Best Furry Friend - Search and Rescue

10/06/2026

September 2026
Sadie is a 4 year old female Black Mouth Cur. Sadie was staying with her mom's friend on a lazy Saturday. They let her out into the fenced in back yard and somehow she got out. The friends house is about 500 ft from Rt 59, Sutton Rd. She took off and rather then head further into the subdivision or into the park across the street she ran straight to Sutton Rd and while attempting to cross it was hit by a car where traffic moves between 45 to 55 mph. There were several posted comments regarding the accident but none were able to give us a real good idea of how bad it was. One said she did run off in the same direction as the crossing and into the woods. Some comments stated they did not think she could have survived the hit. We don't know how much braking occurred before contact. I was out that night and the next night couple nights to search by air. I was unable to find her. Family and friends walked the woods looking for her. There was no choice but to proceed as we would for any lost dog. Flyers, signs, social media and focused area apps ring and nextdoor. Six days later we received our first sighting 8 miles away. Didn't seem probable but each sighting needs to be vetted. There were no pictures but it was credible. It did extend hope that she could still be out there alive. The next day I decided I needed to cover all scenarios so I did a thorough ground search of the nearby woods and structures. This is where my past SAR training became useful. I went in open minded because of the sighting the day before but also was ready for the worst. I completed that search and felt pretty good she was not in there. I admit I was a little confused about next steps. Injured dog with lots of "safe places" near the accident sight. How far and what directions to focus on next. I expanded signage south west but as it turns out not far enough. Two days after my search I got a text "Sadie is safe, we picked her up last night". Sadie had moved 4 miles southwest and approached a family out walking their dog. She went home with them and a couple hours later they found the missing dog report on the ring app and contacted Sadie's family. Sadie was hit by a car, received 1 sighting and was found with no serious injuries 10 days later. Sadie the miracle dog, Welcome Home.

09/22/2026

September 2026
Zoey is a formidable 120 pound Kangal/Great Pyrenees mix. Zoey was at the grandparents house in the yard leashed, but not secured. At some point during a family party she decided to wander off the property and the adventure begins. As a livestock guardian breed I was able to take coyote off my list of concerns. My greatest concern was the vastness of space out in rural Illinois and whether we would get regular sightings. Mike Smith had flown early on and then I flew during the second half of the event. With the exception of the first day we went the first 7 days without a sighting. Day 8, Zoey finally appeared and all but one day following we received sightings but not always communicated to us timely. If one word sums up this event it would be "Rainy". One more item off my list of concerns "water". We were able to piece together a pattern. Zoey was staying 2 days at each location then moved on. This gave us something to work with. We talked and set a plan. We would set a trap based on her next sighting on property. I went to bed thinking about Zoey and before I fell a sleep I started getting notifications from one of my trail cams. I opened them up and there she was walking around the trap and feeding station. The trap was wired open as no one was there to watch it. I really wanted it there so I could judge if a standard trap would be large enough. After Zoey ate the food she disappeared. I called Zoey's mom and sent her pics from the trail cam. We were both extremely happy. This was the location we preferred because it was quite and the homeowners were really nice and helpful. Did I fail to mention that days earlier Zoey was on their covered porch and scared their son as he was not expecting to see a Kangal sleeping on their porch. Well now I did. Back to the story. After Zoey was caught on camera I thought about it for maybe 5 minutes and jumped out of bed, got dressed and started a double pot of coffee. I was not going to miss this opportunity to get a trap set live on the property. I got as far as my garage when Zoey's mom called, "She's secure". After Zoey ate she went to the back yard. The homeowner let his puppy out for one last time that night but he was acting strangely. Common threat coyotes so no surprise. He was expedited back into the house by his dad. Then the howling started. The dad opened the door and there sat Zoey. She was startled a little when he opened the door but she wanted to go home and needed help. He moved aside and Zoey walked into the house. We knew you could do it Zoey.

Mike Smith of SmithicAir

09/09/2026

08/30/2026

I am caught up with August!!!

