09/05/2026
MAELEE story ♥️
While arriving to the vet for an annual checkup and vaccines, Maelee slipped out of her martingale collar after a truck rumbled by, causing her to twist and turn and roll like an alligator.
Once free of the collar and leash she took off. Her owner and a handful of folks also in the parking lot, took off after her. The “chase” will subsequently cause a dog to run faster and farther away. This was the start of a 17 day journey that involved areas of Hatfield, Lansdale, and Towamencin. As she crisscrossed through neighborhoods,ultimately circling back to the area of the vet hospital, she daringly crossed over Sumneytown Pike, Allentown road, and Welsh road- multiple times.
Her owners were unaware that there are organizations like K911 The Lost Dog Search-Team Ruby so initially we were not contacted to assist.
Almost at the same time Maelee became lost, another lost dog was seen in the next town over.
That dog looked very similar to Maelee. Bc of the similarities between these 2 dogs, sightings were coming in that we soon learned were not only the dog we were searching for, but some were sightings of Maelee.
We reached out directly to her owner with the information we’d received and continued to do so until we captured that other lost dog.
Even after that dog was reunited with his family, calls about Maelee sightings continued to come in. Because one of our team members lives in and knows this area well, we were able to follow up on a recent sighting just a few doors down from the vet hospital parking lot where Maelee had slipped from her collar 10 days prior.
Our team member ran into the folks who had seen Maelee that same morning as well as her owner which set the wheels in motion for Team Ruby to assist in an attempt to reunite Maelee with her family.
After gathering the most recent sighting information, our team got to work.
When Maelee came to Pa through rescue, she was a very timid and shy dog.
It took months of patience and commitment from her new owners to gain her trust. The most reliable way reunite a scared shy dog is through a series of steps that lead up to the use of a humane animal trap.
Our team members jumped into action and within a few short hours a trap, feed station, and surveillance cameras were put in place to begin the process of catching her.
While in the process of setting up the equipment, we had a visitor-it was Maelee. She calmly trotted past our founders just as they were cleaning up.
That boosted everyone’s confidence and left us feeling that we’d soon be reuniting her with her family.
Mother Nature and Maelee had other plans.
Over the next several days, this area was drenched with daily and nightly thunder and heavy rainstorms. This caused Maelee to hunker down in a safe place, somewhere between Main st Lansdale and the NorthPenn High School campus.
Sightings became scarce but our resolve stood strong. We continued to cook and refresh our feed station daily.
5 days after our initial set up and 15 days since she first became lost, she returned to the area she had been frequenting.
Her nose and surely a hungry belly led her directly to the food that had been cooked for her just a few hours prior.
Once she found our food and filled her belly she trotted off again.
With that, we got the ball rolling to secure her when/if she returned. Which is exactly what she did.
On Saturday Sept 5,
almost 3 weeks into her journey as a lost dog, Maelee knew exactly where to find her next meal.
Our surveillance camera sent a notification to the team stating “animal at trap”.
It was Maelee.
She had already had 2 positive encounters at our trap. We just needed one more!
Maelee didn’t disappoint.
Without hesitation she followed the scent of a home cooked meal and walked right on into the trap as the door closed behind her.
After 17 days, on the property directly behind the Vet hospital parking lot that she initially ran from, Maelee was finally going home.
Waiting on the edge of their seats were her exhausted but ecstatic Dad and equally ecstatic canine sister.
There was not a dry eye to be found when this reunion finally happened.
She gently bounced up and down as she greeted her Dad, washing his face with kisses. Then as her tail whipped back and forth, she greeted her beloved canine sister and bff. You could almost hear them saying “I thought I’d never see you again!”
After going over a few pointers for acclimating her back onto the home, we gathered and loaded up our equipment to head home.
A final glimpse over the shoulder, was that of one tired Maelee, her head completely rested on her Dad’s foot, snoring like a freight train!
A special thank you to the residents of Lansdale and Towamencin who called in the sightings, understood our plea not to chase or follow her, and left food and water out for her to help her get by. To Christine the FA, and Andrew Brenda & Al, her human siblings who assisted the team and supported her Dad daily.
