By Lasia Kretzel

Warman officer rescues missing dog

Jan 10, 2015 | 1:01 PM

It may have been part of his job, but an animal control officer in Warman went above and beyond for a lost dog. 

Bailey the dog was staying with family friends on an acreage near Dalmeny over Christmas when she went missing nearby on Boxing Day.

Frantic, the family put up posters and even cut up bits of cloth with their scent on them to guide Bailey home. The parents thought of cancelling their trip to Hawaii but bylaw and animal control officer Wade Eberle told them he was on it.

Eberle put his number on the lost posters and took it upon himself to investigate every possible sighting. He said it was hard to get a call and feel excited, only to find out it was a coyote and not a collie. 
 
“You are thinking the worst. You are thinking a domestic dog out in fields, is she going to last against the elements?” Eberle said, adding temperatures in the area dipped to -40 C wind chills. 

Finally, on Thursday, 12 days after Bailey’s disappearance, Eberle got a call from a friend who said he spotted the dog in his yard. The pair tracked Bailey’s footprints, which were bloodied from frostbite, for half an hour to a field where they spotted her. 
 
“When I did see her, it was like your heart just raced,” Eberle said.

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The skittish dog was reluctant to come when called so they managed to corner and catch her. 

With twigs and burs in her matted fur and frostbite on the pads of her feet, Bailey was taken to an animal clinic in Warman.
 
“We got her out of the van and into the clinic and I just sort of broke down a bit. It was pretty emotional,” Eberle said with a chuckle. 

He contacted the parents by email while their children picked up a cleaned and bandaged Bailey and brought her home on Friday.

“It’s just what I do,” Eberle said, adding he got lots of help from people who called in, even if the sightings weren’t always of a dog. “My job isn’t the best of jobs because I do the bylaw enforcement so this animal control part works really well.”

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