Happy ending for dog lost during pheasant festival

Times Photo Submitted

By Heather Cameron
Taber Times
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Southern Alberta English Springer Spaniel Annabelle was lost, and now she is found.

Annabelle’s owner, Coutts resident, retired dog handler with CBSA, and private detective Doug Smith said that Annabelle is a working drug dog, and has worked with him in his private detective business, which has been in existence since 2010, for two years. 

But on the Saturday afternoon of the Taber Pheasant Festival (Oct. 25), Smith explained, Annabelle disappeared.

“We were part of Taber Pheasant Festival Saturday afternoon and were hunting a marsh area on the Vauxhall grazing reserve,” said Smith. “We had four dogs including Annabelle. We had been walking a slough edge when we crossed through a large group of cattails. When we got to other side, she was not with us. We started searching for her, and I traced our path back to the truck about a half mile away. We could not see any movement in the cattails or grass, and we searched through them for quite awhile. We also looked in the open prairie.” 

Eventually, Smith said, he and his group started stopping vehicles and going to nearby farms asking them to keep an eye out for Annabelle; several groups of hunters stayed to assist in the search for her. At dark, Smith said, he and his wife returned to their home in Coutts, and he, his friends, and his family posted about Annabelle’s disappearance on social media in hopes of finding her.

Smith said that at first light, he and his wife were back in the area with better gear and searched with no success; and were then joined in their search on Sunday by friends, family and even strangers. Unfortunately, Smith said, search efforts on Sunday were also unsuccessful.

“When we expanded the search area, we were greeted by people asking if we were looking for Annabelle,” said Smith. “Word had spread through social media, grazing association, Alberta Conservation Association, well site operators, farmers and hunters. The response was incredible and heartwarming.” 

Eventually, Smith stated, a fellow hunter and retired RCMP employee from Medicine Hat joined the search and suggested that the best idea for searching would be a drone, but it was not possible to use a drone on Sunday due to the weather.

“He had a contact with the Southeastern Alberta Search and Rescue,” explained Smith.

On Monday (Oct. 27), Smith says, the contact from the Southeastern Alberta Search and Rescue, Andy Loignon, contacted him and came to provide assistance to the search via a drone about 3 p.m. that afternoon.

That is when the search met with success after approximately 50 hours of Annabelle being missing.

“Long story short, Annabelle was in the cattails in an area we had not concentrated on,” said Smith. “We were within 25 yards of her many times in two days, but she never made a sound or came out when we were calling. She was not stuck but standing in six inches of water. She was scared, cold and had a couple leeches on her but alive. We got her dry, warmed up, fed, and slowly got her moving more. Once she arrived home, she went straight up to the bedroom for rest and slept on the bed. She has had a vet visit with x-rays and bloodwork with nothing abnormal found, but she was put on antibiotics and a calming medication just to help. Words can’t express the gratitude I have for everyone who stepped in to help. It gives me hope for humanity. Annabelle has made a donation to Southeastern Alberta Search and Rescue, but it is not enough to justify how I feel about Andy and them.”