Rescue 101: How to Catch a 135 pound Dog
Before I tell you about Penny, a quick follow-up to my last post about Screech and Roxy Bella, two dogs that spent many months at Baltimore County Animal Shelter. I can happily report both have now left the shelter…Screech through a rescue, Roxy Bella was adopted.
Now on to the story of Penny and her incredible rescue.
Let me start by saying I’m not generally a believer in fate. But once in a while, a story comes along, where you can’t help but feel fate’s hand. Penny’s story is one of them.
It began last summer, when Dr. Rachel Zimmerman of Ruxton Animal Hospital saw a Facebook post about a frightened mastiff running loose in Middle River.
Having an extra soft spot for big dogs, she set out to find this one, posting flyers and receiving offers of help, with a growing number of people on the lookout.
Months later, there were several sightings of a mastiff near Cromwell Bridge Road.
Dr. Zimmerman began leaving food there, and something was eating it, but she needed to be sure it was the mastiff, not other wildlife.
Bob Swensen who lives nearby, saw the posters, called and offered his help. It just so happens he owns an information technology company.
“I had the cameras and the technology to help track where she was going,” he explains.
He set up four cameras in the wooded area where Dr. Zimmerman had been leaving food and “within a day or two,” he says, “we had video of her coming to eat.”
She was obviously nervous, constantly on the lookout for potential danger.
Bob built what’s known as a Missy trap. Food is placed at the back and when an animal takes the food, a trigger mechanism pulls down the door.
Dr. Zimmerman and several others set the trap and waited. Within a few hours, the mastiff, now known as Penny, had come and taken the bait.
“She was pretty terrified,” says Dr. Zimmerman.
Once back at her animal hospital, she gave Penny flea and tick meds and a rabies vaccine, then, complying with the law, she took Penny to Baltimore County Animal Shelter for a three-day stray hold. No one claimed her, so Dr. Zimmerman took Penny back to the animal hospital.
There, she says, Penny began coming out of her shell, “romping and playing in the treatment area,” beginning to trust, allowing the staff to pet her and give her love.
She’s a beauty for sure…puppy-like, yet enormous… silly too, as she squeaks her toys.
Soon Dr. Zimmerman will screen for an adopter who can handle a 135-pound dog that’s still fearful of strangers, one who has a fenced-in yard.
If you want to put in an application, call Ruxton Animal Hospital. And if you want to see Penny in all her glory, just watch this short video.
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