A lovable Saint Bernard who went missing two years ago has been reunited with his owner, thanks to a group of kindhearted volunteer animal lovers.
In April 2022, Bear got loose and escaped from his pet sitter in Colorado Springs. His family reported him missing and shared his plight on various Facebook groups, hoping to find him. Unfortunately, their efforts were in vain.
The Rescue
In July 2024, an animal law enforcement officer was alerted to a Saint Bernard sighting at a construction site in Colorado Springs. The officer got in touch with Linda Gooden—a volunteer pet lover dedicated to helping lost dogs.“We had no idea who this dog was, who it belonged to, [and] if it had an owner,“ 62-year-old Gooden told The Epoch Times. ”We just knew he had been out there for a while.”
Not long after, Florida-based Gooden reached out to her team of volunteers in Colorado Springs: Tami Thilman and Amber—to set up a trap.
At the same time, Gooden recalled seeing a post about a missing Saint Bernard a while back. A quick search revealed that one had indeed gone missing two years ago. The place where he disappeared was near the construction site.
“What are the odds?” Gooden said.
Meanwhile, Thilman scouted the area and spoke to the security at the site, obtaining permission to set up cameras. She then observed Bear’s movements electronically for a week before setting up a trap.
“She would go out there at night because the dog always made his rounds at night,” Gooden said. “I think she was out there between seven or eight at night, and she would stay till one or two in the morning.”
Soon, Thilman’s findings confirmed Gooden’s suspicions: Bear was the missing dog from two years ago.
“She got really good looks at him, and then we started comparing the markings on him,” Gooden said.
Eventually, Thilman began using snacks to lure the dog to a certain area. A week later, Amber set up a “Missy” trap—a large, humane trap designed to capture dogs—that she'd built herself. Then they put “high-value” food—rotisserie chicken or Vienna sausages—out to lure the Saint Bernard into the trap.
One day, as they were waiting in the car and observing the dog’s movements, they were surprised when after 45 minutes, he went into the trap and waited quietly.
“They both said that he was just very calm,” Gooden said. “He just kind of laid there.
“We’ve had dogs that try to climb up the trap and try to climb out of it, or they just start freaking out and start digging. But he didn’t do any of that.”
The Saint Bernard’s condition was clearly not the best. He was thin with his hip bones partially visible and his fur was dirty, muddy, and matted. However, he did not seem to be severely neglected.
“He didn’t appear to be like a dog who had been on his own for over two years,” Gooden said, speculating that someone may have taken care of him or was at least feeding him.
A Heartfelt Reunion: ‘Everything Fell Right Into Place’
After catching the dog, the volunteer team scanned his microchip and his number matched: He was Bear, the Saint Bernard who'd been missing for two years.Bear’s owner, Brandy Ross was in “total shock” but happy with the news and wanted to bring him back home to New York.
As an experienced manager of a lost-and-found pet group, Gooden has many contacts in the world of animal support. One of those was a dog boarder named Danielle Neiner, who agreed to look after Bear for two weeks until he could make the trip to New York.
After a grooming and vet check-up, they learned that, apart from his weight being down about 30 pounds, he was the very picture of health.
On Sept. 1, Traci Kathleen Monger, who runs a pet transport business out of Colorado Springs, took Bear to New York to be reunited with his family.
The reunion was heartwarming. The last time Ross had seen Bear was when he was around 3 years old.
“She came out, and she was still in disbelief,“ Gooden said “But she went up to Bear, and she was gently petting him and talking to him softly, and you could just see his tail starting to wag. He was getting excited, but he was still a little unsure.”
Bear, who is now 5, was more comfortable with Ross the next day and soon, it was obvious he knew he was home.
“He’s adjusting really well,” Gooden said.
Although Gooden has been a part of many reunions before, she says this was one she will always remember.
“Everything fell right into place, as far as knowing somebody who could trap him, somebody who could board him and keep him safe, and someone who could transport him,” she said. ”The whole universe just aligned for it to all to come together.”