08/30/2026

August 2026
Zuri is a 4 year old female Hound/Lab mix. She has had a rough life and one that can bring a tear. Zuri was surrendered by a breeder after her first litter. Zuri was brought into Illinois by a rescue and was on the road to a new life. Zuri was adopted but sadly after 5 months was relinquished. Zuri then went back into fostering. With Zuri as many rescues you need to earn their trust. Trust can only be built over time and though repetition. After a week with the new foster Zuri was spooked by utility workers in the yard and escaped. The first sighting was 1.5 hours later and 3 miles south. She managed to navigate several subdivisions and a major 4 lane road. We received a couple sightings in that area, a day of no sightings and then more sightings 2 miles away from that last area still headed south and west. She tried to hang out there but was forced out of the area by people trying to help. My big concern was where she was going to head next. If she kept going south she would have to cross a 6 lane major road around a curve that made it even more dangerous. I crossed my fingers and an hour later she was spotted north headed into a golf course. I was happy she made a direction change. That is a good sign she is starting to triangulate. Finally. The next morning Zuri was caught on camera eating food left out by someone attempting to catch a cat. Thank you cat for sleeping in late. She had now returned to the first area which again gave us hope she was backtracking. The next day was pivotal. She was heading north and we were getting good sightings. Then she turned northeast. Another sighting. OMG no way… I text the group at 2:19 pm, "She may have found her scent, she could be at the fosters in 30 minutes". I am getting excited I drove over 2 blocks from the home and sat. At 3:04 pm I get a text "she is in my front yard". Some woman drove by and scared her away. Not a problem. I texted "Open your back gate". Minutes later Zuri shows up again and walks into the house. Over the course of 4 days Zuri had traveled about 17 miles. Day 3 she turns around and finds her way home. Never bet against a hounds nose.

08/30/2026

August 2026
Sarge is a male yellow lab mix not yet 2 years old. Sarge was adopted 3 weeks prior to this event. Sarge's family works days teaching so they hired a dog walker to bridge the time. On this day a mishap occurred with the dog walker and Sarge got free and took off running with leash in tow. Leash cases are an "all hands on deck" scenario do to concerns about it getting caught somewhere out of site. In this case it was made worse because Sarge temporarily used train tracks as a travel path. Due to the speed and distance Sarge was traveling flyers and more so signs were not going to be effective. We did cover the immediate area near the home in case he returned. We had to rely on social media and because we partnered with Mchenry County Animal Control social media came through big. We were getting sightings regularly but Sarge was moving quickly. Sarge ran 2 blocks from my home and interacted with some play buddies of my dog. It was fun talking to them after this event ended. They said that day there were neighbors out walking their dogs that they had never seen walking their dogs before. Everybody wanted to help. Sarge was still moving and getting near a busy road which concerned me. I was hoping Sarge would start backtracking but he did not. He was south bound and not showing any desire to change that. My other concern was he was heading into open conservation lands between towns. I made an attempt to out smart him by getting ahead and monitoring the access roads but he beat me there. I had the drone up and get a call from someone that said they found a dog but were not sure if it was Sarge. That was only 5 minutes from my location but I still had to land my drone which seemed like 1 week to accomplish. I kept the caller on the phone the whole time driving expeditiously to the location. I arrived and oh yah it is sarge. I texted a quick pic to Animal Control and followed that up with a call. The volunteers and staff at AC were visibly emotional and relieved to know Sarge was safe and started arriving within minutes. Sarge had stopped at a business and was resting behind it when the owner went out back and saw Sarge. He slowly and calmly approached Sarge who was ready to go home.

08/30/2026

August 2026
Slinky is a 2 year old long hair dachshund. Slinky was still intact which may have led to his little adventure. Slinky was in the back yard with his Yorkie brother when the escape occurred. Both dogs left the yard but only 1 returned that day. Slinky was officially on the run. Finding a dachshund with a drone is not easy especially in August. The family worked on getting the word out which included talking with neighbors, posting online and hanging flyers in all directions. Slinky did not leave under stressful conditions so focus was kept in a small radius. Would Slinky return home on his own, I believe very possibly, but what family wants to wait for that. We received sightings all days except one. Because this event was short there was really no established pattern to follow. We worked with what we knew and put up a feeding station based on a single centralized sighting. It paid off as Slinky showed up that night and ate the food. Good enough for me I set a trap the next day expecting he would show up late afternoon. Of course heavy storms moved through early and mid afternoon but I was monitoring radar and it was to clear soon. Undeterred by the storms and major water runoff Slinky showed up at the trap and I believe made the quickest entry into a trap I have seen. It is exhilarating and rewarding to be able to make the call to the family and being able to say "come on over, your dog is waiting".

