All I Want for Christmas is My Foster-Dog!

Now that it's December, Christmas is drawing near and, unfortunately for poor Olivia, the weather is getting cold. I hate the thought of her underweight self out there shivering or even just having her ears cold. I have been asking for help putting up flyers and handing out business cards and I am delighted to report that I am getting it! A Forever Home, Olivia's rescue, is organizing a search party on Saturday, December 17.

By the way, A Forever Home has spent thousands of dollars funding the search for Olivia when she wasn't even their ward in the first place - this wonderful group took her on after she was already lost! Please donate to them (/the search) if you can.

Here is an excerpt about the search party from an email from an AFH volunteer:

We really want Olivia back in a foster home by Christmas so we are organizing a large-scale search on Saturday, December 17th in Washington DC. I am asking all of you to please come and help us search. We will search in teams - with each team having a specific area (several blocks) to cover. Each team will be given posters to attach to telephone poles and place in store windows (with permission from store owners). They will also be given business cards to hand out to citizens in the neighborhood. This will be a well planned and well coordinated search, with AFH personnel directing the search. Your responsibilities will be putting up posters, handing out business cards, and talking, talking, talking. We really need to connect with local citizens. They live there and they are the key to finding Olivia.

We want to start early in the morning for several reasons, so are asking that people meet at a designated spot at 9:00 am. We expect the search to take no longer than 2-3 hours. I will be coordinating volunteer sign-up, so please email me ... if you can help us. For those of you who are unable to walk/stand for long periods of time, we can use your help too. Each team is accompanied by someone in a car who shadows the walking teams. A team can be anywhere from 2-5 people. You don't have to come with a team. If you sign up alone to help, we will assign you to one.

I rarely ask for help, but I am asking all of you, as a personal favor to me and AFH, to please come out and help us search. Bring a friend - or friends. Bring husbands, wives, girlfriends, boyfriends, and older children. Bring your well behaved, dog and people friend dogs (on a leash).

Please don't let Olivia spend any more time on her own. It's just a matter of time before her luck runs out. We want to find her before that happens. Please contact me no later than Thursday, December 15th to sign up to search.

Thank you.

PS: All searchers will be provided with a contact list of the search leaders, a map of their assigned area, and a "how to" list (which will include search tips).

We welcome help from anyone who can help with the search. (Also, please spread the word, whether or not you can help, in case someone you know might be able to help.) Please email me at lauracolleton@gmail.com if you want to participate. I know the email gives a deadline of December 15, but I'd be happy to accommodate late-comers as well. Thank you in advance for your help with the search. If we can find Olivia and keep her from spending her Christmas hungry, cold, and alone, this will definitely be my best Christmas ever!

Our Latest Olivia Flier

Hi folks. We're gearing up to do more fliering over the next couple of weeks and will be out working to bring Livvy home next Saturday (Dec 17th). If you'd like to help, get in touch using the contact info at right.

If you're already signed up to help, thanks!!!!! I'm including a link below to our latest flier. If you live anywhere near Eastern Market, the SE Waterfront, Anacostia, or Capitol Hill, tracks put her in your area and it would be great if you could help us get some fliers up.

+ Download a copy of our latest Olivia flier (doc)

Belated Thanksgiving for Olivia - An Anniversary Sighting!

Good news, bad news. The bad news: it's been a year since Olivia ran away. Good news - actually, great news: we got a report of a new sighting indicating that Olivia is alive and well!

The sighting is quite credible: the location of the sighting was one of Livvie's favorite spots, Marion Park in SE DC. This is where the very first sighting took place and where the last track ended. The sight-er reported that she was playing with another dog but, when the other dog's human tried to approach, she ran away. Still, not only is she alive and ok, she was playing with another dog! This made my day/week/month and I counted it among my most joyful blessings at Thanksgiving. (This post is a belated report of the sighting because I was out of town for several weeks due to a sudden death in the family.)

We decided not to track from it because it is already central in the area we know she wanders. What we did instead was canvass all of the houses that border the park, handing out flyers and business cards and asking them to watch out for her in and around the park. The neighbors were very receptive, so we are hoping this will generate another sighting.

Livvie's Lying Low...

Hello, everyone. I'm sorry to report that no one has seen Olivia for a while or, more accurately, no one has seen Olivia and reported it to us for a while. Despite this frustrating lull, I am putting up a new post for two reasons.

1. Flyers, flyers, and more flyers. And then some business cards. The best way to generate reports of a sighting is to get and keep flyers up all over her area and to hand out business cards and talk to people around there. I printed up a couple hundred more and assembled them by putting them into plastic sheet covers, stapling them in, and backing them with little wooden skewers so they'll stay flat. Unfortunately, the magnitude of the task is so great that I am not even close to being able to keep up. Her area is so large and I am so car-less (to say nothing of the 50-60 hour work-week) that I have fallen way behind. Consider this a desperate plea for help! Please let me know if there is anything you can do to help, whether by putting flyers up yourself, driving me around to do it, or (best of all) by handing out business cards and talking to people.

