| 10/29/2007 9:07:00 AM | Email this article • Print this article | Dogs return home
Pippin and Merry stayed with and guarded their owner, Gary Lorenz, almost a month until his body was found by a hunter Oct. 20 and the canines were returned home.
Each of the golden retrievers lost about nine pounds, but were otherwise in good medical condition, Lorenz's widow and daughter told The Mountain Mail Friday.
Lorenz disappeared Sept. 24 and the dogs were with him. Officials determined his death date was Sept. 29, making it at least three weeks after he died the dogs remained with their master.
"We always had a little hope," Sandee Lorenz, Gary's widow, said. "We thought they were gone too."
She said finding the 3-year-old dogs, brother and sister, is "bittersweet" because she and her daughter, Deanna Lorenz, were glad the dogs were found, but were sad to lose Gary.
"We feel the lord has been very merciful, sending them back to me," Sandee said. "We felt the dogs were with Gary and helped him pass from this life to the next."
Deanna was going to give Sandee one of her dogs if Pippin and Merry didn't survive.
They each lost 9 pounds and "were very hungry and very thirsty" after they were found, Sandee said. She said initially she fed them every few hours so they wouldn't over-eat.
Sandee and Deanna took the dogs to a veterinarian Oct. 22 and learned they were apparently healthy.
Deanna said, "Merry was a little overweight before she disappeared, so we're trying to keep her about where she is now.
"Merry had a slight limp, but it's been improving during the last few days."
She said she wasn't sure what (the dogs) were eating, other than berries, but noted dogs can go for several days without water.
Had either of the dogs been alone with Lorenz, Sandee said she didn't think they would have survived.
Sandee said helicopters flew over where the dogs were many times during the search, but Gary was lying against a tree, partially hidden by a rock. The dogs may have been leaning up against Gary, she said. Searchers told her they heard barking occasionally, but assumed it may have come from dogs at a nearby house.
"The searchers and rescue team combed the area the best they could," Deanna said.
In addition to weight loss, Sandee said she has noticed a change in Pippin's attitude. He became "more aggressive," she said.
"We noticed Pippin is very aware of what's going on. He's growling more."
Sandee said this wasn't the first time the dogs were lost. When they were about 6 months old, they wandered off for three days.
She said she and Gary were "frantic. The dogs never went out exploring again."
Deanna said people in Salida, Cañon City and Cotopaxi have been "very supportive. People all have prayers and hugs and nice words. With the amount of effort people have put in, we feel like we're part of a huge family.
"Their care and concern and overwhelming awe for what these dogs have done, has just been so touching."
Sandee said it helped the dogs were supportive of each other.
"Pippin would never leave Gary and Merry would never leave Pippin," she said.
Sandee and Gary got the dogs from a friend who worked with her at Heart of the Rockies Regional Medical Center in Salida.
"They were amazing puppies because they were so docile," she said. "They weren't really hyper, not high-strung."
As a treat for their loyalty, Merry and Pippin were bathed and groomed, free, at Wag-N-Tails in Poncha Springs.
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