Lost Dog Found in the BWCA

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…