2. Even though Olivia has made herself scarce lately, there is cause for hope on several other fronts. Olivia's (as-yet-unmet) friend and fellow lost dog Sassafras has shown herself several times lately, definitely this month and maybe as recently as last week. (More on that at her blog: findlostbeaglesassafras.blogspot.com) Also, just yesterday, I got word of a dog who was lost in a serious car accident. When I called to offer to help, however, her daddy gave me the excellent news that she had gone into a crate they put out for her near the accident site and now she is home safe and sound. One more thing: a not-so-near miss, but it's still better than nothing. Montgomery county shelter got a female brindle mastiff in, but it's not Olivia because it listed her as "unaltered" and it's not Bogey because the tail is not cropped. These don't actually help Olivia, but they do let me know that at least some good things are happening.

This is enough activity to keep me from total despondency and, more importantly, my desire and hope to get Olivia home is still plenty strong enough to keep me going. As ever, I appreciate all the help you have already given and any more you can offer!

New Sighting and Confirmed Track -- Go Livvy!!!!

New confirmed sighting!!!!! On July 30, we received a call from a kid who thinks he saw olivia running through his yard the day before. He lives only 6 or 7 blocks from the point where the Capitol Police lost sight of Olivia originally.

We can happily follow the news of the sighting with more good news: the sighting was valid; we were able to track from it; and the track area shows that she's basically still circling the area we already knew (though this does widen the circle).

The only problem with this is that it creates more work to do. Given the wider circle, though, we need to put up new flyers, and we need to refresh and replace many of the flyers we put up before. We also think it's time to do another round of emails with flyers to vets and other doggy-businesses, as well as posts to the neighborhood blogs and listservs in Olivia's chosen area. Also, we now have the camera up at the feeding station, so we need to keep replenishing the food and checking the camera daily.

If you can help at all -- either with checking the feeding station near Eastern Market, with fliering, or with anything else, please contact Laura using the information to the right of the blog.

Thanks so much in advance for your help and for all our volunteers who have already been so great over the past year!

*** Request for Volunteers ***

We have a new feeding station set up near Olivia's latest confirmed track and need to recruit some more volunteers to monitor it. We have a schedule set up; you can sign up for once a week, or more or less, as your schedule permits. Interested? Email Beth at riguski@gmail.com and I'll send you the sign-up sheet and walk you through what you need to do. Thanks so much! Let's bring this girl home!!

*** Brand New May Sighting of Olivia ***

Laura passed along the wonderful news to us that Olivia showed her sweet self last night! Hallelujah!

A woman who had seen the posters (yay flyer-ers!) was driving down (or up) 10th street southeast. Ahe and her husband stopped on the 700-block and got out of the car, and she thinks she saw olivia then. It was 10:30 at night, so it was dark and she didn't get a very good look at the dog, so she said she couldn't say for sure whether it was olivia. I told her not to worry about that - Our tracker dog, Salsa, will be sure one way or the other. Anyway, Olivia was just "trotting along" (true to form, according to the other sightings!) down the street, doing her thing. Also consistent with the descriptions in other sightings, Olivia crossed the street to avoid the woman and her husband. Another advantage of that is that, if it was Olivia, her scent will be on both sides of the street, so we won't need an exact point at which to start the track.

A track is tentatively planned for today (Saturday). Keep your fingers crossed!

We'll be sure to keep everyone posted and, as always, if you're available at all to help, please let us know via the contact information at right.

Olivia's Latest Tracked Route (As of 4-6-2011)

Sam and Salsa were able to do another recent track for us based on the sighting that we had a few days ago. I'm attaching that track now and, above it, a graphic that shows the track overlaid with all previous tracks. The good news is that, at least for this latest track, she seems to be staying in SW near the Coast Guard Facility, as opposed to crossing over into Anacostia. We'll keep you posted and, as always, if you're able to help with fliers, please email or call any of us (contact info at right) and we can most definitely use the help! Livvy's been out there for quite a long time; this would be a great month to finally bring her home.

New Sighting of Olivia!

After a bit of a dry spell for sightings, we just received a call from a woman who believes she saw Olivia yesterday (Monday) at 3rd and M St SQ (her known, tracked route)!!!

Thanks so much to all of you who are keeping an eye out for her, and thanks to Debra who suggested the Craigslist ad; that ad brought in our latest sighting. If you happen to see Olivia, please call immediately (Contact info is listed to the right) and one of us can come down and try to find her.

We'll be working with Sam over the next week to determine next steps. And, as soon as we know the plan, we'll let you know so you can help!

