Reunited with love
Published: January 4, 2007
Reunions are always sweet, and the longer the separation, the sweeter the reunion. Douglas and Michele Krueger of Port Washington were separated from their dog Max for six months; they had pretty much given up hope of ever having a sweet reunion with their dog.
Max was a two-a-half year-old golden retriever and Border collie mix when he went missing last May. By all accounts he was an obsequious and skittish dog.
“He’s a very docile dog,” said Michele Krueger. “He never does anything wrong. He’s very shy and never needed to be potty trained. He’s just always at your side.”
“He’s a friendly dog,” said Douglas. “We let him out unattended and he just stays in the yard.”
Last May Max didn’t stay in his yard. That might have been because he wasn’t in his yard at all. Instead, Max was being doggy-sat by Michele’s sister in West Bend.
“They were leaving to go to the store and (Max) snuck out the door and jumped in (my sister’s) van,” said Michele. “They (tried to) pull him into the house and he took off. He ran a circle around the house and saw I wasn’t there and then he was just gone.”
Run away? Not Max!
Michele’s sister was also watching the Krueger’s other dog, a Dalmatian named Jasmine.
“I was surprised he ran away,” said Michele. “When (my sister) said a dog ran away, I was sure it must be Jasmine.”
Michele called Douglas at work and he left immediately to search for Max. They were assisted by Douglas’ mother in one car, Michele’s sister and her children in another, and Michele in her truck. Despite all of the extra eyes, Max could not be located.
“When (Max) left there was a five-day rain streak,” said Douglas. “I was obviously that much more worried about him.”
Douglas continued the search, putting some 6,000 miles on his new truck in a vain attempt to find Max.
“After two months we started to slow down,” he said. “We had (put out) 2,000 flyers and took out ads in newspapers. We stopped the flyers.”
There were sightings of Max, but by the time the Krueger’s could drive to Washington County the dog was long gone.
Doggy Mug Shots
Shortly after Max ran away, the Krueger’s filed a Lost Report with the Washington County Humane Society. The reports include a picture of the animal in question and are inserted into a binder.
The Krueger’s foresight came in handy when a dog was recovered from a trap in Hartford on Nov. 21.
“When stray dogs or cats come into the shelter we look through the binders,” said Stacey Hart, an animal caregiver for the Washington County Humane Society. “When you go through the book you remember pictures of some of the animals. I was almost positive it was the dog.”
“(The dog) was a little shy,” said Kathie Jaster, a humane officer at the Humane Society. “Sometimes the signals dogs give off when they are shy are a little scary. When Stacey got the picture and brought it back (I thought), ‘I’ll be darned if it wasn’t the same dog.’”
Within a half an hour Douglas arrived at the Humane Society, unsure about what to expect.
“I thought it was going to be a wild goose chase because people had reported seeing him before,” he said. “I went up to the kennel and there was a fraction of second (of doubt in my mind) because he looked scruffy from being outside. But the second I called his name he came right to me, no collar, nothing. The lady said he was a completely different animal from the (dog) they brought in.”
Douglas said that Max was “so happy,” on the ride home. He also didn’t tell his wife who was with him in the truck.
“She didn’t know I had the dog in my truck,” he said. “I let the dog out and she just cried in the driveway.”
These days the Kruegers say Max is happy and healthy - and they are happy to have him back in their pack. Only two weeks ago Max celebrated his third birthday.
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