Dogged Determination

HANAPEPE – If dogs could talk, then one recently recovered Jagdterrier named Shadow would have an ear full of stories to tell after being lost on Kauai for eight months.

If not for the astute eye and memory of a groundskeeper at the Pacific Missile Range Facility, Shadow never would have found her way home.

“We noticed something knocking over the trash cans at Majors Bay pavilion,” said Eric Tumamao, the PMRF employee.

Not knowing if it was wild boars or a dog wrangling up trouble, Tumamao and his co-worker set a trap using dog food as bait.

But nothing happened.

“Then we put in some scraps from the garbage cans thinking that would catch ‘em real quick,” said Tumamao, who has rarely seen dogs while working at PMRF for the past four years.

Rare or not, the bait proved ideal.

The groundskeeper and his co-worker trapped a dog resembling one Tumamao remembered seeing on a lost dog Craigslist posting.

The terrier was one of a litter of five born six years ago. Shadow’s puppy sisters and brothers are spread out around the island and living in Puhi, Kekaha and Kapaa.

Jasmine Mariano Hardy, Shadow’s owner, has no idea how the dog survived eight months away from home but is extremely grateful to islanders, as well as tourists, who supported her and called whenever they spotted a roaming black dog, in hopes it was Shadow.

“Until I learned otherwise, I wasn’t going to give up hope,” the Hanapepe woman said.

Because Hardy was born and raised on Kauai, she had a broad circle of support, which got even broader as word spread that the dog had run off through social media.

“Tourists would send me text messages or write to me on Facebook saying they had spotted her,” Hardy said.

Dog lovers’ concerns from as far away as Oregon and Colorado poured in as Hardy and her friends put up fliers and searched for Shadow far and wide on the island.

The story started in June 2013, two weeks after Hardy’s mother died unexpectedly of cancer. Trying to cheer up his wife after the tragic loss, Keith Hardy dragged Jasmine out of the house, where she had been holed up for several weeks mourning the loss of her mother. Usually, the family takes in the beauty of Glass Beach, but for a change they traveled to Queen’s Pond that day with Shadow following along on her leash. Identification tags with her license number were secure and her embedded microchip was in place.

But when Hardy set Shadow free for a run, the terrier didn’t return.

“We walked everywhere on the beach searching for her,” said Hardy. “We put up fliers, we put an ad in The Garden Island, and we posted pictures of her on Craigslist.”

Reports show that about one out of every three pets nationwide is lost each year. That adds up to more than 5 million lost pets.

With odds like those and as months lapsed, the likelihood of ever seeing Shadow again were unlikely.

And as the false sightings mounted, it was hard to keep up hope.

But Tumamao’s persistence to catch whatever it was that was knocking over all the rubbish paid off. And Shadow’s hunger to survive had saved her life as well, because it was that hunger that landed her trapped.

“When we first approached her she was scared and shaking so we gave her some water,” said Tumamao. “By the time the owner got to the base, Shadow had calmed down. It was really cool to see the owner because she was so happy.”

Hardy recognized her four-legged loved one immediately with one slight difference.

“She was so much fatter than when she ran away,” Hardy said.

The resourceful dog is back to chasing roosters and lizards in Hardy’s back yard and slobbering the owner with kisses.

“When I put her into her bed in the garage at night now,” said Hardy. “She puts her paw around me to give me a hug.”

As far as the hero that found Shadow, the rescue was all part of what he considers to be his philosophy on life: “Showing God’s love to everybody every day in everything you do.”

• Lisa Ann Capozzi can be reached at lcapozzi@thegardenisland.com.