
Lee doesn’t just run…..he
surges thru woods, brush, creeks and neighborhoods on his missions
to find missing pets. Lee is a 4 year old Treeing Walker Coonhound
that in 2009 was taken under the wings of Dogs Finding Dogs, Inc, a
501c3 charity that does K9 search and rescue for missing pets. He
was pulled by a rescue from a high kill shelter in Darlington SC and
given to a foster in Maryland who subsequently lost him. He was
thought to not have what it takes to be a great scent hound. Dogs
Finding Dogs was hired by the rescue to find Lee and return him to
them. To date, Lee has reunited over 500 missing pets with their
owners.
Life for Lee looked pretty grim at first. He was left tied to an
igloo outside on concrete for almost a year before he was pulled and
sent up to Maryland to a rescue. Full of pressure sores to the point
that he did not know how to lay down and sleep, Lee made his journey
up to Maryland and was placed with a foster who was a young college
student. “Not the best idea for sure for a scared, un-socialized
hound dog. Lee being so scared, bolted out the door and found his
way to a huge patch of bamboo behind my local supermarket. It was
that Easter Monday 2 _ years ago that I got the call from the rescue
about him being missing,” said Anne Wills, Founder and Executive
Director of Dogs Finding Dogs, Inc.
It took 2 weeks to finally catch Lee in the bamboo forest he called
home. “We had a trap set out for him. Blankets inside, food, toys
and every time we went back to check it Lee had pulled everything
out and made a nest in the bamboo with them. I had laid a leash on
top of the trap when I was rebating it. Went to the car for no more
than 3 minutes and upon my return, Lee had snitched the leash as
well”, said Anne Wills.
Lee would come out to play with Heidi, the personal K9 SAR dog of
Ms. Wills and the dog that sniffed Lee out in the bamboo. In the
process of watching how he would trace Heidi’s every footstep on the
ground with his nose, it was decided that when he was finally caught
we would ask to keep him for Dogs Finding Dogs. And that is exactly
what happened. After 6 months of training, Lee the Super Hound Dog
to the Rescue was born!
“This dog who was to be thrown away like trash, who slept standing
up for over a month at my house, has become a true success story,”
Wills said.
Dogs Finding Dogs was formed as a 501c3 non‑profit organization, in
September of 2008. Its main goal is to help reunite missing pets
with their families by the use of K9 search and rescue dogs. By
doing this, not only are the pets returned home, but they are saved
from a possible pending doom of being in a shelter. Our moto is “Our
Noses Know Where Your Pet Goes!” and the testament to a working dog
is “The highest honor for a search and rescue dog is to save the
life of just 1 missing pet, to save the lives of many is truly a
blessing”.
Dogs Finding Dogs is purely donation based. It does not turn down
any plea for help because family cannot afford to donate. “This is
what our “Walker Fund” is for. It’s a fund that people donate to
help offset the costs involved in running a case for those who are
financially indigent,” said Anne Wills.
That being said, in 4 years, either by counseling on the phone or by
deploying SAR teams, DFD has reunited over 4000 missing pets with
their families in the Maryland, DC, VA and PA states. DFD counsels
on a national basis daily and has formed alliances with respectable
trackers that can help families throughout the United States. “And
Lee, our beloved goofy fantastic coonhound was one of those cases!”
says Wills.
Dogs Finding Dogs has grown to 11 SAR teams of which 5 are made up
of hounds. Treeing Walkers, Foxhounds and a Bloodhound. “Now,
training up a hound is far different then training up a Shepherd,”
Wills quotes. The hound LOVES to hunt! This is a great feature.
They get it FAST! They have stamina and can tolerate the hot summer
days much better than a Shepherd, but… the trick is to teach them
the End Game, that is, “Please signal me when the scent we are to
follow is done and don’t pick up the nearest deer or raccoon trail.”
This is the trick.