'Tore us apart': It took volunteer rescuers 126 days to catch elusive spooked dog

A team of volunteers is celebrating after a nervous dog named Murray, who escaped more than four months ago, was trapped in Winnipeg's Assiniboine Forest and taken to safety Tuesday.

Murray, a two-year-old mutt, was spooked while on a leash in the Grant Park area on Oct. 16 and took off running toward Assiniboine Forest.

Kristy Greening, the creator of Locating Elusive and Skittish Hounds (LEASH), a volunteer-run organization that traps scared lost dogs, said she was worried for Murray. There were numerous coyote sightings in the area, and the dog was nearly hit by a car once.

"Having to leave that forest every night was heartbreaking. You know, he would sit there and cry off in the distance and stare at us and we'd have to leave and it just tore us apart. I'm not sure how many nights we left in tears," she said.

Murray, a rescue from a northern Manitoba community, was first found in August with porcupine quills in his face. He was trapped there, flown to Winnipeg, given emergency medical treatment and adopted.

Plans A through D

Although the first rescue trap itself didn't hurt Murray, the pain associated with it likely made catching him in a live trap again more difficult, Greening said.

"We tried to desensitize Murray to the live trap that he had already been in. Murray would only get so far before deciding it wasn't worth it," she explained. 

After numerous failed attempts, the team gave up and moved on.

Plan B took another few weeks, Greening said. That was to spend hours each day bringing Murray food and trying to gain his trust to the point where volunteers could get a slip lead around him. 

"We got to the point where he would reach and eat from our hand but any movement would send him bolting," she said.

The next idea — plan C — was to set up an automatic trap that would deploy as soon as Murray bit a piece of food attached to it. The team tried in late November and early December, but that didn't work either.

Plan D was to slowly build a large trap out of fencing panels over the period of a month, placing food out in the middle of the construction area throughout the process.

"We had to follow his cue and once he was comfortable eating with each stage then we'd add the next panel and go from there," Greening explained.

The plan was to create a large enclosure with a smaller cage inside. The cage would have a sensor at the back and once the dog crossed the beam, the door would slam shut.

But the plan was easier in Greening's imagination than it was in reality.

The team of volunteers had to watch Murray from live trail cameras strategically placed so they wouldn't needlessly frighten the dog.

Last week, Murray was entering the smaller cage, but not going all the way back. Finally, a few days later on Monday, the door shut with the mutt inside.

"It was a huge relief," Greening said. "The fact that it happened and he was finally safe and secure, it just meant the world to us."

'Most people thought we were crazy'

Greening says the rescue effort was expensive and a lot of work. She even made food a few times a day to lure him to the trap.

"We know most people thought we were crazy for doing what we were doing, or they thought we would never catch the dog," she said. 

Greening says she made the effort because she wants to see the dog lead a happy life.

"It's just what we do."

With that said, she hopes she doesn't have to repeat the experience.

"Our longest case prior to this was 34 days. 126 days is definitely a new record and we hope to never repeat it again."