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50 °F Forecast | Road Cams Sunday, April 17, 2005 Today's News | Shop Our Valley | Tempo | Health | Community | Home Delivery | Contact Us SECTIONS Home Page Local News Sports Business Obituaries Life Opinion Tempo AP News Weather Classified Archives Site Map SPECIAL SECTIONS Since We Asked Outdoor Journal Menu Guide How To Guide Health Readers' Choice Real Estate Showcase Real Estate Guide Joy Magazine Homelife Magazine Wedding Guide Passport to the Rogue Valley SHOP OUR VALLEY AutoFinder HomeFinder JobFinder Classified Place an ad TOP JOBS EXTRA Ashland News NIE Personals Movie Times TV Times E The People Volunteer Moving here? eSouthernOregon CUSTOMER SERVICE FAQ's Advertise with us Home Delivery Employment Contact Us Media Kit Oregon Road Conditions & Cams Email Story to a Friend April 16, 2005 Diane Rogers of the Applegate cuddles her dog Sasha after a mysterious two-year absence. Sasha was found in Bend and returned to her owner on Wednesday. Mail Tribune / Roy Musitelli Doggone mystery An Applegate woman and her traveling canine are reunited after two long years By BUFFY POLLOCK for the Mail Tribune Two years after her beloved dog Sasha unexpectedly disappeared, Applegate resident Diane Rogers is once again hearing the pitter-patter of her now 9-year-old canine’s furry feet. Rogers and Sasha were reunited in Bend on Wednesday, some 200 miles away from the home on Upper Applegate Road where she disappeared so long ago. How the husky-collie-wolf mix made it so far is a mystery to all involved. Whether she was thrilled to see the woman who raised her from a puppy is a no-brainer. Advertisement "It was great," said Rogers on Friday. "I sat down on the couch (in Bend) and she came up to me, sniffed my nose, then smelled my feet and started wagging her tail. She had to check my shoes first to be sure. "Now it’s like she’s never been gone. She hasn’t stopped wagging her tail and sniffing everything. She’s just so content to be home." When Sasha disappeared, Rogers said she was heartbroken. She didn’t know whether the dog, which she adopted at four weeks, "actually ran away or somebody picked her up because they liked her." When Sasha was found on March 29 by Bend resident Susan Chimiuk Atcheson, the dog was very much alone, with sores on her feet and in need of a good grooming. Atcheson found Sasha outside the office of the call center where she is a vice president and quickly set about deciphering Sasha’s story from the three tags dangling from her collar. One read "Tyler Pierce," and listed a disconnected phone number in Eugene. Another read "Rogers" and listed another disconnected number. Atcheson mobilized the staff at the call center to phone every Pierce and Rogers in the phone book, leaving hundreds of messages. "Boy, did I get a lot of calls," Atcheson said. "But they were all to say, ‘Gee, that’s great that you’re doing this, but it’s not our dog."’ A third tag, an expired registration from Jackson County, included an address for Rogers. Though Atcheson said she had largely given up hope — as had Rogers two years earlier — she wrote the Applegate woman a brief letter and dropped it in the mail. Days later, her phone rang with a stunned Rogers on the other end. "I was so lucky that Susan pursued it as far as she did," Rogers said. "When she called the local pound and they found out the former owner had changed her number, they said, ‘She’s a stray, we’ll take her,’ and Susan said, ‘Oh no!’ " Sasha returned to her owner with new skills, knowing how to sit, stay and come on command. "She was a real brat at home," Rogers said. "Someone must have trained her." Atcheson said she looked for Sasha’s owner because years ago she lost a dog and someone found it for her. "You have to do the karma thing," she said. Following Wednesday’s reunion, for which Atcheson prepared Sasha with a trip to a dog groomer, Rogers is keeping close tabs on her long-lost companion. "I’m just really glad to have her home," Rogers said. "She just keeps going around sniffing everything. I’m sure she remembers this place. She was only a month old when I got her. She grew up here. "I’m just happy that now she can have the rest of her life where she belongs, and not running around lost." Buffy Pollock is a freelance writer living in Medford. E-mail her at [email protected]. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Mail Tribune Home | Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life | Opinion AP News | Archives | Site Map | Community | Classified Copyright © 1997-2005 Mail Tribune, Inc. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions | Website Feedback Free Music Downloads Conference Calls - $50/Month Home Security Systems Trunks, Footlocker, Trunk, Footlockers home equity loans helzberg Distance Education Diamonds Online Poker Slippers Student Loans tcg student loan consolidation teleconferencing Memory Foam Mattress w2 forms Tatoo Tatoos Advertisement s