All the best,
Team Olivia

Latest Track Confirms The Very Recent Sighting of Olivia

Attached is the track Sam & Salsa ran on 2/27/11. The track confirms that the very recent sighting by our Coast Guard friends near the power plant was, in fact, Olivia. Now that one of the guards has actually seen her, they'll know to watch the shadows for her from now on and investigate any rustling in the bushes next to the guard shacks.

If you can help: Since Olivia's expanded her track further out, we have some gaps in flier and poster coverage. We can provide all the supplies for anyone who is available to volunteer to put up fliers in his/her off time. Thanks so much in advance! You guys have been really wonderful about volunteering your time so far!

Also, a big shout out to our blog followers in New Zealand!

* * * New Sighting Tonight * * *

We just got a call at 8:15 tonight from a guard at the Coast Guard facility who saw a solo dog that matches Olivia's description.

She was on 1st St SW between V St and T Sts SW and was by the fence at the Pepco Power Plant (see attached map at left for the location of tonight's sighting).

We're heading there now, but even if we don't locate her tonight, this will still be one of our first confirmed, "real-time" sightings of Olivia in a while, so it's wonderful news!

Olivia's Latest Track & Another New Sighting!!!

We have a new sighting of Olivia! One of our volunteers (thanks to Beth!) handed out a business card to a jogger near Randall Rec Center -- one of Olivia's known spots. He'd seen her on more than one occasion "near a pond" and pointed away from the waterfront area (so, north). I'll look at a satellite map tonight, but if anyone knows what pond he might be referencing, comment below -- it would be either north, northeast, or northwest of the Randall Rec Center in SW.

Sam and Salsa did another fantastic and long track yesterday. You can see them at left tracking along the Anacostia Riverwalk. Sam puts it best below, but the short of it is: Olivia is much braver than we thought, has extended her range in circles out as far as Anacostia and has even crossed a railroad trellis/bridge to get there! Her track is below (the latest track is in turquoise; the track from a week or so back is in red).

From Sam: "Here is the track from yesterday. The map doesn't really show how 'interesting' this track was. Our girl has really expanded her territory and is much "nervier" than we thought. She walked across the Anacostia River on a train trestle and found a nice, dry shelter right on the other side of the river.

Then, after spending some time munching crabs in the pavilion (photo right) and sightseeing in the Anacostia park, she walked across the South Capitol St. bridge into the old neighborhood and turned right between the stadium and the river.

We stopped there because Salsa was getting quite tired after 2 1/2 hours of tracking and almost 5 miles. However, what we were able to answer is why did she just keep going and going, and the answer was, she didn't, she just is making much bigger circles. Also, the way that she was able to get across the river twice without any dead ends leads me to believe this is not her first trip around that block.

Postering needs to also be expanded to cover the park and the neighborhood (at least the big intersections) on the other side of I-295 between Pennsylvania Ave and S. Capitol St."

Olivia's Latest Tracked Route

Sam and Salsa came out for a track on 2-13-11. Here's the latest known route that Olivia has taken.

Also, I was just out this past Friday and spotted very large prints just to the east of the track's stopping point, so we're heading back out tomorrow (Sunday) morning to verify whether or not they're Olivia's. Keep your fingers crossed. It's a great location for her -- lots of discarded food along Canal St, a water source, a hiding spot or three (lots of woods and enclosed areas), etc.

Here's a photo of one of the paw prints I spotted (next to my giant foot for a size comparison). These are much bigger than a retriever, so we're hopeful.

And, to lighten the mood a little, although we haven't found Olivia yet, we have found a slew of other critters. Here are the best wildlife photos our surveillance cameras have taken to date:

+ Wildlife Photos (Flickr)

New Track: Olivia Has Moved Further East

Sam & Salsa's track today put Olivia still near the Randall Recreation Center in SW, but also tracking much further to the east within the last week -- mainly along M St SW and SE (past Navy Yard and heading toward Eastern Market). We'll post the exact track in the next day or two. We also found several very large paw prints all along the tracked route today.

We'll be putting up new fliers this week, which we hope will bring in a new sighting of Olivia soon!

New Paw Print & More Feeding Station Activity

We had new activity at the Randall Recreation Center feeding station today (7 of 10 milkbones were taken). We'll be checking the infrared camera soon; keep your fingers crossed that it's Olivia.

We also spotted a new, very large paw print today just to the North and East of her current known route. We'll be out tomorrow (Sunday) with Sam and Salsa for a brief track and fliering effort.

If you can participate tomorrow or any time this week, please call one of the numbers to the right or email allisonjhazen@gmail.com.

Thanks so much for all your help in bringing Olivia home!

New Paw Prints and An Urgent Request for Volunteers!

