Sioux is Home, Healthy, Happy

who broke free from her wire lead last week in the Shepherd Hills neighborhood of Lower Macungie Township, has been found.

Her owners, Keith Heller and Sally Giamalis of Alburtis rescued her -- for a second time -- from a wooded area about three miles from where she broke free. The wire lead she was dragging had become snagged in the brush that trapped her as well as fed her for the duration.

"She is safe and sound," Heller said Saturday, "We are so happy to have our special puppy home."

The veterinarian who checked Sioux out immediately after she was found theorized that the dog traveled the three miles probably in the first six hours after she broke free, Heller said. 

They believe she was trapped in the brush for the following six days, he said.

Fortunately there was plenty of rain this week for her to drink and plenty of edible vegetation to nibble on, Heller said.

Heller and Giamalis tracked Sioux's whereabouts using Google maps and tips they collected from people who had seen her before she got stuck, he said.

"There was one more place we had not looked," Heller said, and on Friday he and Giamalis made their way to that spot.

"And there she was," he said.

Giamalis was the one who first found Sioux, the couple reports, and she texted Heller to say she found her. But when Heller texted back asking if Sioux was in good shape, the signal was lost. So there were a few anxious moments before he caught up with them. Heller's text inquiries to Giamalis turned up on her phone an hour later, he said.

The couple borrowed thermal imaging equipment to use when they searched for Sioux at night and put out about $1,000 in their search for Sioux, they said.And they were ready to hire a professional dog tracker from Kentucky when Sioux was found.

They rescued Sioux -- with the help of Delaware Valley Golden Retriever Rescue Inc.  -- only two months ago from a puppy mill in another state where the dog, then named Crystal, was used over and over again as a breeder.

Heller and Giamalis were advised that Sioux might not remember them, might be afraid of them or might even have turned feral because of the experience.

Sioux's "sister," Cheyenne, also a Golden Retriever, had a rough week of missing Sioux, too, they said. 

"This was supposed to be Sioux's 'happily ever after,' " Giamalis said, so they're especially happy to have their family back together.