10/04/2026
FEEL GOOD SUNDAY — PIPPIN’S INCREDIBLE SIX-WEEK JOURNEY
Some recoveries happened so long ago that our equipment, technology and even our phone number have changed, but we can still remember the dog and the recovery like it was yesterday. This is one of those stories. Meet Pippin.
In March of 2012, while Pippin’s family was away on a trip to Costa Rica, their 8-year-old Sheltie was staying with family in Bedford, NH. One morning, Pippin disappeared. It wasn’t like him to wander off, but in a split second he was gone, and so began a six-week adventure that his family certainly never signed him up for.
The search started immediately. Our GSDR team hung posters everywhere we could, and here’s something that really shows how long ago this recovery was we didn’t even have our 1-855-639-5678 hotline yet! We actually put our own personal cell phone numbers on the lost-dog posters. When someone spotted Pippin, our phones rang, and we followed up on every single sighting. Posters were plastered throughout the communities, and his family even handed out business cards with Pippin’s picture on them. Kids riding school buses were watching for him, DPW workers were watching, FedEx drivers were watching and residents were watching. Before long, it felt like entire communities had become part of Pippin’s search team.
Pippin wasn’t simply hiding somewhere in Bedford waiting to be found. This incredibly smart little Sheltie was traveling. Sightings and searches took us through Bedford, Goffstown, New Boston, Weare and Mont Vernon. There were more than a dozen reported sightings during those six weeks, and every one gave us another piece of the puzzle.
One moment we will never forget happened in New Boston when we actually watched Pippin cross a river. Dawn thought Pippin was in trouble and went to help him only to end up falling into the river herself! Pippin, meanwhile, apparently had the situation under much better control than the humans did. He made it across, and poor Dawn got an unexpected swim. It’s funny to look back on now, but at the time there wasn’t anything we wouldn’t do if we thought Pippin needed help.
That moment also showed us just how smart and capable this little dog had become. Pippin was navigating roads, woods, neighborhoods and even rivers. He was teaching us something that lost dogs have continued to teach us throughout the years: never underestimate a dog in survival mode.
His family was doing everything imaginable to bring him home. They put out hot dogs, chicken and gravy, and at one point his aunt Pamela even dripped gravy all the way up her driveway to the back deck, hoping that wonderful smell might lead Pippin back. When your dog has been missing for weeks, things that might sound a little crazy to everyone else suddenly make perfect sense. And we’re pretty sure Pippin would have fully supported the gravy plan.
But the days continued to pass. One week became two, then three, four, five and finally six weeks. Imagine not knowing where your dog is for that long. Imagine getting a sighting miles away, jumping into your vehicle and getting there as quickly as possible, only to discover that Pippin had already moved on. But nobody gave up not his family, not our team and certainly not the people throughout those communities who had become so invested in bringing this little dog home.
Then, on April 12, 2012, the news everyone had been waiting for finally came. Pippin had been found. Goffstown Police located him near an apartment complex on St. Anselm Drive. After six weeks, multiple towns, countless posters, more than a dozen sightings and one incredible journey, Pippin was finally safe.
He was exhausted, very thin and struggling physically, but when a family member arrived to pick him up, Pippin recognized that familiar scent and perked right up. His physical condition showed just how difficult those six weeks had been. Pippin was terribly matted and covered in an unbelievable number of ticks hundreds, possibly even thousands. More than 100 ticks were reportedly removed from his face alone. He had to be shaved so the veterinary team could make sure every tick was removed and take care of his severe matting.
Pippin had developed tick paralysis, but thankfully there was also encouraging news. He had no broken bones, and his liver and kidney functions were good. He remained at the hospital overnight receiving IV fluids, and once the ticks carrying the toxin were removed, there was hope the paralysis would reverse quickly and he could make a full recovery. He was very thin and had healing ahead of him, but his family was ready to give him all the food, rest and tender loving care he needed.
