With the help of neighbors and social media, a Sewell woman is on a mission to find her lost dog.
Kathy Porter lost Charlie on March 10, after the canine had a seizure. The 5-year-old Great Pyrenees and black lab mix has been spotted in Mantua Township, Pitman, Wenonah, Sewell and Blackwood.
On the day Charlie went missing, Porter was scheduled for surgery. She let the dog and her other puppy out to go to the bathroom, and while the latter went to a neighbor’s house, Charlie escaped.
Over the four-and-a-half months that her pet has been missing, Porter has not been alone in her efforts to get him back. A nonprofessional dog tracker named Kathleen Bowles has been working every day to find Charlie. She and other women have posted more than 2,000 flyers and multiple lawn signs, utilized eight trail cameras with feeding stations and started a Facebook page with more than 2,100 followers as of this writing.
“He’s half great Pyrenees and great Pyrenees are migrating dogs,” explained Porter. “We caught Charlie on camera at a feeding station, but he never comes back to the same feeding station; he keeps moving.”
For Porter, she had cats before but never a dog. Her husband, who had a dog that passed away the year before they got married, remained hopeful about getting a lab.
“I was apprehensive about it but I knew that he wanted a lab so I went to a couple of pounds,” said Porter.
After she brought home Charlie to see her grandkids, Porter said they fell in love, and she soon followed.
Porter has learned that lost dogs are in survival mode, so if anyone spots Charlie, he should not be chased: just snap a picture or give her a call.
“It doesn’t even matter if it is your own human,” Porter noted. “They don’t see that person, they just see a human and run away.”
Porter said she gets calls daily about missing dogs who look like Charlie, one of which she captured for herself.
“His name is Cooper, and I ended up keeping him because we found him in the woods and his owner just dumped him,” she noted.
In a July 13 post on the Bring Charlie Home Facebook page, Porter said she would hand $1,000 to the person who found her long lost pet by Aug. 1.
“I never expected to be in love with a dog, but he just protects me and loves me,” she said. “I can’t explain how much he means to me.”
For more information, visit the Bring Charlie Home Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/groups/1725665534303957, or call Porter at (917) 207-7076.
