‘Incredibly unusual’ dog survives 2-month trek in wild, found relatively 'in great shape'

INDIAN RIVER COUNTY, Florida − Facing busy roadways, natural predators, starvation, dehydration and rounds of severe weather, a dog sent a team of volunteers on a nearly two-month-long search with an “incredibly unusual” ending.

It survived.

For 50 days Blaze avoided traffic, dodged deadly wildlife and scavenged food as he roamed over roughly 10 miles of neighborhoods and rural land in southwest Indian River County, Florida.

“He was in great shape, all things considered,” said Kate Meghji, chief executive officer of the Humane Society of Vero Beach and Indian River County. “But, he also lost nearly 20 pounds when he was out there, and he was thin to begin with.”

Blaze was adopted from a shelter March 16, where he was treated following a rescue Feb. 28 from a nearly five-day stint stranded on an island in the Indian River Lagoon.

The search began the day of the adoption, when the dog jumped a fence within an hour of being in his new home with his new owner Brittany Norair.

Norair, along with a team of up to 25 volunteers including law enforcement and county animal control officers, tracked Blaze's movements along dirt roads, pastureland and canals extending roughly 2.5 miles west of her home.

All sightings stopped April 8 after an unsuccessful 20-minute pursuit pushed the dog further west.

The team was then again left with the task of finding “a needle in a haystack,” but Norair said later that month she “(would) not give up hope on this dog."

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Expecting the worst

On May 5, a real estate agent at a residential development called animal control to report an “emaciated German shepherd” inside an unfinished home, roughly 8 miles from the last sighting.

A county animal control officer coaxed the dog out.

“(Officer Rick Hall) offered him treats and was able to get a leash over his head,” Meghji said. “We all were expecting to have to do something more strenuous (but) Rick said, 'I think the dog had been out long enough'.”

Hall called Norair, who said she looked at the phone number, expecting the call was “a worst case situation.”

“You’ll never believe who I have on (a) leash, he said,” Norair said. “I just started bawling my eyes out. I couldn’t really breathe.”

Hall brought Blaze to Norair, and she said she immediately took the dog to the humane society for an evaluation.

“(Brittany) shows up to the shelter. Everybody’s in tears,” Meghji said. “We were expecting the worst.”

There was a noticeable change in demeanor from Blaze's time there following the island episode in February and again in May after the inland episode, she said.

“Last time he was here, he was not ready to be here,” Meghji said. This time she said, speaking on Blaze’s behalf: “I think I made some bad decisions. I guess hanging out with humans is just not so bad.”

Blaze was outfitted with a GPS collar and sent home with a clean bill of health aside from weight loss and anemia, for which he’ll receive the addition of chicken livers to his diet, Norair said.

After a week at home, Norair said he’d gained 4 pounds, up from only 50 the day he was found.  An adult male German Shepherd should weigh anywhere from 75 to 90 pounds, according to PawlicityAdvisor's growth and weight charts.

"This was incredibly unusual," Meghji said. "Some dogs who are fearful may try to get out (but) this is something I have not encountered very often in my career."

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Trying to catch Blaze

Norair recalled some of the measures she used to try to catch Blaze, especially after the April 8 disappearance. Following advice of a pet detective, she sat out near a canal with a propane-fired camping grill and cooked meats in the open air trying to lure the dog by scent.

When that didn’t work, the team left out buckets of potted meats mixed with wet dog food, which she said “attracted a whole (lot)” of animals, but not Blaze.

“There’s a lot of coyotes (here),” she said.

Lastly, she even resorted to using what Blaze had been seen eating in more than one reported sighting – dead opossum.

“I’m just sitting there. He’s not going to any traps - we’re putting the roadkill in the trap,” she said.

Wearing a pair of snow gloves, she said, “I picked up a dead opossum (and) we transported it on top of the vehicle” to the trap.

But even that effort was unsuccessful, and “only a couple days later I had to get that opossum out of there.”

By that time, Norair said she believed Blaze had already set out on the southward leg of his trek.

She said she’s not sure why Blaze was found at the development.

The 3-year-old dog had two previous owners, the first of which surrendered him in February, making Norair’s home Blaze’s third this year.

“I think this was more him being scared, having been in three homes in three months," she said. "He is a very well-behaved boy.”

Norair said she’s working at the suggestion of a trainer to establish trust with the dog by things like hand-feeding.

“He (now) gives me his paw when I stop petting him sitting on the couch,” she said.

“Looking back on the experience now – when I was in it, I was hyper focused – I had a mission and I stuck to that mission,” she said.

"What I learned from this was never give up hope (and there are) so many great people in this community,” she said.

Corey Arwood is a breaking news reporter for TCPalm. Follow Corey on Twitter @coreyarwood, or reach him by phone at 772-978-2246.