Facebook Helps A New York Couple Find Their Dog 22 Days After He Went Missing In Maine

July 31, 2015

A dog named Popeye, whose escape from a house in Freeport, Maine on July 3 sparked its own Facebook page, is finally home.

Courtesy of Rod Salguero & Ashley Perkins

Owners Rod Salguero and Ashley Perkins of Brooklyn, New York, visited Freeport every weekend since Popeye's disappearance.

Maine Lost Dog Recovery volunteers and Brunswick Animal Control Officer Heidi Nelson helped end Popeye's 22-day adventure. They set several traps, posters and cameras around Freeport and Brunswick, Maine. The "Find Popeye" Facebook page, meanwhile, drew over 2,000 subscribers.

The Facebook subscribers reported about 25 Popeye sightings.

"I put food out close to that area of Spring Street and by the tracks," wrote Star Cooper.

"We saw him on Union Street yesterday," wrote Jessica Brooks. "Me and my dog went on a long walk with treats hoping to see him."

Courtesy of Rod Salguero & Ashley Perkins

Volunteers were unsuccessful at capturing Popeye because missing dogs, particularly a jittery canine like Popeye, develop tunnel vision and flee strangers once cut off from familiarity.

But with plenty of sightings and tips from Facebook, Rod and Ashley finally found their beloved pup.

"He just started whimpering and whining and made a beeline right for me," Rod said. "You could tell he had been looking for me the whole time. His pace before [he saw Salguero] was very methodical and slow and he was looking around and checking his environment."

A veterinarian who checked the dog on Saturday said that aside from having lost about a third of his body weight and being very tired, Popeye was in good shape.

Via BDN.