BUCYRUS — The Andy Schott family never gave up hope looking for their lost dog after it went missing back in June.
The search was on from the get-go, and they are finally breathing a sigh of relief.
After 73 days on the run through rural Crawford County, “Ella” – the Golden Retriever they fondly dub “the Gentle Giant” – is home.
Back to the only home she has ever known.
“You could definitely tell she missed us,” said Andy and Tammy Schott’s daughter, Lindsay, as she affectionately played with her two-year-old retriever in the front yard. “So, after 73 days of minimal sleep, minimal nutrition, constant worry and stress, we’re finally able to enjoy her.”
The otherwise friendly canine ran away from a relative’s home on Quaintance Road back on June 25. The summer-long search for her consumed family members, neighbors, strangers and volunteers from two statewide organizations trained in locating and capturing runaway animals.
It was a search and rescue mission filled with hope, fueled by love.
The Schotts were frantic at first, driving around the Quaintance Road area and posting Ella’s disappearance on the Crawford County Lost and Found Pets website. She was spotted June 27 and a few times after that, but by the time anyone could get there, the dog had vanished into a nearby field or woods.
“We had sightings every few days for the first month, and we had every reason to believe we had a chance to get her,” Lindsay said.
But Ella was elusive. She was in survival mode. And her instincts told her to hide.
With help from Marci Dop of the Lost Male PitBull Association, the family hung large posters with Ella’s picture on telephone poles in northern Crawford County. And they brought in feeding stations and field cameras, all designed to track Ella’s whereabouts.
They knocked on doors to get permission from landowners to use their property for the equipment. And they monitored her sightings wherever they were with an app on their cell phones, which set off an alert when the dog or any animal entered one of the humane traps.
But Ella kept moving. And the country capers continued.
After a two-week disappearance in July, the Schotts mailed nearly 800 postcards with Ella’s picture to homes on rural routes, pleading for help in locating her.
They urged residents to check outbuildings and security-camera footage but warned them not to chase her.
“We were tenacious,” Tammy Schott said of the time-consuming operation. “It was hard, but we just kept going as difficult as it was. There were times that we thought, are we ever going to get her home? But they never once let us give up hope.”
On July 31, the skittish Golden was spotted on a field cam. This time the plan was to bait her every night at the same time.
“Ella was pretty stubborn, so we had to take a different route,” Dop explained. “We created a routine with her that made her comfortable with our presence.”
That routine included some of her favorite stuffed animals as well as a nightly feast of fast food – a trail of paper plates heaped with McDonald’s, Little Caesars and KFC leading right up to the box trap. But Ella was Ella. She devoured the food and avoided the trip plate.
Meanwhile, Lost Pet Recovery also was working the case. The non-profit group’s veterinarian, Don Corsmeier, put the Schotts in contact with a dog lurer from Washington Court House whose advice was to sit on a blanket in that field every night and play the waiting game.
Around 9 p.m. on Sept. 6, Tammy Schott hunkered down in the dark, Dop just a few yards behind. Lindsay had to stay back with the family’s pet Yorkie that was recovering from joint surgery that day. Then came a familiar bark and a shadow emerged from the tree line.
Slowly, Tammy Schott inched toward Ella. Softly, she repeated familiar phrases – Are you hungry? Do you want to play? Do you want a cookie? Ella came closer.
“We locked eyes and I could tell she recognized me,” Tammy said. “She had those little puppy dog eyes, and she whimpered, and she came to me.”
Ella’s adventure was over. After 73 long days, the “Gentle Giant” was finally going home.