Service Dog in Training

On Wednesday evening, Madison officers were contacted for assistance in helping locate a missing service dog in training named Sadie. 

They learned that Sadie is a 15-month-old Labradoodle currently being trained to be a service dog. Sadie was with her owner, getting ready to go into some appointments but when the car door was opened to get her out, her owner realized that he collar had come unclipped. 

Sadie took that moment and let her puppy brain take over and decided to go for a run. Sadie's owner and some by standers attempted to catch her but it turned into a game of “catch me if you can".

Sadly, Sadie got lost and ended up burrowing down near the water. Her owners and additional resources, to include a drone with thermal imaging, came in and assisted in the search for Sadie for 3 days but there was no luck in finding her. 

They spoke to many kayakers and asked that they too keep their eyes peeled for Sadie who was wearing a red harness. 

As luck would have it, Saturday morning a kayaker spotted Sadie in the brush along the shoreline. Sadie had got herself completely stuck in the brush and was unable to move. 

Her owner arrived on scene and after some time Sadie was freed and very happy to be back with her owners. As of Monday, Sadie is happy and healthy back at home, ready to continue her training. Her owner told MPD it took about 3 hours to clean her up after she received a clean bill of health from the vet. 

It should be noted that Sadie is still very much a puppy and sometimes those puppy instincts kick in when in new environments and spooked by traffic. Sadie is a very energetic and eager puppy, and her owners and trainers have already implemented additional precautions moving forward to prevent this from happening again. 

Sadie is owned by Paul and Chris Gunter. Below is a photo of Sadie with Paul who she will be paired with once her training and certifications are complete to make her a fully certified service animal. 

This was Sadie with Chris after she was located on Saturday, happier than ever to be reunited!