Pocatello family searching for daughter’s missing service dog - East Idaho News
Pocatello

Pocatello family searching for daughter’s missing service dog

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POCATELLO — For Ryan Davis, this year’s Thanksgiving ended in a desperate scramble to locate his daughter’s missing service dog.

The Pocatello man was in the backyard of his home near North 12th Avenue and East Oak Street when the sounds of exploding fireworks in the distance startled Mina, the family’s 4-year-old Black Mouth Cur.

Davis said the noise scared Mina so much that she ran off into the night, leading to a search involving Davis’ family and friends that lasted until 2 in the morning. Unfortunately, the search came up empty.

It’s been two weeks since Mina was last seen and Davis is asking for the public’s help in locating the family’s beloved canine.

Davis and his fiance, Heather Butterfield, adopted Mina two years ago while the family was living in Hawaii. When Davis and Butterfield moved to Pocatello last year, the friendly and skittish canine came along with them.

Davis said Mina is a licensed service dog that provides support to the family’s 16-year-old daughter, and now that frigid weather has arrived in Pocatello, the situation is becoming more and more desperate.

“I’m hoping somebody took her in at this point because it would be horrible for her if she’s been outside all this time,” Davis said.

Davis and Butterfield have been checking all the animal shelters in Pocatello and Chubbuck, joined multiple lost pet pages on Facebook and placed an ad on Craigslist. Though the dog is still missing, there have been some promising leads, including a possible sighting in the area of West Siphon and Philbin roads.

Mina weighs approximately 40 pounds and is tan with black coloring on her snout, mouth and ears. She has a habit of chewing on her tail when she is nervous, so part of her tail is usually devoid of hair.

If anybody sees Mina, Davis has a few guidelines on how to approach her. Though the dog is friendly, she is more likely to respond to women and girls. Davis said that Mina has always shown signs that she was abused before she was adopted, and she tends to be wary of men carrying inanimate objects.

She also loves to play with tennis balls, and though she is timid around dogs bigger than her, she loves being around puppies.

Mina is also very skittish and often hides when she is scared, so Davis said it is possible that Mina could have found shelter in a backyard shed or under a porch.

Anybody with knowledge of Mina’s whereabouts is asked to call Davis at 808-494-4815. Though Davis said he doesn’t have a lot of money for a reward, he does work as a handyman and is offering eight hours of his services to anybody who helps locate his family’s dog.

The article was originally published in the Idaho State Journal. It is used here with permission.

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