Zak and the SPCR spoo group

For those of you that don't know, I'm an active member of an online poodle flickr photo group. No, I'm in no way a professional photographer, but there are professionals in the group - all 578 members just share an interest in standard poodles. In the nearly 3 years I've been a part of the group, I've seen selfless acts by members, reaching out to help people they've never met in person, some in other countries even. When someone's poodle, or spoo as they're often called, is in trouble - sick, missing, or lost, the group comes together helping any way they can, sometimes with encouraging words or even monetary gifts. When a spoo has a great achievement, like winning in a show or simply a good day of potty training, the group comes together to share in the joy. I've been honored to be involved during many of these ups and downs.
We've even had poodle meetups and met people through the group. DH and I drove about 2 hours one way while we were in CA to meet Jeff and Tracy of the group and their many spoos. They had also visited my MIL here in FL last year. Next month, we'll have our annual poodle-palloza as DH likes to call it, where spoos (and their people) will come to visit for a full day of fun with poodles! Last year, they came from everywhere: FL's panhandle, FL's west coast, and even Canada and Illinois! This photo above is from last year's meetup. It was taken late in the day after some people had already left - 11 spoos just in that pic!

The most recent show of support from our poodle group involved a spoo named Zak (that's a photo of him up there). He's a 4 year old champion show dog that was away for a ski weekend near Alpental Ski Area in Washington State with his human. She came back after a day of skiing on Saturday to discover the cabin door open and all 3 dogs missing. 2 of the dogs were found later that day, but Zak was still missing. Our group suggested to get the local news to do a human interest story on Zak for exposure. After 24 hours of searching, Zak had only been spotted 1 time in the backcountry. Everyone was worried about him because there had been 3 feet of snow since Saturday and his current show cut (bare butt!). We posted all across the web, in many spoo groups and also groups around the area he was last seen. They had helicopters out looking for him. Rescue/Avalanche dogs were available but the weather was so bad it was not safe for them to go out.

Finally, Tuesday afternoon, 2 backcountry skiers who had heard about the missing dog on KING 5 News, heard a barking in the distance. Gabe Newton and friend Matt Glaser searched for 1.5 hours and finally came across Zak in a makeshift den in a deep ravine, miles away from where he went missing. He was cold, but followed the guys to a pass where he was reunited with his person. MSNBC and CNN even got in to report on the good news. (photos from the news story)

He's doing well, slight irritation near his wrists where he was probably tried to gnaw away forming snowballs on his fur. He's eating and drinking fine. After a vet check, no frostbite, no wounds, he is hydrated, lost some weight but he is basically OK. Ever since he's been back, he's been a constant shadow to his people. So glad it turned out to be a happy ending! Look for the news story on Inside Edition, a TV News/Entertainment Magazine maybe early next week!