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EMMA and friend SAMMY

TOM plays with BELLA, SAMMY and EMMA

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Emma learns to stay home

ON CHRISTMAS EVE, 2006, Tom Riel and Judy Barela witnessed a miracle. Emma was back! After 3 long months on her own, the 3 ½ -year old Black Labrador returned to the couple's front yard in rural Salem. She drank thirstily and ate hungrily. Then Emma was gone again. She would remain “at large” for another 4 months. Their Christmas miracle became a Christmas mirage.

Judy Barela is a nurse at the MacLaren Youth Correctional Facility in Woodburn, Oregon. She observed Emma with trainer Annie Ingersoll walking the grounds. As Judy approached Emma, Emma would hide behind Annie. Often, Judy saw Emma with her youth trainer, Matt. Again, as Judy approached, Emma would hide behind Matt. Only rarely would Emma eye Judy. Judy knew that Emma had been terribly abused by owners who previously abused another dog. Judy worried that Emma's shyness might make her too difficult to place in an adoptive home.

“When I tried to approach her, she would hide behind Annie. She was panicked.”Judy related. “She was scared to death and seemed to try to grab the ground (in an effort to hide).” Although Judy was unable to get close enough to touch her, she noticed that Emma “hadn’t a mean bone in her body. She seemed docile.”

Tom and Judy “weren’t looking to adopt”another dog. The Barelas already had 3 dogs and 3 cats. Sammy the Dachshund, Bella the Chihuahua, and the old Bassett Hound shared the queen sized bed with Cooper the gigantic cat and his 2 feline friends. (After the Basset passed away, Fritz, the Chinese Crested, was adopted from POOCH). “Sometimes Tom ended up sleeping on the floor!” Judy joked.

Nevertheless, the Tom and Judy decided to adopt Emma in late October. Though Emma accepted the other pets, she was “hyper aware” of all humans and immediately chose to live in the bathroom, attempting unsuccessfully to hide behind the toilet. Tom would carry her to the yard to “potty” in the morning and at night. “She tried to dig herself into the ground,” Judy noticed. She was so very afraid.

As was a daily habit, when Tom and Judy came home from work, the dogs would greet them at the front door and jump up for hugs and love. On the third day, to their shocked surprise, Emma also dashed to the door at a dead run---and she just kept on running.

Well after nightfall, Tom and Judy found Emma and “cornered her.” However, Emma refused to come to them. Two days passed. They searched. Judy spied Emma and chased her down Liberty Street in Salem. Judy “grabbed a ride with a woman” - a complete stranger-who asked if she might help out. The chase ended in disappointment.

Emma retreated into the fields in the surrounding rural neighborhood. Tom and Judy started to stake out places where they-or their neighbors-had seen Emma. Tom invested in night-vision goggles. Judy quips “I think he really wanted a pair anyway!” They visited the Humane Society daily. They continued to search. Neighbors continued to search. They posted and handed out over 500 fliers.

Both Tom and Judy were concerned that Emma would become hungry and thirsty. As time passed, they decided to set up a trap for her in their garden room. The large food bowl was always full to the brim. Indeed, Emma did come to the food bowl. Tom and Judy both observed her eating. Emma, ever cunning, would manage to eat without setting off the trapdoor in the garden room. Cooper, the cat, however, was less fortunate, entrapping himself numerous times while eating his favorite delicacy-dog food!

Two weeks later, Tom and Judy became aware that no more food was being eaten. Emma vanished completely. Their frustration became anguish. Winter was close. They borrowed a POOCH dog Emma had been close to in an effort to help in the search. They also borrowed a T-shirt from Emma’s youth trainer, Matt, to spread a “friendly” scent around the area.

All efforts were for naught until Christmas Eve, when Emma made her brief homecoming visit. Tom and Judy put out food and water 300 feet from the house. She ate and drank, morning and night, disappearing for the rest of the time. Of course, Cooper the cat also ate the food. Emma seemed to be telling her adopters that she cared for them but she was still very frightened. When the food and water bowls became too close to the house, Emma once again disappeared.

A neighbor offered to erect a kennel, one panel at a time, baited with food, water and Emma’s favorite squeeze toys. “We put up one panel around the food;” all 6 were eventually put up. “The door was used by Emma,” Judy related. The food was being consumed! The door was rigged with a rope, which was to be lowered from the house by Tom and Judy when Emma was inside the kennel. Unfortunately, when the door went down, Emma was spooked by the noise. She was gone.

The kennel remained in the backyard. Fresh food and water were always on hand. Also handy were a collar, a leash, and a blanket. The couple continued to watch and to wait. It was now late April; the bright sky of the Oregon springtime offered new hope. So it was fitting that Emma would return just before dawn one Sunday morning; she would return to the kennel to eat and to drink. Judy awoke to the commotion in the kennel and hurried to release the rope to close the door and to entrap Emma. Even though the rope had lost its tension over the long winter, it worked! Later, Tom and Judy would discover that the latch was broken.

Emma “was growly.” Judy and Tom spent nearly 3 hours inside the pen with her. They patiently waited and approached Emma very cautiously, putting on her collar and her leash. “Emma would not move,” Judy offered. Together, Tom and Judy carefully wrapped Emma in the blanket and carried her inside, where she spent the first month living in the bathroom and being carried to the yard twice a day. Emma has “slowly started to adjust.” She readily accepts the other family members. She initially left the bathroom and progressed only as far as the bedroom floor. She “made baby steps” down the hallway, peeking into different rooms along the way to the living room. Then, she would return to the bedroom. In the last month or so, Emma has been “hanging out in the living room and (she) jumps up on the sofa” according to Judy. She now wants to eat with the other dogs as opposed to eating alone in the bathroom. Judy observes that Emma “takes cues from (the) other dogs.”

At nearly 4 years of age, Emma is “getting feisty now.” She is less tolerant of the teeth-brushing and nail-clipping sessions. She loves to play with toys and to have her belly rubbed; she tolerates noises much better now. Although she is a bit timid around strangers, “she’s a complete love.” She relished her daily walks and is quite social.

The neighbor who built the backyard kennel used his tractor to rebuild the kennel outside the front door. The latch is new. Emma greets Tom and Judy each evening-inside the kennel of love and protection. “We are so amazed that we finally caught her,” Judy exclaimed. Emma is so lucky to have finally been caught!