08/27/2026

I have a vested interested in this one because I was able to be there the day he was found and recovered. Charlie had a rough time. He was in an auto accident and ejected from the car. As near as I can figure he dislocated his hip during the accident. I noticed an injury while I was working on the recovery but did not see this coming. Vets tried to reset it but it will not take. His leg will need to be removed. That hurts me I guess because he went through too much already. I go in to a recovery expecting happy days to follow. I know many dogs live full lives with 3 legs but I did not expect it would be a dog I recovered. I am hurting with Charlie. Please consider helping Charlie’s recovery expenses. Thanks.

In the early morning hours of August 4th, Charlie and his sister, Violet, were in… Christine Hardy needs your support for Support Charlie’s Road to Recovery

08/16/2026

July 2026
Madi is a 6 year old Black Lab. Her family took a vacation out of country to join other family members. They took Madi to an area boarding facility for the duration or so they thought. While at the facility Madi was off leash at the time and got spooked by an employee. A set of containment failures at the facility allowed Madi to find her way out and into the neighboring community. Having been in this community for a lost dog about 30 days prior I knew a drone might help but this was going to take a ground crew fliering the area each time we received a new sighting. The family returned to the US as soon as they could get on a flight. I was happy we were getting regular sightings. Both the family and boarding facility employees actively worked to get the word out through fliering and social media. We tracked and mapped sightings as they came in. Over the course of 5 days Madi traveled about 10 miles fortunately the travel path backtracked some keeping her in the area. Madi was showing signs that she was not overly stressed. At one point she approached a family outside their home but she ultimately walked away. Madi was looking for her family which in these cases is also something familiar such as a house that looks similar or a scent that smells familiar. Although I thought it was possible Madi would return to the boarding facility as it was somewhat familiar she never did. With the family now home and fully engaged we were talking daily. I set expectations and prepared the family for the day they will get to reunite with there pup. On the final day we received a call about 6:30 am by a person driving on a major highway who saw Madi near an exit ramp. How while driving 60 mph I am still not sure. We talked over the sighting and we made the decision to not go to the sighting location because it was too dangerous for Madi as well as the family. That was tough but I was hoping with no pressure Madi would make her own good decision at turn around and head away from the highway. Then not an hour later I received a text from a friend 30 miles away who saw a post from this area with a picture and sighting about 1/3 miles away from the highway in a business park. Wow THANK YOU. I texted and called the family… GO GO GO!!!. They raced to the area and started driving around. We were optimistic Madi would continue the same direction from the highway so Madi's mom headed east on the only road Madi could use. This was a 4 lane divided road but happily had a lower speed limit. Madi's mom spots Madi across on the far side of the road. She stops in the middle of the road, gets out and crosses the divide. Cars going the opposite direction stopped. Madi was going to head into the woods when mom yells "SIT". Ha Ha that was not in my training manual but mom knows best. Madi sat. Then Madi turned and ran to her mom.

07/27/2026

July 2026
Heidi is a female Husky mix rescue. Heidi was skittish but was slowly getting better and was able to go out in the yard and play on an extended leash. On this day Heidi was going to the groomer for the first time and as her family found out she was not ready for it. When they got to the groomer they got out of the car. Heidi got very scared, pulled out of her collar and ran off. Of course to complicate matters this was the week of July 4th. We received a couple sightings over 2 days. We knew roughly where she was but due to multi-day fireworks we decided to let her settle safely and not try and trap her until after local fireworks had run their course. I didn't want to risk her getting to the trap and having a firework go off and have her relate it to the trap. The sightings decreased during the 4th weekend as expected but we felt optimistic that she would not relocate due to the local main fireworks display only blocks away. That Monday I set the trap but kept it closed. I had a frisky cat nearby that previously ate the food from a feeding station and I did not want it in the trap taking the food. That night the trap worked as planned. It entertained the cat but more importantly attracted Heidi who spent over an hour checking out the food smells and the scent items. The next morning we set the trap live. She did not return in the morning as I had hoped but I was confident she would come back that night. I camped out near by as well as her family. It was just shy of midnight when the pics started coming to my phone. Heidi was at the trap. She was pacing around the trap which had 3 bowls containing either rotisserie chicken, bacon or brats. Also in the trap was a shirt from her human mother. Heidi picked up the shirt at one point and carried it out of the trap. Heidi circled one more time, entered the trap and Heidi's saga was over.