dictation's Diaryland Diary
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newswire....blah blah *corruption* blah blah *bombings* blah blah *assassination* blah blah ....give me the 4-legged homeless meets human hero news
Dog days over for fugitive Sharpei-cross
Sandra Thomas
Vancouver Courier
March 22, 2004
| A fugitive Sharpei-cross nicknamed Teddy is settling into his new home after more than a year on the lam, where he became famous for his close escapes from animal control officers.
"That dog has more street smarts than any other I've seen," says Kevin Mazer, a bylaw officer with the Vancouver Animal Control Shelter. |
 Teddy traded in his nomad's life for a domestic one with new owner Betty Banfield. CREDIT: Dan Toulgoet / Vancouver Courier |
Mazer, who is still obliged to search for the dog's owner, said it took him a while to suss out Teddy's strategy to elude capture. Instead of running through a yard to the alley or street on the other side, as most other dogs would, Teddy would stop and scoot under bushes to hide. After Mazer ran past, the dog would come out of hiding and race back in the direction they'd just come from, like something out of the Keystone Cops.
"Plus this dog knew every yard that didn't have a fence, so when he wanted, he could run straight through," Mazer said. "Most dogs will stop running eventually when they get tired, but this is one dog that never got tired."
In fact, the dog is so bright that he can recognize the shelter's vans, as well as the officer's uniforms and the sound of their cell phones.
"He would hear my phone ring and just take off."
Teddy also apparently has a good memory. When Mazer dropped in unexpectedly last Thursday to the home of the dog's new owner, Betty Banfield, the rust-coloured dog took one look and headed out of the room. "Is he being arrested?" Banfield joked.
Mazer was there to make sure he didn't make a mistake taking down the dog's tattoo number, registered to the Logan Lake area, near Merritt. What's confusing the search is the fact the dog is wearing a collar with rabies tags registered to Hong Kong. Mazer said he heard from several people that the dog used to live in a house near Columbia Street and 13th Avenue with two young men. When they moved out, they left him behind. "He was basically living in a [traffic] roundabout near Columbia and 13th, waiting for these guys to come back," he said.
Banfield, who works at an adult residential facility next to the Mount Pleasant Community Centre, said when she first spotted the dog more than a year ago, he was filthy and little more than skin and bones.
By asking around, she discovered the dog had spent last winter living in Douglas Park, and spring in a makeshift nest in an area thick with blackberry bushes and brush on East 16th Avenue.
Neighbours who got to know the dog made sure he had food and water and one even built him a dog house, which he never entered.
Concerned the dog wouldn't make it through another winter on the streets, Banfield made him her mission. For almost five months, every day after work she'd ride her bike to his favourite haunts until she spotted him and offered him food.
It got to the point where Teddy would follow her on her bike and occasionally allow her to touch him. He also figured out where she worked and started seeking her out, one day waiting two and a half hours for her to arrive for her shift.
By then, he was allowing her to pat him regularly and following her home at night, one day accidentally following her into a pet-food store on Main Street.
"He was terrified and shaking like a leaf," she said.
Then last fall, after a particularly torrential rainfall, she discovered him wet and trembling in the bushes by her work. The weather forecast was for another rainfall and she knew it was now or never.
At the end of her shift, he followed her home as usual, but on the way, she stopped and bought a chewy treat, to coax him into her building. "It was Oct. 15. He shook for a week after that," she said. "He didn't have a bowel movement for four or five days but I hear that's typical of feral dogs."
Banfield said prior to becoming her roommate, Teddy used to join a group of dumpster divers on their almost daily sojourns to Kerrisdale. Every day, the dog would wait under bushes until he heard the rattle of their shopping carts so he could tag along while they cruised West Boulevard and Arbutus.
At the end of the day they'd head back to the Cambie and Main area, where he'd leave them just as quickly as he joined them.
Banfield has to be careful about keeping Teddy on a leash because he's still a bit of an escape artist, but the few times he's cut loose, he's returned on his own. In one incident, someone told her he was almost killed crossing Kingsway.
"People know this dog and they love him," she said. "I've had people stop me when I'm walking him and they've actually cried and thanked me for rescuing him."
Though Teddy still won't let anyone else touch him, Banfield said he's getting more comfortable with her.
"I put him in a red rain coat yesterday. He hated it but he let me do it." Now, her biggest fear is that the animal shelter will find the true owner. "You haven't found his owner have you?" she asked Mazer worriedly. "No," he reassured her.
7:24 p.m. - 2004-03-22
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