Missing sled dog spotted multiple times in Calgary but remains elusive

Even if they're retired, the instinct to run is never snuffed out for a sled dog. Garnet is one of those dogs. 

The eight-year-old Alaskan Husky slipped out the door of his new home in Calgary's northwest neighborhood of Brentwood last week, after retiring from his lifelong work as a sled dog due to a bout of pneumonia and some sore hips. 

"I don't think he got the memo about being retired, to be honest," said Pamela MacDonald, Garnet's owner. 

"He's obviously out there running." 

MacDonald said that since Garnet went missing he's been spotted multiple times throughout the city, but they still haven't managed to bring him home.

Garnet was first seen in the neighborhood of Charleswood in northwest Calgary, and then Confederation Park. Next, he was spotted on a median on Deerfoot Trail before bylaw officers caught up with him on the east side of the Calgary airport. 

In recent days, MacDonald said, Garnet seems to be making a home in the area of Country Hills. He was last spotted Wednesday at the entrance to the Country Hills Golf Club. 

MacDonald said she's adopted several retired sled dogs in the past and understands their urge to be active. Garnet was to join MacDonald's other retired sled dog Chickie as her skijouring partner this winter. 

"This is the first time he would have lived with other people and so he's surely missing his pack," she said.

That's why Garnet's first owner, the one who raised him from birth, has brought some of his old buddies to the area he's been hiding out in, with the hopes that Garnet will catch their scent. 

"We've got Garnet's two brothers with us, plus his favourite gal," said Megan Routley, the owner of Kingman Dogsled Tours.

Routley said Garnet was born in her kennel, and that he was one of six pups that were all high-energy, high-performance sled dogs. 

After laying out a ring of scent trails throughout green spaces in Country Hills, Routley planned to sleep with her dogs in her truck last night, in case Garnet came across one of them and followed it back to the central area where Routley had parked. 

"I know that others have been successful with this in the past … because dogs' sense of smell is phenomenal as we all know."

In his career as a sled dog, Routley said, Garnet not only ran tours but also participated in many mid-distance races.

Often, he was the lead dog. 

Her biggest worry with Garnet being on the loose is that he may get hit by a car, or that he won't stop running long enough for her to try and interact with him if she does see him. 

"Once they get in flight mode their brain kind of turns off and they just keep running," Routley said. 

Whether or not Huskies are better suited than domestic dogs to survive outside in winter conditions, Routley said that's debatable. 

"It depends on how you define that. I mean, these dogs are fast runners. They're good hunters, but you know, my sled dogs, they come in the house for sleepovers, they go for car rides," she said.

Routley is actively looking for Garnet, and said that people should not approach Garnet if they see him, because it could spook him and cause him to take off. 

"You can't outrun a sled dog," Routley said.