Golden Retriever Caught After 2 Years on the Lam (aka Golden Ghost)

Amazing dog story. And as the owner of a dog that will bolt whenever she gets the chance something that also gives me chills. Glad this one has a happy ending, and kudos to all involved in getting Sam back to his owners.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2006/04/07/national/a131211D38.DTL

Satellite tracking, helicopter surveillance and dart gun attempts failed — it was a boiled ham dinner that brought Sam, a golden retriever, in from the cold after two years on the lam.

Nicknamed the "Golden Ghost," Sam survived two New Hampshire winters, deer hunting season and being hit by a car — and still no one could catch him.

Peg and Dennis Sklarski of Deerfield adopted Sam in 2004. They say he was raised inside a chain-link fence in Tennessee, sporadically fed, but otherwise ignored by his owners until animal rescuers saved him. The Sklarskis had him only three weeks when Dennis took him to work — and Sam got loose.

What followed was two years of diligent efforts to catch the 4-year-old dog, involving everyone from local dog lovers with treats to animal rescue experts with high-tech equipment. Sam repeatedly sent them home with their tails between their legs. He survived by raiding garbage cans and as time passed, eating the food left for him by various human friends who'd learned of his plight.


GOLDEN GHOST CAPTURED!
After two years on the run Sam the Golden Retriever is finally brought home

that could never happen!

If only Sam could talk - what a tale he could tell!