Great new, folks! Sam (our excellent tracker) and Laura (Livvie's foster Mom) just spotted new paw prints at Randall Rec Center (the site of one of our current feeding stations).

We have now set up an infrared camera at that feeding station so we can capture images of what ever has been eating the large Milk Bones at night; keep your finger's crossed at it's Olivia! We'll certainly keep you posted!

We need your help this week! We believe that Olivia has found shelter somewhere just North of the Randall Recreation Center. We plan to put up fliers in the area this week, but if you're available for an hour or two this weekend or next week and can either help by printing off fliers or putting some up, please email me at allisonjhazen@gmail.com.

We Still Need Your Help! We Have a New Flier and an Updated Search Strategy

We haven't had a sighting of Olivia since January 7th, but we're confident that she's still around based on recent paw prints. She's a very tough dog to have survived this long and we can really use your help in bringing her home!

Sam (our tracker) has taken over the search (which is great news since she's amazing!) and has recommended that we do the following:

• Make regular checks of our 2 existing feeding stations and their cameras (which we're already doing). We continue to have milk bones taken from both stations, mostly at night, and will soon set up infrared cameras to find out what's hitting the station(s) at night.


• Post new fliers to the East and to the North of her existing tracked route (note: a little slow to load, so give it a few minutes) in case she's moved locations (which would account for the lack of sightings lately). We posted about 70 new fliers south of M St SW, between Half St SW and up to (but not including) New Jersey Ave SE -- so, we got Nationals Stadium and the surrounding areas covered today.
  

We can REALLY use help in the fliering effort!!! If you can volunteer to help flier this week or anytime soon, please email allisonjhazen@gmail.com and I can put you in touch with the group right away so we can tell you the spots most in need of fliers. We can also help advise on how to put up the fliers so they're rain/snow resistant, and we can provide volunteers to accompany anyone who would rather not flier alone.

Here is the latest flier:

• Latest Flier

Supplies you'll need (or that we can provide to you):

• Clear roll of tape
• Plastic sheath to protect the flier
• Fliers

Here is a map of the areas already covered with the latest flier. We can still use fliers further east and north:

Thanks so much for all your help to date!

We Found Paw Prints!!!

Although the snow has wrecked havoc for we humans, it has certainly helped us track Olivia's paw prints! After having very little activity the past week, we're back in business!!

Paw prints were discovered around her usual feeding station haunts, so our volunteers are going out to track her, and likely will go into the weekend.

The greatest news of all is that Olivia has weathered the storm and out hunting for food!


Olivia Search Team

Olivia Still Missing: New Strategies

We had a cookout last weekend to see if we were able to get Olivia out of hiding, to no avail. We had several sightings last week but have been unable to get ahead of her. We're in the process of developing a new strategy.

We have volunteers consistently checking the DC shelter, Craigslist, Pet Harbor among others, but if you happen to hear of a large (x-large), female Brindle dog being picked-up, we welcome any and all leads.

We do need some additional help checking feeding stations in the DC area. If you are available to help, please contact Yvonne at audicabrio2003@gmail.com.


Olivia Search Team

Olivia has been Spotted!

Over the past several days, we've received quite a few calls regarding Olivia sightings. Our search team to deciding on strategy to determine whether we should setup an enclosure trap and entice her to enter with some very high value food (can anyone say chicken?).

Keep your fingers crossed we bring Olivia home this weekend!


Olivia Search Team

OLIVIA SIGHTING TODAY!!!!

YAY!!! We received a sighting call in which the foster mom confirmed to be Olivia! She was sighted in the general area of where professional tracker has scented her, which even confirmed to the foster it was Olivia!!

We are tentatively planning for a search party this weekend so if you can help, please contact audicabrio2003@gmail.com.


Olivia Search Team

Still Looking...

Hello again,

I know it has been two months, but I haven't lost hope and I am grateful to everyone who is still helping me look for Olivia. We think she is still in the area and we are hoping to put up fresh posters and search (for her and for people who have caught sight of her) this weekend. I've designed a new flyer that's somewhat different from the others (the operative phrase on it is "still missing") so that people can distinguish it from the ones that are already up and know to keep watching for her. I will try to have it posted with the other flyers soon, so you can print it out on your own if you want. If you can help put flyers up but would like me to print them for you, feel free to email me. Also, if you can help hand out business cards and talk to people - this has actually proven to be our best method of getting sighting information - please let me know that as well (or just do it on your own and let me know the results). Anything you can do to help is most welcome and much appreciated!

Keep the faith and we'll bring her home soon!

Spotted Large Paw Prints

Our volunteers have been combing the area, checking feeding stations and there has been some activity! We also spotted some large paw prints and we are having our professional pet tracker verify the prints. Her tracking dog will be able to determine if the paw prints are Olivia, by verifying the scent.

Keep your fingers crossed!


Olivia Search Team