A lost dog brings out the best in the community

By Rose Sgarlato
SPARTA — A golden retriever named Lily, brought to its new home in Sparta on a Monday, escaped from the fenced-in yard on Tuesday, and brought the community together in searching for her.
“It takes a village,” Joy Schmitz kept saying over and over as she told the story about the recent journey of her newly adopted golden retriever.
The Schmitz family has lived in the same house on Sawmill Road for the past 30 years and consider themselves golden retriever people. About a month ago their beloved dog Kali passed away at 12 -years -old. And before Kali was Hannah — all goldens. And although Joy wasn’t looking to move forward so fast, after speaking with her golden retriever network, an opportunity came up that she jumped on.
“ I contacted my local breeder Sandy and said I am heartbroken, but if a Hannah situation comes up, let me know,” she said.
Hannah was a ‘rehomed’ dog. Joy’s decision to move on became easier when she learned about Lily and how Lily needed a new home.
“Lily has had three litters under the care of Dodi and Walter in Rhode Island and would now be ready to be rehomed,” said Joy. “ We felt this was meant to be.”
So she and her husband Fred met the Rhode Island breeder in upstate New York on their way back from Vermont to bring home their fifth golden retriever 6-year-old Lily. Lily arrived at her new home in Sparta last Monday night, Jan. 2.
After Lily’s first two-mile morning walk the next day in the neighborhood with Joy, the owner and dog were back in the fenced in yard. At about 11 AM, Joy took her eye off Lily for a minute to fix a dog lead. She turned around and Lily was gone.
A completely fenced in perimeter with a gate encloses the Schimtz backyard, but Lily managed to escape through a very small section of weakened mesh, probably about 10 –inches high that goes from the bottom of the fence to the ground.
“No dog has ever jumped over the fence or gotten through the gate. We knew she was nervous; she had come from a breeder with 11 dogs and now she was in a new place alone, but this had never happened before,” said Fred Schmitz, who was at work at the time when his wife called him saying “she’s gone.”
The second call that Joy made was to Sparta Police and animal control.
“And that’s when the search began. Rick Smith of the Sparta Police and Don Crichlaw of Animal Control were with me the entire day. There were many sightings of Lily circling the in and out of woods nearby,” said Joy.
Joy began driving around giving people in the area her phone number-the search grew especially when soon thereafter she posted on Facebook a photo of Lily with instructions on how to reel a dog in: “do not chase her and assume a submissive position.”
“So many shared my post and that’s when the search really took off,” said Joy. “By 7 PM that night, it was foggy and there was an army of people coming out bringing flashlights,” she said. “ And it wasn’t just from Sparta, people who own golden retrievers were coming thinking dogs will entice dogs-one woman came from Jefferson.”
The dog was sighted many times during the first day, the latest was at 11 PM. Joy says she was in ‘freak-out mode.” A lot of bacon was cooked up to give out to helpers if they saw Lily , and Joy slept vigil by her front door all night after the couple called it quits for that night at 4 AM.
“I kept going to this are with a lot of trees that has some marshes and wetlands. Our concern was it was going to get cold-she could get hurt,” said Fred.
At that point the weather was fairly warm but soon the rain and cold would come.
By Wednesday morning after a quick coffee, they received another call from a neighbor Andy that Lily was sighted.
“She was like Houdini-there and gone,” said Fred. “She was even on someone’s deck who tried to get her to come in and she bolted.”
Later that morning at around 11 am, Lily was sighted near St. Mary’s Episcopal Church on Conestoga, less than a mile from the Schmitz home. Fred drives over to the church and sees the dog cutting across the road. A mailman got in the mix.
“I was trying to herd her to keep her from running to Woodport Road where there is so much traffic. And then I see a mailman running down a road chasing her trying to help,” said Fred. “ Even a UPS guy got involved.”
Lily kept on escaping to an area that was inaccessible by foot that no one could really see.
By this time Lily’s previous owner Walter arrived from Rhode Island. They took Walter to the vantage point to see if Lily would respond to his voice. Joy remained at home calling it command central. Reports were coming in that Lily was running still, but limping. Now the temp has lowered and it was raining.
At around 10 pm Wednesday night Joy and Fred’s daughter Lindsay pulled in the driveway returning from her search. As Lindsay was on her cell phone in her parked car in the driveway, she saw Lily make her way back to their yard. Lindsay quietly entered the backyard trying not to scare Lily, but Lily left again the same way she got out the first time.
“It was very frustrating, but at the same time we were hopeful that she knew where her home was,” said Joy.
Another night of no sleep and no luck ensued. But between Facebook and the Golden Retriever network, the search was growing.
By Thursday 9:30 AM there was another sighting of Lily and this time a tracker joined the picture.
A woman named Rosemary from Freehold NJ with a tracking dog Hope came up to Sparta unsolicited by the Schmitz. And she did not ask for a fee or expect it.
“This was truly an amazing experience to see this dog Hope in action. We had Lily’s old collar from Walter, Hope smells Lily’s collar and then follows the tracks.”
At this point it’s about 48 hours later, but things were starting to move quickly. Between the help of the breeder Walter and the tracker, there was some momentum.
And at about 11 am on Thursday, a dog walker called Joy saying he was looking at Lily. They urged him to stay there and wait until Joy and Walter arrived. Still, no Lily.
But not too long after when Joy returned home, a neighbor called who saw Lily entering the Schmitz backyard. Joy quietly closed the back gate and walked onto the deck with her back to Lily who this time followed.
“ When Lily was ready she came home on her own terms,” said Joy.
Joy retold the story with tears in her eyes about afterwards seeing Hope the tracking dog go up to Lily and kiss her and in return Lily kissed Hope.
“Hope needed closure, said her owner. She had to know that Lily was safe-it was one of the most beautiful things I have seen,” Joy said.
The list is too long to thank everyone who contributed to the search and Fred and Joy Schmitz are overwhelmed by the community outpouring and to those that came from far away, too.
“Every piece of the puzzle helped — it takes a village, it takes a village,” said Joy. “I am so grateful to the Sparta Police and all the people who came out to help, to the people who prayed to the people who reached out to me — I have never experienced anything like this before.”
Lily has been to the vet and has a clean bill of health. The Schmitzes are grateful and happy to have their ‘inquisitive, smart and clever dog back’ and can enjoy a true homecoming.