Gates dog, missing for two years, has a 'tail' to tell

Lucky has had a couple of names in her short life.

She spent the first two years of her existence chained up, outside, in Ohio. Rescued by an animal welfare group, she was brought to Rochester, where she was adopted by Patricia Gimbel of Gates in February 2010.

Gimbel christened the border collie/labrador mix “Molly.” She worked hard to coax the nervous dog into trusting her. Molly remained wary.

Molly’s departure

While being bathed in May 2010, Molly ran away from Gimbel’s yard. Her owner spent weeks combing her Gates neighborhood, tacking up fliers and posting ads in the newspaper and online.

“People called me and said they spotted her but no one could get near her because she was so shy,” Gimbel said.

A week after her departure, an employee at a nearby business called Gimbel to say he had spotted Molly. Gimbel and two Gates police officers showed up, but Molly took off, running onto Interstate 390. She was hit by a car, jumped back up and ran into the woods. Gimbel searched for her dog to no avail; she assumed she had suffered internal injuries and died.

“When she left I felt so bad. People tried to comfort me [by saying] that was probably the best three months of her life that she had. But we didn’t really get a chance to bond because she was so shy,” Gimbel said. Instead, Molly would prefer to be outside, or sit alone on the other side of the room, away from people.  

Gimbel grieved. In time, she rescued another dog, named Bailey. Then last month, more than two years after Molly had run away, she received a phone call from Companion Animal Hospital in Brighton.
“They asked if I had this dog that ran away. I said, ‘Yeah, but she died.’ They were like, ‘No.’”
Veterinary technician Gwen Morris took care of Molly after she was brought in.

“When she came in that evening she was so skittish that we couldn’t get near her,” Morris said. “The next day I was able to bribe her.”

Molly was scanned for a microchip. One had been implanted under her skin. Incidentally, Molly is the only pet Gimbel has ever had microchipped. The chips contain numbers that link to a registry that is accessible by animal shelters, humane societies, and veterinary offices. It contained Gimbel’s contact information. Fortunately, as Morris noted, it was current.

Gimbel was stunned as she was told her dog had been found. Molly was alive: laden with fleas and hookworms, but alive.

“She was dirty but other than that she looked fantastic,” Morris said. “Whatever she was doing to stay alive, it really helped.”

Ghost’s survival

Indeed, Gimbel wondered how Molly had survived for two years. She soon learned she hadn’t done so entirely on her own.

After running off into the woods near I-390, Molly took up residence in a neighborhood off of Lyell Road, about three miles away from Gimbel’s home. Kids in the area nicknamed her “Ghost” because nobody could get close to her. Neighbors said they started feeding her.

One of her benefactors was Mario Ciccarone of Foxshire Circle. The stray dog broke through the lattice under his deck to make a den. In the morning, she’d come out for food. Ciccarone contacted the police, who told him they had been trying to catch the elusive dog. Usually she disappeared by the time an officer arrived.

The dog now called Ghost didn’t want any part of being caught.

Ciccarone feared she would get hit by a car or cause an accident. After the dog scared Ciccarone’s four-year-old grandson a few months ago when she ran out from underneath the deck, he became serious about catching her. He crafted a leash of sorts out of a looped piece of rope and tied it to a tree. Ghost entered the trap early one morning. Ciccarone watched the dog chew on the rope while he waited for an officer. But just a few strands remained and the dog broke free.

Then, on the Fourth of July, Ciccarone heard a noise in his backyard. He watched the dog take the rope and move it out of the way so she could get through to the deck.

“She was so smart,” Ciccarone said. “I said, ‘This dog is a survivor.’”

He called the police. Two officers arrived. But Ghost chewed her way through the rope again. When one officer was just a few feet away from her, she took off.

Ciccarone strengthened his rope with some wire in between the braid and waited. One Tuesday afternoon last month, as a thunderstorm rolled in, Ghost ran for safety under his deck. She got caught in his trap and remained there until officers arrived.

“I tried and tried and after the third time, it was a success,” he said. “Now the people around my neighborhood say, ‘Mario, you should run for dog catcher.’”

Ciccarone assumed the dog was in ill health and would be put down, so he was surprised to be called a “hero” by a neighbor the next day, who told him that the loose dog had a name — Molly — and an owner. Coincidentally, Ciccarone had been to Gimbel’s neighborhood many times. His granddaughter’s friend is her next door neighbor.

“It was a real happy ending to this story,” he said.

After being reunited with her dog, Gimbel called up Ciccarone to thank him. 

“That to me is the real story — how impressive that neighborhood is. And I found since I moved to Gates that there are a lot of people that like dogs,” Gimbel said. “People helped us when she ran away.”

Lucky’s new life

Things have changed since Molly’s return. For starters, she’s now called Lucky. The name seemed more appropriate, Gimbel said, noting that the dog had never really become used to her first name. Lucky now lives with three cats, enjoys daily morning walks — while double-leashed — and is bonding with Bailey.

“They both had a rawhide yesterday and she would sneak over and take Bailey's rawhide so she could have two. Then Bailey would sneak over and take hers,” Gimbel said.

In addition to usually being found by her food bowl, the dog who would sit as far away as she could now stays close to Gimbel. The veterinarian told Gimbel that Lucky’s more social attitude probably stems from her having to rely on humans for food while she was on the run.
In fact, Lucky was very reliant.

 “The vet actually said she was overweight,” Gimbel said. “She was making the rounds.”

Other perks of indoor life include having rights to the couch, which her owner typically doesn’t allow. Gimbel said she doesn’t mind.

“It’s just amazing to me that she survived,” she said. “After everything she has been through ... she deserves pampering ’til the day she dies.”