This is from Puppy Love/Love Cats Rescue. I recently posted a lost dog for them. Her story ends tragically, but can be a lesson for us all.
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It is with the heaviest of hearts that I am letting you know that Hazelâ€^TMs story ends tragically.

HAZELâ€^TMS STORY

Hazel arrived specifically to go into a Foster-to-Adopt home. Her new Daddy was actually referred to me by a good and trusted friend who does animal rescue. Also, he had a great application. My organization, Puppy Love / Love Cats Pet Rescue, screens our applicants thoroughly and has but a few rules that must be followed in order to foster or adopt one of our beloved animals.

When he came to pick up Hazel the day she arrived, we spent 20 minutes fitting her for two collars! The entire time we were doing so, I explained the reasoning behind it, and, besides it being MANDATORY for both fosters and adopters, I emphasized its importance. Collars break, dogs can slip / back right out of them, and then they are gone. The second collar is a safety backup. Moreover, I am very blunt about what can happen if this rule is not followed.

On Monday (August 11), her foster person called me a little after 1pm. He told me that Hazel had gotten loose. I asked what happened. He explained that she was playing with another dog, and the other dog must have gotten her collar off. I said, “What?” and he said it again. I immediately asked about the 2nd collar and he said, “Now is not the time to yell at me.” I was livid, but tried to keep my cool and ask him for details. He told me he was standing on the corner of Des Plaines and Lake Streets and she was playing with another dog (both were on leashes) when she got out of her collar and started running down the street. I had to mention the double collaring again, and he actually told me that he thought we were only double collaring her for the time when he left the building from where he picked her up to when he got to his car!!!! Thatâ€^TMs why we spent so long fitting her for two collars?

A woman named Cecilia helped because she saw it happen and followed Hazel. She saw Hazel try to cross I-90 at Randolph and believes she was hit by a car. I printed up a picture and went straight to Animal Control and Anti-Cruelty. Then, I went home and made better flyers and sent out a ton of emails. Several people offered their time and we posted HUNDREDS of flyers. I began receiving calls of sightings of her almost immediately. The majority of them were in the UIC vicinity. We posted a couple hundred more flyers over there. It was excruciating because so many people were calling saying they saw her the day before or in the morning or they “see her right now”, but nobody could get her! She was so incredibly elusive. I spent the entire week in the car scouring the area, going to Animal Control, etc.

Friday the 15th is a day that will haunt me for the rest of my life. My friend called me said that she saw Hazel that very moment. I had my dog with me because I thought Hazel might respond to another canine and that might give me a chance to slip something around her neck. When I met Kristen, she said that Hazel was down along some overgrown railroad tracks. We walked in that direction and then we saw her! I sent my dog Katie towards her. This is what kills me - when Hazel saw Katie, her soft, sweet, little ears perked up and she started walking towards Katie. I had turkey deli meat with me and threw it forward. Katie turned around to get the turkey. Hazel followed her! She was coming towards us! But when Hazel saw me, she stopped and her expression was that of, “Mmmm, no.” She turned on her heel and took off. She went running along the train track yard and disappeared. Later that day, another friend looking for Hazel called me because she had her in sight and was slowly following her. I was only a few blocks away. The last time I saw Hazel alive, she was in an alley between 18th & 19th streets one block east of Halsted. The ever-elusive Hazel got away again. She just would not let anyone come close at all.

We found a place that we thought she had been often napping. So, we got a large animal trap on Saturday from Anti-Cruelty and set it up. However, it was Saturday afternoon and I hadnâ€^TMt received any calls about her. The last one I received was at 2:30am that morning. Someone said they had seen her about 45minutes prior on the corner of Jackson and Morgan. Late Saturday afternoon, a friend called and told me that a friend of hers had emailed earlier in the day saying that she was driving on her way up to Michigan and saw a dead dog that was reddish in color on the side of I-90 right before the 18th Street exit. It took me two seconds to get on the expressway and get to the area described. Although there was nothing on the road, the woman said she saw the body on the left shoulder which was only about a foot wide. I wanted to throw up! The silence of my phone that day was deafening. I drove up and down from Ohio to 31st about 7 times looking for any sign of her. Nothing. I called Kristen for help, and she and her husband came out looking too. I called Animal Control, IDOT, and Department of Streets and Sanitation. They said they had no record of calls and no report from employees of having moved anything.

I identified and recovered Hazel at 7:00 pm Monday (18 August) evening from IDOT. She is being cremated. I plan on taking half of her ashes and scattering them in a peaceful and beautiful place to honor her free spirit. The other half will remain with me where she will always be in a Forever Home.

The tragedy of Hazel is the horrendous ordeal that she went through in her young, sweet life. She was terrified while she was lost. You should have seen her scared eyes! She wasnâ€^TMt eating enough; when I saw her, her ribs were protruding. And, she may have suffered horribly if she wasnâ€^TMt killed instantly.

DO YOU REALLY WANT THIS TO HAPPEN TO YOUR DOG?

Anyone and everyone who has a dog, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE! DOUBLE-COLLAR YOUR DOG AND HAVE BOTH ATTACHED TO THE LEASH! Iâ€^TMve talked to so many people that say, “Iâ€^TMve had my dog for 11 years and nothingâ€^TMs happened.” Do you not realize that it only takes one time?

Just one.

Think of Hazel.

Linda Schifferdecker, President
Puppy Love / Love Cats Pet Rescue