Pippin’s mom, Sarah, later sent a message that meant so much to everyone who had followed his journey: “Thank you, thank you to everyone who supported Pippin and our family over these last 6 weeks.” The reunion carried even more meaning because the family had already experienced tremendous loss. They had recently lost two beloved family members, one only weeks before Pippin disappeared. As Pamela explained at the time, there had been one loss after another, but Pippin was one loss they knew they could do something about. So they fought for him, and an entire community fought right alongside them.
Looking back at Pippin’s recovery more than 14 years later, so much about GSDR has changed. We have better cameras, better equipment, years more experience and, thankfully, an 855 number so we don’t have to plaster our personal cell phone numbers all over telephone poles anymore. But one thing has never changed: how far our team is willing to go to help bring a lost dog home.
What you see posted on our page is only a very small part of a recovery. We don't post every phone call, every drive, every camera we check and feeding station that needs to be changed, every sighting we follow up on or every hour our team spends working a case. We don't post every late night, every early morning or every conversation happening behind the scenes. Sometimes there may not be an update to share publicly for days, but that does not mean nothing is happening.
Behind the scenes, we are constantly working.
We are reviewing sightings, looking for patterns, talking with families, checking cameras, moving equipment, hanging posters, changing feeding stations, driving roads and discussing what our next move should be. Sometimes the most important work we do is the work nobody ever sees.
Pippin’s recovery was a perfect example. We went above and beyond to bring this little Sheltie back to his family. We followed every lead. We drove from town to town. We hung posters. We watched for him. We followed his movements. And yes, one of us even ended up in a river trying to help him!
We did it because there was a dog out there who needed to get home.
And 14 years later, we are still doing it.
For every family we have the privilege of helping, please know that when GSDR takes on your lost dog, there is so much happening that you may never see on social media. Our team doesn't need to post every moment to prove that the work is being done. The reunion is what matters.
Our dedicated team gives up evenings, weekends and countless hours of sleep. There are people checking cameras while the rest of the world is sleeping. There are miles driven that nobody hears about and countless conversations trying to figure out what a dog may do next. There are often hours and hours of work behind one photograph that eventually gets posted with the words SAFE.
That's what going above and beyond means to us.
Pippin’s story is also an important reminder for every family with a missing dog today: don’t measure hope by the number of days your dog has been gone. Six weeks passed. Pippin crossed roads, traveled through multiple towns, crossed a river, endured New Hampshire weather, hunger, ticks and everything else that came with surviving outdoors. Yet that incredibly smart little Sheltie kept going.
And on April 12, 2012, after six long weeks, Pippin’s journey finally ended with the two words every lost-dog family desperately wants to hear:
SAFE HOME.
Fourteen years later, we still remember you, Pippin. We remember your family, the posters, the phone calls, the sightings, the miles driven, the communities that watched for you.
Most of all, we remember why we do this.
We went above and beyond for Pippin in 2012, and we continue to go above and beyond for every family we have the pleasure of helping today.
Because behind every reunion is our amazing GSDR Team that never gives up. REMEMBER IF YOU HAVE A MISSING DOG- PLEASE DON"T EVER GIVE UP! EVERY DAY THAT YOU DON"T HAVE A SIGHTING GET UP ANOTHER 30 POSTERS- YOUR DOG IS OUT THERE SOMEWHERE WAITING TO BE FOUND.
Here is the link to his reunion party back April 2012: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hj-o-3qRW7w&list=UUW_qwx4U7pV2Kqq56WZNiqQ&index=1&feature=plcp&fbclid=IwY2xjawUvJAdleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBwZG9mAWJyaWQRMWpzTkJ2b2NidWc3MmpSSExzcnRjBmFwcF9pZBAyMjIwMzkxNzg4MjAwODkyAAEeU8egQfjxxCVjRqSDJWDYK_E_J0BiZM9nyfdM32ZdAw2u1iXmO4uzJHN7oW0_aem_zrM6koVUin2f_RtLC0vUug
