Harbor, nor do they know anyone here. They last saw Abby a year and a half ago in their yard in a suburb of Charleston, S.C.

In the year-plus she lived with them, she learned the fine art of catch, realized that having her tail pulled by a toddler was nothing to get upset about, and kept her master in shape.

“She was real energetic,” Olmeda said. “The two boys would be out there in the yard playing ball with her. We’d go running two or three miles four or five times a week.”

She wore a walking harness so she’d be ready for a run anytime, and had it on the first time she disappeared.

When she returned, it was backward.

“That told me someone had taken it off and put it on wrong,” Olmeda said. “A week and a half later she disappeared.”

When Abby did not return the second time, the Olmedas did all the checks, the posters, the online alerts. Eventually, they gave Abby’s crate, toys and bed to friends.

They cannot imagine Abby’s journey across the continent. They can only thank the person who gained the scabby dog’s trust and brought her to Dr. Laura Waters’ Peninsula Pet Hospital.

People bring lost pets to Waters’ practice about twice a week.

She helps the cats and dogs the easy way or the hard way. The method is up to the owners who are missing them.

“We immediately scan for a microchip,” she said.

When the scanner picks up contact information from the chip, a reunion is usually only a phone call away.

When it doesn’t, the clinic’s staff makes up laminated photo posters to tack around the area where the animal was found. They call other vets, the Humane Society and rescue groups.

“We really spend a lot of time on it,” she said. “It’s worth it if we can reunite these pets.”

That’s their hope for the adult female Chesapeake Bay retriever whose owner has not come for her.

“She was walking around Raft Island two weeks ago,” Waters said. “She got on a floating dock, and she was just out there, floating.”

That’s pretty much what it’s like for lost pets without chips: They’re out there, floating.

Because Abby has one, she’s out here, waiting.

The clinic staff scanned the chip, called the Olmedas and got down to bathing Abby and treating her for the fleas to which she is so allergic. Her coat is growing back. She plays ball and goes for walks.

She could be the poster pup for a “Chip In” campaign.

Meanwhile, the Olmedas are figuring out how to get her back to South Carolina affordably.

Because he’s in the armed services, Olmeda has standby flight privileges on Air Force planes, some of which fly between Joint Base Lewis-McChord and Charleston. He does not know yet if the privilege extends to the return of stolen pets.

On commercial airlines, he’s found, the price for flying a pet across the country goes way down when that pet is accompanied by a person.

The Olmedas and the Peninsula Pet Hospital team would like to find such a person. They’ll take care of Abby’s fare, equipment and the details on both sides of the trip.

Planning a visit to South Carolina? Like dogs?

Know someone who’s missing their unchipped Chesapeake Bay retriever?

Call me, or contact Waters at 253-851-7387.

Kathleen Merryman: 253-597-8677 kathleen.merryman@thenewstribune.com blog.thenewstribune.com/street