An update to the mysterious dog disappearence:

Joan Fandel called Gateway photographer Lee Giles III Friday afternoon to say that her beloved family dog, Babe, had been found with her leash attached and none less for the wear.

As a matter of fact, Fandel said that Babe appears to have been bathed and appears as healthy as the day she disappeared. Fandel believes that the word of the family dog's disappearance may have triggered the unknown person or persons who took Babe to return her.

Fandel said Babe was found wandering around near an area restaurant in Gig Harbor around 1 a.m. Friday. Fandel said Friday Babe is a little shaky and will be seeing her veterinarian for a complete check up.

The missing dog was gone for 6 days. Fandel said that she believes the story online, missing posters and the involvement of the areas law enforcement officals may have guilted the suspects that were trying to keep Fandel's dog for themselves, to release the dog.

A complete and updated story will be in this next Wednesday's print edition of the Peninsula Gateway, and we will update the story if anything else develops. Fandel added that Babe has been back in her favorite green chair and appears happy to be back home with her family and her blanket.

A recent trip to the McDonald’s restaurant at Gig Harbor’s Olympic Village turned into a bizarre ordeal for an area couple when their beloved Rottweiler ran away.

On Saturday, Joan Fandel had just returned from a shopping trip with her 6-year-old Rottweiler dog, Babe, at the Gig Harbor WILCO store, where she had purchased a black raincoat with a plaid pattern for the pooch.

Fandel made her way over the to Olympic Village McDonald’s restaurant to show off Babe’s new winter-wear to her husband Thomas, who was enjoying his ritual morning coffee visit with friends at the fast-food restaurant.

Fandel slung Babe’s leash over a newspaper box outside the McDonald’s and went inside briefly. While talking with her husband, Fandel saw Babe running across the Olympic Village parking lot with her leash trailing behind her.

Fandel, her husband, and some of the couple’s friends went outside and saw Babe had pulled over the paper box before running away. The Fandel's and their friends chased after their dog, but were unable to capture her.

The next day, Fandel posted missing dog fliers with the offer of a $100 reward for the dog’s return when she received an unusual call to her cell phone.

Fandel described the person on the line as sounding like a young man. On her caller ID, there was the word “unavailable.” The male caller asked if the person speaking was Joan, and said he was at the Olympic Village Fred Meyer store with the dog.

She the told the unknown man that she would give him a reward for finding Babe. The unknown caller then surprised Fandel by saying he wanted to keep the dog, and that he would pay her to keep the dog as his own.

Taken aback by the unusual request, Fandel told the caller she would be right over to the Fred Meyer store to get the dog. The unknown caller then hung up. Fandel went to the store and couldn’t find either her dog or anyone that may have been the caller.

Fandel asked nearby businesses and shoppers if they had seen anything of the dog or the mysterious caller. The search was all for naught.

The couple is desperate to find Babe and get her back home where she belongs. Fandel said she offered to buy whoever has the dog a new pet, and that she would pay for all of the necessary shots, licenses and medical treatments, including spaying or neutering the person’s chosen animal.
At the Fandels’ home, there’s an empty green chair with Babe’s white blanket on it, and it brings sadness to the couple as they pass by the missing dog’s place in their home.

The Fandels have five adult children and eight grandchildren that have been searching for Babe since her disappearance. Fandel’s son-in-law spent three hours walking in the rain looking for Babe in the nearby wooded areas of Gig Harbor without success.

Fandel describes Babe as a 6-year-old Rottweiler and Lab mix, weighing about 80 pounds. She is mostly black in color with some light brown secondary coloring. A long tail comes not from the Rottweiler mix of the dog’s breed, but from her Lab influence.

Fandel said that Babe is a gentle dog with a very quiet bark, and that she is friendly and well-behaved. Babe is one of six dogs the couple has rescued from area shelters over the years. Babe was the latest of those loved pets to grace their lives.

“We don’t want the dogs put down; mainly we have them for companionship,” Fandel said of the couple’s 50-year-long dedication to rescuing the animals and giving them a loving home.
“She’s just a real friendly, friendly dog,” she added. “We would take her to the Kimball Gallery, get coffee, and everyone would pet her. She would stay outside and we would go for a walk on the Cushman Trail.

“Everybody who has met her loves her and asks to see her again.”

If anyone knows the whereabouts of  the Fandel’s missing dog Babe, she asks you to call her at (253) 223-3680.

Photographer Lee Giles III can be reached at 253-853-9242 or by e-mail at lee.giles@gateline.com.