Lost dog found!

By Zander Frost, Chronicle Staff Writer

Alfie, a Pittsburgh family’s year-old Australian Shepherd missing since June 22 from a Glens Falls doggie day care facility, was found alive, skinny but well Saturday night, July 9, in the backyard of a Peck Avenue home near East Field in Glens Falls.

Owner Sandra Miranda told The Chronicle that homeowners Michael and Sherry Winfield called her cellphone at around midnight to let her know Alfie was in their backyard, playing with their dogs.

Ms. Miranda said she went straight to the house, got down and called to Alfie, and he came to her.

Alfie lost about four pounds — down to just eight, but otherwise was no worse for wear. No ticks, “not even one,” Ms. Miranda said.

Ms. Miranda and Mr. Catarisano and their teenage children Natalia and Joseph came to Lake George on a three-day vacation in June.

Put dog in day care for a few hours

They put the dog in the care of GFK9 on Warren Street for several hours so they could go on a Lake George boat ride and tour of Fort William Henry.

When they returned to retrieve the dog, he was missing.

The lost dog was the subject of a Chronicle front-page story last week. Beyond the print and digital editions, the story reached more than 90,000 people via Facebook, and provided the couple’s cell phone numbers.

Ms. Miranda and Mr. Catarisano maintained a presence in Glens Falls throughout the search, trading places.

“My husband was [leaving] today — so we switched again,” Ms. Miranda texted The Chronicle just after Alfie was found. “But I brought my work computer. I was not going back to Pittsburgh without my baby.”

Mr. Catarisano was in Syracuse late Saturday night when the dog was found. He said he phoned home to wake up their two children in Pittsburgh with the great news, and immediately returned to Glens Falls in the morning.

In the Peck Avenue backyard, he said, “There were two dogs like my aunt has, Shih Tzus. It must have been familiar to him.”

“The fence was like the same, too,” Ms. Miranda added. “Maybe he thought that was their backyard.”

She said Glens Falls Animal Hospital had told her to contact them any time if they needed help with Alfie.

They took Alfie there late night Saturday, Ms. Miranda said. “And Dr. Laura took care of him. They didn’t charge us.”

It was the end of a grueling few weeks.

Search base: Rob & Deb’s parking lot

Mr. Catarisano slept two nights in his Jeep in the parking lot of Rob and Deb’s ice cream on Dix Avenue. The shop’s owners supported the search effort; the parking lot became the searchers’ base.

Many volunteers joined the effort, including Josh Grassi, whose Clifton Park Pet Search has found many lost pets.

At Mr. Grassi’s suggestion, Mr. Catarisano cooked bacon three or four times in the Rob & Deb’s parking lot.

“I guess the bacon smell lofts in the woods. So maybe that’s why he was found right over past this place,” just a short walk from the ice cream shop, Mr. Catarisano said.

They’re not sure exactly how Alfie survived for more than two weeks, which included Fourth of July. “That was awful, his first experience with fireworks, all by himself,” Ms. Miranda said.

Expert Josh Grassi’s advice

Mr. Grassi told The Chronicle he was always optimistic that Alfie would be found. “These guys, they’re resilient. People often give up. Never give up, because I never give up. I’ve done hundreds.”

“They don’t just deteriorate as quick as people think,” Mr. Grassi said. “I mean, I’ve gotten dogs that were running for months.”

He expressed surprise that Alfie’s paws didn’t even show damage from the weeks on the lose.

“He’s very skinny, the vet said, so he probably didn’t eat too much. But they’ll eat animal poop, when it comes down to it,” Mr. Grassi said. “Bird seed from people’s yards, they’ll eat grass, stuff that’s really not good for them, but they do.”

The searchers had several frustratingly close calls. At one point Alfie was spotted on video from Frozen Dreams’ security cameras. There were sightings at the intersection of Dix Avenue and Quaker Road, at the U-Haul business and across the way near Binley’s Florist.

“I was just like, defeated,” Ms. Miranda said of the last day. “And then we got a call.”

Couple’s gratitude

Mr. Catarisano and Ms. Miranda repeatedly expressed their gratitude.

Ms. Miranda said of Rob and Deb’s, “We call it a headquarters because we were always there and they were so nice about it too.”

“The guys from Lehigh [Cement] let us be there, with the safety equipment, looking for our dogs.”

“Everybody has been like really nice,” she said of the community. “Just calling and texting…people drop off snacks and drinks for us during the day to ensure that we were doing okay.”

