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Dog-gone truth is out there
LOST DOG: Tasha was nearly home when fate tragically intervened

Peter Clough
The Province

Sunday, May 29, 2005

CREDIT: Ric Ernst, The Province
Marlene Dube reflects on her late Shar-Pei, Tasha, lost by a dog walker and later struck down and killed by a car on King George Highway.

Only dog owners will understand Marlene Dube's reaction to losing her beloved Tasha.

We'll call this canine mystery The Curious Incident of the Dog That Went Missing in the Park and Was Guided Home By a Pet Psychic -- Or Almost.

Dube, boss to 60 employees at Delta's Mayday Cleaning Services, became so busy that she hired a professional dog walker earlier this month for her pure-bred Shar-Pei.

Until the case is settled, all we can say is that there was some sort of miscommunication between Dube and dog walker Deanna Fellows over Tasha's temperament. Dube says she has never, ever let Tasha off her leash -- not even in the back yard -- and she insists she told that to Fellows.

Fellows says she received no such instructions. In any case, shortly after picking up Tasha and taking her down to Surrey's Tynehead Park, Fellows thought it would be a great idea to let Tasha go for a run.

Tasha kept running.

Dube was devastated. She put ads in the papers and printed 700 flyers. She enlisted the help of K-9 International Search and Rescue, a world-renowned Oregon company that charges $200 US an hour to search for missing pets.

Most promising of all, Dube contacted Annette Betcher, a pet psychic in Port Orchard, Wash., who had already given her valuable insights into Tasha's shyness around humans. For eight agonizing days, Betcher communicated telepathically with Tasha and passed along instructions from Dube's phone calls.

"We knew that Tasha would not go to anybody," says Dube. "So we told her to tell Tasha to make herself visible, to let people see her."

Betcher says she formed a link with Tasha through the energy that emanates from her name. The first thing Tasha told her was that she was still in her body.

"I told Marlene that Tasha had left the park and was trying to find her way home in really bad traffic," says Betcher, who charges $65 US per session. "I was trying to get the dog to get out of the road."

In the meantime, the breeder who had sold the dog to Dube in the first place offered the services of Tasha's mom, Ruby. The idea was that if they took Ruby to Tynehead, she'd be able to sniff out her pup's trail.

"The courier brings the dog, takes her out of the car, hands me the leash, the leash slips off her head like it's a scarf and she's gone," Dube added.

Now this is a whole other missing dog story which we won't get into.

On day seven, Dube is informed by the pet psychic that Tasha is deliriously close to home. That night Dube gets a call from a woman in Cloverdale who's seen a "gorgeous dog looking up at me from my back yard." Tasha. By the time Dube arrives, she's gone.

Early the next morning there's another call. A woman has spotted Tasha at King George Highway and 44th Avenue. "I went right over there," says Dube. "I missed her by 15 minutes. That's exactly where she was killed . . . She was so close. . . So close."

Now Dube is demanding Fellows, the dog walker, pay her the $1,500 it cost to look for Tasha. Dube went round to her home and knocked on the door. "I told her that if she did not agree to my proposal that I would take very aggressive legal action," says Dube. She's talking small claims court.

The dog walker has offered to buy Dube a puppy but says she won't pay for pet detectives and pet psychics.

"I don't believe in a pet psychic that you phone in Washington," says Fellows. "How ridiculous is that?"

In the meantime, Tasha's mom, Ruby, is still missing.

If you've seen her, please contact the local SPCA.