Fast friends now safe at shelter

By KRISTYN HALBIG ZIEHM

Ozaukee Press staff

A pair of ragamuffin dogs who spent more than a week on the lam as Saukville area residents and sheriff’s deputies tried to capture them were finally caught in live traps on March 22.

The dogs, dubbed Bert and Ernie after the “Sesame Street” characters who are best friends and see each other through the travails of life, seem none the worse for wear, Angela Speed, vice president of marketing and communications at the Wisconsin Humane Society, said.

As befitting their status as besties, the duo is up for adoption through the Humane Society’s Ozaukee Campus in Saukville as a pair, she said.

“They’re a fantastic duo,” Speed said. “They would probably do fine separately, but it would be ideal for them to be adopted together. They’re bonded.”

The mixed-breed dogs — Bert is about 2 years old and 42 pounds while Ernie is 4 years old and 28 pounds — were first reported to the Ozaukee County Sheriff’s Office by a caller who saw them on Cold Springs Road in the Town of Saukville on March 13. Deputies responded but couldn’t find them, Undersheriff Marshall Hermann said.

The Sheriff’s Office also received calls about the dogs being seen huddled under a bush in the same area on March 20 and on March 21, he said.

They also were captured on doorbell cameras in the area, Speed said.

The Sheriff’s Office posted a report of the dogs on social media on March 21, noting they had been seen in the area of Highway I and Cold Springs Road and asking people not to approach them for fear of spooking them.

By then, Hermann said, someone in the area who had seen the dogs contacted Jeff’s Way Home Lost Dog Search and Rescue, a Stockbridge rescue organization that set up two live traps on a property in the 3000 block of Woodview Lane in the Town of Saukville.

The dogs were caught in the traps early in the morning of March 22.

“The dogs were scared, skittish, cold and hungry when deputies arrived, but they soon warmed up to them and were very friendly,” Hermann said.

Neither dog had identifying tags on their collars, he noted, but they were wearing bark collars, electronic devices designed to discourage excessive barking in dogs by delivering a correction such as a vibration, a mild shock or sound when the collar detects a bark.

Deputies contacted the bark collar company but could not obtain ant information about who bought them.

The dogs were scanned with a microchip identification reader but neither of the animals was chipped, Hermann added.

And despite posts on social media, no one came forward to claim the dogs, he said, so they were turned over to the Humane Society.

Speed, who noted that 76% of strays turned in to the Ozaukee Campus last year were reclaimed, said the vast majority of stray dogs turned in to shelters are claimed within 24 hours.

But no one has claimed Bert and Ernie, and Humane Society officials don’t know have a clue who the dogs are or where they came from.

“It is quite a mystery,” Speed said, adding that staff members theorize the dogs, who had been neutered, were from the same household.

“They dogs were out loose and they stuck together,” she said. “It’s amazing how long dogs can wander and stray outside.

“They’re scrappy dogs. Thank goodness the weather was fairly cooperative.”

The dogs were fairly fearful and hungry when they arrived at the Humane Society, Speed said.

“Since their intake, they’ve become more friendly,” she said. “They’re a little curious but hesitant when put in new situations, but they’ve been through a lot.

“They are healthy and stable. They’re very soft and social around each other. They like to play and chase each other.”

The dogs seem to have had some training, she said, noting they are “great on leash. They’re not big pullers.”

“When I ask them to sit, they both sat their butts down,” she said. “Behavior-wise, they’re a joy to be around. They’re very attentive. They’re not that interested in toys, but they were very interested in treats.”

The dogs went through their initial five-day stray hold and no one claimed them, she said, adding they have also been cleared by veterinary and behavior teams and listed for adoption.

“We expect they’ll blossom in a home,” Speed said.

Anyone interested in adopting the dogs is asked to visit www.wihumane.org.