Mr Catarisano said the ordeal “was a curse and a blessing. I guess it brought a lot of people that didn’t know each other here together. Like a lot of friends now.”

His thoughts on GFK9

The Chronicle asked Mr. Catarisano what he thought of GF-K9, the kennel that lost Alfie. A group that included members of the search party picketed the business over the weekend.

“I wish we would have done our homework, that’s basically it,” he said.

“I don’t wish him any ill will. I just hope he learns from his mistakes and maybe has like a plan or a secondary plan if this ever happens again.”

Some examples of a better plan? Mr. Catirisano said, “getting a tracker quickly or getting someone that’s an expert.

“We weren’t experts, we just did was we thought right and we were doing it all wrong,” he said.

What mistakes did they make?

“Calling his name…trying to get him to us, not getting down on the ground, non-threatening.”

Mr. Catarisano said they also learned from Mr. Grassi, “Our signage was too small. You’ve got to see something really bright on the side of the road…the shorter, the sweeter, the better.”

Will they return to this area?

“This is the safest place to come on vacation, as long as we don’t board him,” Mr. Catirisano joked.

“We know the area very well!” Ms. Miranda added.

Josh Grassi a pro at Pet Search

By Mark Frost, Chronicle Editor

Josh Grassi, 46, operates Clifton Park Pet Search. He joined the search for the lost dog Alfie.

The Chronicle talked to him Sunday, the morning after Alfie was found.

“There’s no better feeling than uniting an owner with a pet,” Mr. Grassi says.

He said he’s been doing this for 17 years, and “out of the 17 years this is probably one of the best organizations that we’ve had. I’ve never had people so dedicated.”

“I do it voluntary,” Mr. Grassi said. He said he’s on disability and that two things geared him to start looking for pets.

“When I was 16, my sister lost her dog and it was never found. It really bothered me,” he said.

And 17 years ago, “I happened to be in a very bad spot in my life. I was kind of depressed.” He decided that even “if I can’t find your pet, maybe I restore faith in humanity.”

Of searching for dogs and some other pets including “indoor cats,” Mr. Grassi said, “Of hundreds, maybe a dozen I didn’t get. I have five awards from New York State.”

“I’ve gotten dogs that ran 17 miles from home. I kind of have an idea where dogs go.”

Sometimes the ending is sad. He has found animals hit by a car and “frozen in a pond.”

With Alfie, he says, “I jumped in late, beginning of July.” Alfie had been missing since June 22.

He has a whole technique.

“Posters are key,” he said, adding that they need to be big, simple and bright

He said he aims to “make a perimeter of posters” in a half-mile radius where the dog is likely to be. He said he checks with animal control officers and follows up on public sightings.

Then there is the bacon. “We grill bacon really slow. That’s what usually draws them to our traps,” Mr. Grassi said.

For Alfie, there was a pop-up set up in the parking lot at Rob and Deb’s Frozen Dreams on Dix Avenue. That’s where they cooked the bacon.

Alfie was found Saturday night maybe 300 to 400 yards from the parking lot.

“I never get to work with people like these guys,” Mr. Grassi said.

“We had a pop-up. It was just called our meeting spot. I’d just drive up every morning at 10 or 11 a.m. We stayed 10 or 11 hours just waiting at our tent for sightings. We all brought coolers.”

He said, “The railroad let us put up a tent. They stopped the train and were looking, for us.”

“All these people are incredible and this is exactly what the world needs right now. I’ll never forget the people.”

Mike and Sherry Winfield found Alfie

Alfie the dog was found in the backyard of Mike and Sherry Winfield‘s home on Peck Avenue off Haskell Avenue late Saturday night.

Mike told The Chronicle that their dogs, Milo and Otis, a Shih Tzu and a Japanese Chin-Poodle mix, woke up late, barking at an animal outside.

Mike took them into the backyard for potty purposes.

“They were sniffing something, like they were they were alerted. I’m like, that’s weird,” Mr. Winfield said.

“So I shine the flashlight…and I was like, oh my God, that’s Alfie!

“I yelled to Sherry, ‘Hey, you need to come to the window, like right now. And call the owners!’”

Mr. Winfield said Alfie had gotten in through a hole in their fence — but could not escape the same way.

Sherry called Alfie’s owners and “within minutes there was an entourage of cars here, everyone who was assisting with the rescue looking for him,” Mr. Winfield said.

“It was a very emotional reunion…Sandra got down on her knees and she was crying when Alfie came over,” he said. “Sherry started crying. It was a sigh of relief. I’m so happy that they got reunited with their dog.”

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