Rutland Herald
STAFF WRITER | January 06,2015
STAFF WRITER | January 06,2015
When the ball dropped and fireworks blasted off as a way to welcome 2015, the celebration created chaos for Kimberly Parker’s dog JD.
Parker was standing on the back porch of her ski home on Dean Hill Road in Killington when JD — his full name is “Just Dog” — ran out of the backyard into the woods, frightened by the loud noise of the fireworks.
“He’s a rescue dog. He was very mistreated when he was younger, so he has a fear of strangers and loud sounds,” Parker said of the dog she brought home four years ago. Everyone warned her that the yellow Labrador mix would never be a loving pet because of his fears, but Parker disagreed.
“I’ve been working with him the whole time I’ve had him, and he’s gotten so much better,” she said. “He’s an incredibly sweet dog. He is just shy.”
Parker, who visits Killington from Cambridge, Mass., to ski, is still in Vermont looking for her dog.
“I need to find him, he isn’t just a pet, he is family,” she said Monday afternoon as she scoured the back roads of Killington looking for him.
Parker was supposed to head back home Sunday night, but called her employer to take some more time off.
“They found someone to cover my shifts,” said Parker, who works for a pharmaceutical company. “They were very understanding and supportive.”
But her boss and coworkers were not the only ones pitching in to help find the missing pup.
When Parker started posting fliers around town and messages on Facebook, people in the area started to notice.
Then they started to help.
Hundreds of people shared the photos of JD on Facebook. Others started walking the trails calling his name and spreading the word to keep an eye open for the golden-colored dog.
August Stuart lives down the road from Parker. He said when Parker came to his house with a flier, it struck a chord for him. Stuart lost his dog a few years ago in the same area.
“She was getting deaf and old, and one day she just wandered off,” he said. “We never found her.”
Because of this memory, Stuart said, he was determined to help Parker any way he could.
He made copies of the fliers and posted them in the popular ski shops and other local businesses.
“I can truly sympathize with her,” he said.
The Rutland County Humane Society has chipped in, too.
Gretchen Goodman, executive director of RCHS, connected with Parker when she heard news of the missing dog and frantic owner. She let Parker borrow a Havahart live trap, cage-like device that closes a door when an animal steps inside onto a trip plate. Food is used as bait to lure the pet inside.
“We give them out when dogs and other pets go missing,” Goodman said. She added that she used one to help bring a dog home last week. “The humane society does not get a lot of funding. We are run primarily on the donations of people in this community, so we want to help them whenever we can.”
Goodman said it didn’t matter that Parker and JD are not locals, people still want to see them reunited.
“I really hope that she finds her dog. Animals are so important to us,” she said.
Goodman said the traps work well, but owners must check them frequently, especially this time of year. Not only can other animals get in, she said, pets can get cold quickly in a space that is too small for movement to generate warmth.
Parker has been setting the traps filled with cooked chicken up where JD was last spotted, near The Woods Resort & Spa, and is checking them constantly.
And she continues to drive around town, sometimes on her own, mostly with people she has just met.
“I would not be able to do this alone,” she said through tears.
Bobijo Jones saw the Facebook posting at her home computer in Pittsford last week and decided to spend the weekend driving and hiking around the mountain looking for the lost dog.
“I’m a dog person,” said Jones, who has not even met Parker. “I’m doing this because I would want someone to do the same if the roles were reversed. It’s getting even colder and we need to bring him home.”
If anyone sees the yellow Lab with a blue collar, please don’t approach him, Parker said, as he is very shy with strangers and will run away from anyone coming toward him.
Instead, call Parker at 508-308-9682.
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