Lost Dog Found in the BWCA

Remember the dog I posted about as missing back on September 28th?  She has been found and is at home with her family. She found her way to a campsite on Basswood Lake in the Boundary Waters and was transported back to Ely, Minnesota where she escaped and ran away again before being captured and returned to her family.  Here’s the long story as found on the BWCA forum.
09/28/2017 10:12AM
I was at Basswood falls earlier this week when my beloved dog ran during a thunderstorm. We camped on the portage for two days until our food ran out hoping to find her but had to leave empty handed. We spotted her once but she was incredibly skittish and bolted. Other campers in the area saw her as well.

I know this forum is filled with good people who are well connected. If you or anyone you know is going to be in that area in the near future, please pass this on and keep an eye out for her. My daughters and I are worried about her.

She is wearing the yellow life jacket pictured and has a red collar with my phone number.

Thank you.

Hey on Monday the Second of October while canoeing me and my party ran into two campers who found your dog by Hauson’s island. They said the dog was scared but OK. They also have a dog with them so they have dog food to feed him/her. They wanted us to take the dog out of the BWCA, but unfortunately we had no room. They will be on Hauson’s Island until this Saturday, if a ranger can’t pick up your dog before then they said they are going to drop your dog off at the Vet in Ely on Saturday. I tried to post this message earlier from the Boundary Waters but unfortunately it didn’t work, so sorry for the delay. Hope this message finds you and you are reunited with your dog. I will watch this post for a while so I can give more info/help if needed.

Thanks Harrison.

10/09/2017 04:30PM
quote dew042: “Uffda”

LOL, this is just ridiculous.

Long time lurker, first time poster. I’m Ben (referenced from Itchymenace’s (John’s) post earlier) and saw that the dog was missing in the Basswood Falls area prior to our entry date of Saturday, September 30th. My father, 19 month old English lab Roscoe, and I stayed at Hanson’s Island in the no motor zone of Basswood from the 30th through yesterday (quick thanks to TGO and John from Voyageur North for the minnows and leeches).
On Monday around noon, I was cutting up some ham for lunch at our camp when a dog came from out of the woods. Instantly I recognized the dog, thanks to this great forum, and we couldn’t believe she could be on the island. We never planned on being in the falls area, but had discussed on the drive up what we’d do if we were to actually see the dog. She had been alone in the area for over a week (assuming), and was not wearing the lifejacket as pictured by John in the initial post. We were planning on leaving on Sunday, October 8th so we were hoping to see others going out to bring the dog in, or to at least contact the owner (which we assumed was named Lindsey based on the full name on the dog’s collar, not the dog’s name itself). She was a bit hesitant to come into camp but you could tell she was desperate for food and really worn down. Her collar was extremely loose and she was thin as a rail. Luckily, we had plenty of dog food and biscuits (Roscoe doesn’t eat it anyways, he’s more of a steak and licorice kind of guy) so we got her a full belly and into a sleeping bag to warm up and rest. We decided to name her Lucy for the week we spent with her for multiple reasons (one of which involved plenty of paper towels at 4 am and expletives, but I don’t recall Knucklehead being mentioned). While she stayed in the tent, we went out fishing and ran across Harrison’s (hbowden) group. They weren’t able to take her back out as they had a full load, but I’d like to thank them for contacting John to inform him that we had the dog.

Lucy and Roscoe didn’t get along very well so the tent situation for the week was interesting to say the least. We rigged up a tarp vertically down the middle to split the tent in two and each guy slept with one of the dogs while keeping distance between the other. Harrison’s group was the only group that we saw all week, and we were fortunate to have plenty of food/fish to continue our trip until yesterday. By Thursday, she seemed to be getting back to normal and gained a little bit of weight/energy back. Each day when we went fishing we had to leave her in the tent as there was no chance the two dogs would be friends in an empty canoe. At no time was Lucy free from her lead at camp (picture of her from last week included as well as Roscoe and I).

After a series of eventful portages and getting back to the Fall Lake landing yesterday afternoon with a full canoe, I was able to touch base with John to report that we still had the dog. We dropped her off at Voyageur North yesterday afternoon as someone from VNO was kind enough to keep the dog overnight and we didn’t have any room in our vehicle. It’s unfortunate to hear that she’s on the loose again in Ely, and hope that she’s safely found soon. What is absolutely amazing about all of this is how she got onto Hanson’s Island from Basswood Falls. She either crossed into Canada by the falls and walked the shoreline to the east 2-3 miles and then swam across two stretches of water with an island in between to Hanson’s (with or possibly without a life jacket), or another group had found her and brought her to Hanson’s but lost her while camping on the island. Based on her history as an escape artist, I’d imagine the latter is more likely. It would be great to hear a happy outcome out of all of this. Lucy’s saga continues…

10/26/2017 11:00PM
Thank you everyone for your continued interest and support. Tonight Lindsey is sitting home on her couch and it feels like order has been restored to the universe.

The Retrievers are a truly amazing and dedicated organization. I can’t say enough good things about them or thank them enough for the non stop effort they put into finding our dog.

What a trip report Lindsey could write indeed. Before yesterday, the last sighting I heard was from a gentleman who saw her running across the highway while being chased by a wolf. I thought it was all over. I’d love to know how she survived that one and then materialized unscathed 10 miles away the next day. Apparently this dog is a lot smarter than I give her credit for.

She lost about 1/4 of her body weight and is being treated for Lyme’s but her loveable personality seems unchanged. She sat in my daughter’s lap the whole drive from Ely to Minneapolis.

Thank you again to all the good people on this board and the citizens of Ely.

John

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