Pet lovers are a rare breed.  When our dog got lost over Christmas we talked to everyone who would listen.  They were all very sympathetic.  We heard story after story of how much they were attached to their own animals.  Everyone offered to call if they saw her.  We even had a little volunteer posse out looking in golf carts around the campground where she was last seen, but no luck.  When we finally had to leave, the couple who runs the campground promised to keep searching.  It was some consolation.

Yesterday a woman who lives several miles up the road called and said she had her!  Can you believe it?  Priscilla had been on her own in the woods for an entire week in freezing temperatures (this is an old, inside dog).  And, there's a den of coyotes not far from where she was found.  She was very thin and covered in burrs and stickers and exhausted, but she's alive.  Diane, who found her, had seen her earlier in their backyard but could not catch her.  The next day she found her eating the cat food under the carport and poor Cilla was just too tired to run away.  Diane had not seen our signs and didn't know anything about this strange dog, but, being a pet lover, called the vet to see if they knew anything.  They did, because we had posted a flyer there with her picture and our phone number on it!  After calling us, she bathed our muddy little sticker bush and cut as many of the burrs out as she could so that Priscilla could rest comfortably.  She let her stay in the warm house until we arrived to take her home. 

We would not have found her without the help of the Humane Society who gave us suggestions for what to do when you lose an animal:
search on foot/in the car
talk to people where the animal was last seen
print color flyers and post them at vets, groomers, Walmarts, grocery stores, gas stations, etc. that are nearby
post signs around the neighborhood where the animal was last seen
notify animal control and the humane society
put an ad in the newspaper

In the end, our dog was rescued by the kind heart of an pet lover.  She could tell that the dog in her backyard was not a stray, and she did something about it.  Thank you Diane.  We are whole again.