| In
Loving Memory of
Chief Died April 10th 2009 Herb and Sue worked so very hard to try and find you and bring you safely home again "It is with a great deal of sadness to report that Chief was killed on a highway this morning. He was 10 miles south of where he was last sighted on Tuesday afternoon. He had not been reported seen in that area during the entire time he was missing. To get to where he was he had to travel for 7 miles along side of a highway in the desert with barbed wire fences on either side of the four lane road. (for those who know the area, he was found 7 miles south of U.S. 60 on Ironwood and Germann) He did not look like he spent 3 weeks at large. His feet and body were in good condition with the exception of a couple of cuts on the foot pads. We think that a car or truck bumper hit him and he died suddenly. We thank everyone who has sent us comforting messages and ideas about how to search. Our problem was that we never received current information, so we were days or even a week or more in some cases, behind Chief's current location. We had a few people who really spent days and days looking and went way beyond the call of duty. They were wonderful. Thank you again for your kindness, Herb and Sue Hoffman 
Chief's Story LOST DOG in Phoenix area; 1 PM, March 20, 2009 Reward $200.00 For Information Leading to the Return of This Lost Dog Name: Chief Type: Bernese Mountain Dog Sex: Neutered Male Age: 3 ½ years Weight: 100 lbs. Color: Black, white chest, white forehead, brown on legs. Lost: Friday, March 20, Apache Junction, AZ 
Our 3 1/2 year neutered male BMD was at the groomers to be bathed when the attendant stepped out of the building and left the door open. Our BMD was in a crate with his collar (and ID tags) removed and bolted out of the crate, out the door and across a busy six lane highway and down an alley. This happened in Apache Junction, AZ. near where we are spending the winter in a RV Park in Gold Canyon, AZ. The Apache Junction Police and Animal Control Dept. have been notified. Our dog does have a micro chip. He was last seen on Broadway, west of Ironwood, heading west on the north side of the street. Four of us have been looking for several hours with no results. If there are any of you out there in the Apache Junction/Mesa area and hear of a BMD roaming around or found please notify: Herb and Sue Hoffman hhoffman@sysmatrix.net *There have been 11 sightings during the first 8 days since he disappeared in a 25 square mile area. Sightings have ranged from east Apache Junction west to Mesa. Recent sightings were very far apart, so we suspect some of the sightings were not valid ones. *April 6th '09 - "Chief is still missing after 17 days. The last good sighting was last Sunday night 7 days ago which we learned about five days later . We are thinking that someone has picked him up and isn't coming forward or that the desert has claimed him. We have only had three calls from the 800 + flyers we have distributed. As I had reported before, the rest of the 15 sightings have been found by talking to people we stop on the street or visit in their place of business, a process that takes one heck of a lot of time. For example, the last sighting we learned about initially was very different from the actual sighting. We learned of it from a feed mill proprietor who told us this woman saw the dog outside the food market where she worked. She left at midnight after her shift and had seen him for three days in a row. He told us when she learned the dog was lost that she would pick him up that night after her shift because "she is very good with animals". It took us several days to track down this person who saw Chief and we learned what the person saw. She had seen the dog once walking down the road as she drove away and she didn't even work the late shift the night she was supposed to "pick up the dog". Another couple with their dog who knows Chief and Sue and I spent several hours around midnight scouring that neighborhood and didn't see one dog. Yesterday we covered about 15 to 20 acres in an area where Chief had been spotted a week ago. I did find all the many places where the homeless have been staying, but no Chief. We have learned that asking pertinent questions is really important as what people say is not necessarily what is meant.* Sadly the ending to Chief's story is a tragic one RIP Chief, knowing that so many people from all over the world are wishing you...... God Speed across the Rainbow Bridge 
*Bernese Mountain Dogs Lost and Found* http://bernese.biz/Bernerslostandfound.htm |
