Experts Track Down Missing OKC Rescue Dog

Dozens of dogs were rescued from a hoarder. They were placed in foster care through the Central Oklahoma Humane Society after the ordeal, but last week, one of those rescue dogs ran away.

For eight days, Sunshine the Chihuahua, was missing. About to lose any hope of finding her, the humane society called up a team specializing in finding lost dogs.

Lost Pet Professionals sent the team made up of handler Karin TarQwyn and tracking dogs Cade and Ike. The dogs, both rescued themselves, use different methods of scent tracking. Together they were able to track down Sunshine.

"Our lead dog Cade tracked three blocks to a house, he alerted, he said no more scent, going away," explained TarQwyn. "And then we brought in our little guy, mighty mouse Ike and Ike ran to the rear of the yard, went to the side of the house and the dog was right there near a hole under the house."

Sunshine was returned to the humane society. She now spends most of her time hiding under Doctor Beth Ruby's desk at the humane society. Dr. Ruby was not surprised when the dog bolted because of the hoarding conditions she was rescued from and the type of dog she is.

"The floors were covered in feces to the point you could no longer see the flooring," explained Dr. Ruby. "I do believe is genetically just a little more timid and a little more shy and then you add in that for the first three years of their lives they never met a person, it's a whole new world."

And Sunshine was malnourished and dehydrated after eight days on the run, however, she is expected to recover.

TarQwyn said her team had learned that different breeds of dogs behave differently when they go missing. Bully breeds tend not to go far, while others like Chihuahuas tend to run and keep running.

TarQwyn and her team are also on another case in OKC. Maddox, the mini pin, went missing from the Edmond area about 10 months ago.