If you see this dog, Brandy, call her adoptive owner, Ilene Bilenky of Littleton at 978-952-2940 or animal-control officer Lori Rivard at 401-338-9667. courtesy photo
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Sun staff photos can be ordered by visiting our MyCapture site.
LITTLETON -- Little Brandy moves on all fours in the darkness of night, darting from one street to another.
Once the sun comes out, the brown mutt disappears into woods and often rambles along the Bruce Freeman Rail Trail. Her goal is to stay away from danger. She is so afraid of people that one might only lure her closer with some cheeseburgers.
The 14-year-old brown mutt is a fighter, said Ilene Bilenky of Littleton, who recently rescued her from a dog pound in Rhode Island. As exhausted and frightened as she seems, the dog keeps running away for now.
But "sooner or later, something's got to give," whether it's a car accident or a coyote, Bilenky said.
And she's determined to find Brandy before it's too late, with the help of fellow residents and Lori Rivard, the animal-control officer from West Warwick, R.I., who has driven 70 miles to Littleton almost nightly to help look for the dog.
Bilenky began looking for Brandy on Aug. 24, just three hours after she came home from West Warwick Animal Shelter with her newly adopted dog. Bilenky, who owns several other dogs, let Brandy out into her fenced-in backyard. Brandy, who had been confined in a shelter stall for many hours a day for the six previous months, began excitedly running around. She then pushed a gate that Bilenky had never thought dogs would be able to open and squeezed herself out, Bilenky said.
"My heart just stopped," Bilenky said.
Bilenky immediately turned to a private service that sends out a notice about missing dogs to 500 households in the owner's neighborhood. Brandy has been sighted several times since then but remains elusive.
Six hours after her escape, Brandy was sighted just three doors down from Bilenky's home but a flashlight scared her away. Hundreds of copies of Bilenky's missing-dog poster prompted many people to call her with the news of Brandy sightings in Littleton, Groton and Westford near Chelmsford and Tyngsboro borders.
Sometimes, Brandy came out, drawn to the smell of cheeseburgers and fries. But sudden noises and other things scared her away, Bilenky said. A dog trap with cheeseburgers in it, which Rivard set up in Westford under high-tension power lines -- which is the area Brandy is believed to roam often -- only caught a possum, Bilenky said.
Police in Littleton, Groton, Westford, Tyngsboro and Chelmsford are all aware that Brandy is missing. Groton police posted a note on their Facebook page, encouraging people to keep an eye out for Brandy.
In the early morning on Friday, Rivard and some volunteers were driving around looking for Brandy and saw her at Nabnasset Lake Country Club in Westford. The cheeseburger trick was working and they were about to catch Brandy when the sprinkler system suddenly turned on. It was 2 a.m., Bilenky said. Someone noticed Brandy was there again later that morning but the high-beam of a car scared her away.
Brandy appears to show up on Westford streets on trash-collection days, Bilenky said. People have spotted the dog near Route 40, which runs through Westford and Groton, and reported seeing her on Common Street in Groton about 1 p.m. on Saturday. She was seen again Monday near the country club in Westford.
"It's like a roller coaster," Bilenky said about the excitement and disappointment she has had in her search for Brandy.
The thin, shy dog weighs about 25 pounds. Bilenky is asking people not to chase Brandy because the dog is extremely scared.
Brandy, who is reddish-brown with white markings, wound up in the dog pound when her previous owner abandoned her at a veterinarian's office, according to Bilenky. Older animals are sometimes euthanized because it's hard to find homes for them, Bilenky said, but Rivard insisted on keeping Brandy alive.
"They are busting their gut for all animals but especially for this girl," Bilenky said of the efforts that West Warwick's municipal animal- shelter staff have made on behalf of Brandy.
Bilenky said residents in Littleton and its surrounding towns have shown such support, calling her with tips or just to ask her if she has found Brandy. It shows people's compassion for animals, especially ones, like Brandy, that are old and adopted.
"She deserves a good later life. A lot of us want to make sure that happens," Bilenky said.
People are asked to call Bilenky at 978-952-2940 or Rivard at 401-338-9667 if they see Brandy.
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via www.lowellsun.com/todaysheadlines/ci_24162643/littleton-woman-who-adopted-dog-needs-your-helping
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