'Pet Detective' Called In To Search For Rockland Dog Spooked By Fireworks
ROCKLAND (CBS) – You may recognize Gigi the Bernese mountain dog.
The dog's picture is now posted all over Rockland and several neighboring towns after she ran away from home July 3.
"It's honestly just a numbing, paralyzing feeling because it's around the clock non-stop thinking about her," owner Alicia Copeland said.
The Copelands got Gigi almost a year ago to the day. This was Gigi's first Fourth of July and the family believes she panicked from the sound of fireworks going off.
Now a pet tracker Jamie Genereux is helping the family find Gigi.
"We are trying to find Gigi, and so we start by giving the scent dog a scent article - something that smells like Gigi," Genereux explained.
Genereux is from Rhode Island and drives all over New England to help people find their lost pets.
Gigi's family brought a couple of her toys even her harness so the tracking dog could pick up her scent. Once he did, the four-legged detective took off into the woods.
Dexter, the black lab is no ordinary tracking dog.
"The special thing about Dexter is that he's a trailing dog not just a tracking dog. And what that means he doesn't just smell scent on the ground. He can smell it on vegetation he can smell it in the air," Sharon Schawbel said.
As painful as it is, the family must wait for this process to play out.
"Lord only knows it ranges anywhere from a day to four days it depends on how far the dog travels and how much heat you put on them is what we like to call it," Genereux said.
Right now the hope is Gigi is still in the woods, and hungry. The next step will be to set up food, humane traps, and cameras.
"The reality is when dogs run away in a panic like this, they truly are just lost. She just does not know how to get back home," Schawbel added.
If you see Gigi, call her family but try not to approach her because that could scare her more and send her further away.
"We just want her home, she's our everything," Copeland said.
You can reach the Copeland family at (781) 733-0328.
