Mary E. Hawthorne, unfortunately, notices lots of posts on social media sites from people hoping to find a lost pet.
But one that really struck her recently was the plea for help locating Mac, a 3-year-old Chesapeake Bay retriever that ran off from his Campton Hills home.
Mac has been gone a long time – since Jan. 30.
And it was “the desperation, the Herculean effort” his owner Kevin Thornton was putting into this search that drew in Hawthorne, a dog behavior specialist who also works with PAWS 4 KIDS 4 PAWS.
The 66-year-old Elburn woman is uniquely qualified to help.
Not only is she an integral part of this nonprofit that helps kids and dogs build confidence and social skills together, she works with hard-to-train and “very traumatized” dogs. And a few years ago she taught her own dog Simu’k how to track a lost pet.
By “starting at the house, usually with the lost dog’s collar, we lay a scent trail with the owner, with Simi guiding us through,” Hawthorne explains.
Since then, her dog, a Karelian bear dog she describes as a primitive breed that “are quite challenging to train and handle” but are born hunters, has helped bring in nearly a dozen lost pets, she said.
So far, however, this dog tale does not have a happy ending.
As of Thursday afternoon, Mac, who had just finished a long run before suddenly bolting more than three weeks ago, is still missing. And judging from multiple sightings and a doorbell camera photo, he’s much thinner than his normal 80 pounds, with his tan brindle coat far dirtier.
The good news is that Mac is an athlete who was used to running five miles a day and knows how to hunt.
“I’ve seen him kill two coyotes and a half dozen squirrels and geese,” says Thornton, who’s had Mac since he was a puppy and considers him “my baby, my buddy, my best friend.”
Which is why the Campton Hills man has put so much time, effort and money into this search. In addition to posts on more than a dozen “lost dog” Facebook pages and spending hundreds of dollars on flyers and signs, he’s also drawn in an army of volunteers and a few “dog detectives” to help with this hunt.
Hawthorne herself, at no cost, has taken Simu’k out to track on three long searches, which covered “many miles” of terrain. “But when Simi picks up a scent,” she points out, “Mac could still be miles away.”
For Thornton, the search has been frustrating and painful.
“I feel so hopeless, yelling his name in the dark,” he tells me after a weekend search earlier this month.
Hawthorne, who says she’s spent much of her life working with children at risk, feels deeply for Mac’s owner as well, who along with his girlfriend Deb Lemar have “been searching more than anyone I’ve ever met.”
The problem is, Hawthorne adds, the longer a dog is gone, the harder it is “to bring them in” because “they go into a survivor, reactionary mode,” and will not respond to the owners.
That’s why this quest to find Mac, which in the beginning included hundreds of friends, neighbors and other supporters on foot, on four-wheelers and mountain bikes, has now gone into “a quiet search.”
“Calling Mac’s name will do no good,” says Hawthorne. “The goal now is to find where he is and try to lure him in with food.”
According to Hawthorne, this search has “turned into a long game … mostly looking for signs and movements.”
There have been multiple sightings in The Windings subdivision, including by a group of schoolchildren at a bus stop, and the latest, near Burlington Road and Route 47. Those with information can call Thornton at 312-758-3132 or Hawthorne at 331-442-6963.
Mac, says his owner, “is definitely on the run.”
Still, there is optimism. The dog is “very resourceful so the odds of his being able to survive on his own are good,” insists Hawthorne, who plans to head out again the first of next week to see if Simu’k can again pick up a scent.
Plus, dogs who have been gone for weeks, or even months, have been known to come back home, she adds.
After this long, people tend to lose interest, of course. What Thornton says they are relying heavily on at this point is the kindness of people within the area to check their cameras and to be vigilant.
“The support from the community has been overwhelming,” he insists. “Now we just want to get results.”
dcrosby@tribpub.com
