B.C. woman enlists helicopter, bloodhounds to find missing dog
'He's not just a dog, he's a member of the family,' owner says
It's been seven days since Kate O' Sullivan's three-year-old goldendoodle vanished in the woods near Whistler.
Since then, her efforts to locate her beloved Scout — including a helicopter flyover and putting two bloodhounds on the trail — have bordered on superhuman.
O'Sullivan, 35, also cancelled a vacation to Hawaii and spent more than $5,000 in her bid to locate Scout.
Scout is "not just a dog," O'Sullivan said. "They are family members, such a part of our life."
O'Sullivan learned Scout was missing last Friday, the first day of a planned nine-day vacation in Hawaii with her mother and five-month-old son. When her plane landed in Honolulu, she saw texts from her dog walkers telling her that Scout had disappeared on an afternoon walk on a trail north of Whistler.
Ran off after walk
When the walk ended, Scout didn't want to get in the truck and ran off.
O'Sullivan said she didn't think twice about cancelling her vacation. She caught the next flight back to Vancouver.
"If he is found in the time we are travelling. wonderful, we will spend our vacation — my mom was with me — with the dog and hang out in Whistler," she said. "If he's not, I'm here to search."
In the last week, O'Sullivan, a nurse, has camped out most nights at the spot where Scout disappeared, hoping the dog will emerge from the woods. Her mother is at her home caring for her baby boy.
She's set up a gofundme page, and she said she is grateful for the more than $5,500 that has already been raised to help find Scout. She said she will donate any leftover money to an animal shelter.
Hired pet searchers
On Monday, O'Sullivan hired a pet search company — at $2,900 for the day — that set two bloodhounds on the trail where Scout went missing. Yesterday, she and her boyfriend paid $711 for a half-hour helicopter flight to scour the mountains from the air.
"I think he is scared," O'Sullivan said. "I think he has made himself into a little ball to be warm. And I think he is too scared to move, or else he ran and ran and ran and he's run the wrong way and there's nothing out there.
"It's the worst. This is day seven."
Today, O'Sullivan is back at the site where Scout disappeared. She's brought her car and filled it with clothes, hoping the scent will draw Scout back to her.