FALL RIVER: Vader the dog greets me excitedly as I come through the doorway at the Stapleton home on Martyn Drive in Fall River on Jan. 10.
That’s a refreshing sign given the ordeal the six-year-old—soon to be seven—pup went through for six days. Vader disappeared after hearing early New Years Eve fireworks on Dec. 31, as her human dad Tom was picking up firewood from outside the family’s home. She was not on a leash at the time.
“We’re so happy to have her back home,” said Nancy Stapleton with a smile for days on her face.
The doggie was missed so much that Sweetie Pie, the family’s cat, licked her wounds and snuggled right in on the dog bed next to Vader.
Vader was missing for six days before being spotted by concerned and helpful residents in the Sunnylea Drive, Wellington area. A day earlier she had thought to have been spotted by the tracks along Windsor Junction Road, but was scared off by something.
“For the first few days, we did a lot of calling for her hoping to lure her out,” said Stapleton. “At that point, we feared she was dead. I didn’t understand the kind of survival skills that they had as animals, so I was just thinking of my house pet out there in the wild and the changing weather we had.”
Stapleton was in constant back-and-forth communication with the N.S. Lost Dog Network.
“I told them that we were just distraught,” she said. “They told us there was a very good chance she was alive and she was just in survival mode.”
That survival mode includes switching out of pet mode, meaning they could call her name til they were blue in the face but she wasn’t even recognizing that; or recognize the family or their voices.
Stapleton said for any others in the same predicament to contact the Lost Dog Network as they have a wealth of knowledge.
“I think it’s important for people who lose their pets tor each out to organizations that have the knowledge and information on what to do,” she said. “They were phenomenal for us.”
She said she couldn’t drive for 45 minutes after locating Vader in Wellington, thanks to community members Vivian Collier and Paul MacDonald-Miles of Fall River. Vivian saw what she thought was Vader while out for a drive in the area.
Sure enough it was Vader.
“I couldn’t believe we had found her,” said Stapleton.
She described how she went about luring Vader back.
“I setup a little comfort station by the church in Wellington,” said Stapleton. “Vivian said she saw her by the little apartment building off of Highway 2 by the tracks.
“I laid down a blanket and some McDonald’s cheeseburgers and went and sat in the car.”
It was a lengthy wait at that.
“About 40 minutes later I saw Vader really low to the ground sniffing around,” Stapleton recalled. “I had to hold myself back from getting out of the car and going to get her. I wasn’t going to let her out of my sight so I got out of the car and went and sat on the ice with another burger.
“Vader started sniffing it through the area and still looked like a wild dog. And then she spotted me. I could see her switch from wild dog to knowing who I was. She bolted towards me and I grabbed her and got her in the car.”
When asked where she went, Vader wasn’t saying. She was keeping that information to herself and was only willing to give some happy licks.
Outside of being a bit sluggishfor a couple days, Vader only came away with a couple of scratches and a minor infection.
“She’s back to herself now, eating, playing and interacting,” said Stapleton.
The family is ever grateful to the local community.
“Words aren’t enough for us to express our thanks to the community who helped us and how much it meant,” said Tom.
