Community Update

My name is Pat Panek and I am the crazy lost dog lunatic who
has been placing my “garbage” on your telephone poles in the hopes of getting
some real information about my missing dog. 
I am getting anger, which I really don’t understand.  My dog is/was a living being with needs and a
family that loves her very much.

I am a certified Missing Animal Recovery Technician and a
Lost Pet Consultant with Missing Pet Partnership.  One among you has seen fit to scoff at that,
but that’s a shame, because all I want to do is educate people about the
REALITIES of missing pets.  Almost
everyone has their theories, I once had mine, too, but they are based on things
you hear other people with “empirical knowledge” say.  But do they REALLY have knowledge or just
using their “logic” and stating their opinion? 
I think it’s mostly the latter. 
Even veterinarians are being surprised  by how long a cat or dog can survive on their
own … think of feral cats, not all have colonies, but they are surviving for
years at a time.  Why not a dog?

My dog, Bridgett, has been Lost for almost 20 months now.  I continue to put up signs, in the hopes that
some will stay up, because signs are the best way for me to get sightings calls
about Bridgett.  Without the signs, who
are you going to call if you see her, or find her body, or think that she looks
a lot like a new dog in the neighborhood? 
I am a realist and know that something unfortunate could have happened
to her, but she didn’t just disappear.  I
need your town’s help.  Please offer to
let me put laminated posters on your private property.  What would you do if one of your family
members or family pets went missing and you weren’t allowed to put out Lost
signs?  It can happen to ANYONE.  Don’t think with your judgments, think with
an open heart and at least entertain the idea that this could happen to you or
someone you know.

There is a little dachshund in Delaware who has been missing
for 19 months, but his story may have a happy ending BECAUSE OF SIGNS.  Rudy’s family gets a lot of sightings calls
and most recently got a call from a woman who took a picture of the dog with
her phone.  Trail cams have also captured
his image in the day time, which is a new development.  It’s all very exciting, but his family is not
just sitting back and waiting for something to happen … they are refreshing
signs, going door to door, setting up feeding stations and traps.  It’s working!!  Rudy, like my Bridgett, is a very skittish
dog.  Even though he has been seen
frequently, he does not let anyone approach him, so there is no scooping him up
and taking him to a new home.  He has
survived winters, a hurricane, severe storms, blazing heat, and he is 11 pounds
at best.  If he can do it, so can
Bridgett who is a Siberian Husky and weighed 45 pounds. 

Why won’t you help me? 
Why won’t you help HER!!  I just
don’t understand this … a dog’s life vs an 11 x 17” piece of paper.  If you haven’t been made knowledgeable in the
behaviors of lost cats and dogs, I would love to help rectify that.  I would be happy to speak to groups,
selectmen, whatever it takes.  Too many
people give up TOO EARLY and their pets are out there wandering, trying their
best to survive.  We can all make a difference
in the lives of these animals, and the lives of their owners.

From day one, this has been a nightmare for me.  I am depressed, determined, but NOT
delusional. I am tired of being all nicey nice about this and am speaking,
uncensored, from my heart and knowledge. 
Most lost pets are killed by cars because they were being chased,
usually by humans, and they ran out into the road in a blind panic.  They are not usually taken by predators,
although that can happen, they are sometimes rescued and rehomed by people who
see a dirty, thin animal and immediately think dumped, abused, stray … try
thinking of them as being lost and desperately loved, with families that will
do anything to get them back.

I am going broke, but I am NOT going away until such time as
I know that Bridgett could not still be alive. 
I made a promise to my sweet girl when I adopted her. 

To learn more about HER, please visit www.facebook.com/helpbringbridgetthome  or helpbringbridgetthome.com  Please help me to help her.