August 5, 2008 started off as a typical day for the Christensen family. Amanda stopped by their local Casey's General Store to fuel up before running errands.

Spur Baby, their 1 1/2 year old Pembrooke Welsh Corgi had plans of his own, however, and decided to leap from her truck window setting out on his own adventure. When Amanda returned from the store, she immediately noticed her companion was missing, and like all of us would do, began the frantic search.

After a brief search on foot, repeatedly calling his name, she began the painstaking process of a lost pet report.

A witness saw what they believed was their dog sitting at a neighboring gas station in front of the station's door. An elderly woman reportedly whistled for the dog, and the dog jumped into her car and they drove off.

Amanda immediately called the police and filed a missing/stolen dog report. From there her and husband Brad contacted their local vet, which also serves as the local pound. Lucky for the Christensen's the vet was a participant of RVAS's LOST PET ALERT! program, and told the Christensen's to contact us immediately.

RVAS and our LOST PET ALERT! team went into action. Flyers were distributed, emails were sent, Lost Pet Report placed on the website and the networking began.

On August 8, Julie Turner of Healthy Feeding Systems, Inc. went to her barn for her daily routine. But surprisingly when she opened the doors, looking up at her were a pair of big brown eyes, with a sheepish look. Julie immediately assessed the dog, and as she approached the little guy rolled on his back and awaited a belly rub! She quickly fed him, and gave him fresh water and a safe place to rest proceeding to the next step, finding him his home.

She contacted the local vet who then redirected her to our organization. Our LOST PET ALERT! volunteers had followed our protocol and sent a flyer to the participating veterinarians and local businesses in hopes of a recovery for Spur Baby.

Once we received the call, Spur Baby was home within 30 minutes!

Spur Baby had quite a journey. He traveled over 5 miles in three days, and while he was a bit tired, there were no other visible injuries to this little guy.

Covered in mud from his journies, he was all too happy to lie down and rest his weary head a bit in a safe warm place.

RVAS recommended to his owners to immediately have him neutered and microchipped.

RVAS offers microchip clinics through the year for those pets not microchipped. Having your dog or cat microchipped can increase your chance of being reunited with your pet by 75%.

Spur Baby is one of thousands of dogs each year that turn up missing. You can help these companions reunite with their owner by being one of our LOST PET ALERT! team members. To learn more about this program please click here.

If you own a business and would like to be added to our LOST PET ALERT! list, please click here.