AMHERST — After their Labrador retriever Kate died July 1, Jim and Nina Scott gave themselves a few months before bringing another dog into their family.
Already in touch with the Franklin County Regional Dog Shelter and Adoption Center, the Scotts were notified earlier this month that a yellow Labrador retriever, named Hannah, was at the Turners Falls kennel and ready for adoption.
“Nina and I went up on Friday, we liked the dog and on Tuesday we drove back up and picked her up,” Jim Scott said.
“She’s very handsome,” said Nina Scott, noting Hannah is a pure bred Labrador retriever.
But within hours of bringing Hannah to their home on South Mount Holyoke Drive, the Scotts’ new family member was gone, escaping with her leash still attached while being walked through the South Amherst neighborhood.
Despite an extensive search by neighbors, Animal Welfare Officer Carol Hepburn, staff from the shelter and even a professional tracker from Rhode Island, she remains missing.
Hannah was spotted Thursday afternoon, Dec. 13, in the area of Pomeroy Lane where a “have-a-heart” crate was placed with scraps of chicken and blankets in hopes she would enter it overnight. No luck.
When the Scotts got Hannah at 11 a.m. Tuesday, Dec. 11, they understood she might pose challenges, in part because the dog had been primarily used for breeding prior to arriving at the kennel.
“The problem is that dogs like that haven’t been socialized,” Nina Scott said. “She was going to be a conundrum.”
“She was extremely shy, especially with men, and obviously had not been in a car much,” James Scott said.
Nina Scott kept Hannah company in the back seat while they traveled home, and the couple immediately took her on a walk through the neighborhood. But upon returning to their home Hannah was still extremely nervous.
A short time later after getting Hannah licensed at Town Hall and outfitted with a tag with the Scotts’ phone number — she already has an electronic chip embedded in her shoulder — Nina Scott took Hannah on another walk, yet she still didn’t settle down.
It was on the third walk, again with Jim Scott, when a couple walking on the street caused Hannah to freeze, and when she panicked pulled so hard on the leash that Scott fell to the ground.
“She took off with such force that she knocked me over,” Jim Scott said. “She pulled the leash right out from my body and took off.”
That mobilized neighbors and prompted a call to Hepburn, and the shelter, with people spending what remained of the daylight Tuesday and all of Wednesday, Thursday and Friday searching.
“Jim and I were immediately apprehensive when she ran away,” Nina Scott said.
Packleader PetTrackers brought Dexter, a black Labrador retriever, who used the scent from Hannah left in the back seat of the Scotts’ vehicle to try to track her down Thursday. There is considerable expense to this tracking, Nina Scott said, but it’s worthwhile.
“I don’t want her staying out in the woods for the winter and dying,” Nina Scott said.
The Scotts have had five Labrador retrievers in the past.
“All the other labs we’ve raised since puppies, which is a piece of cake, relatively speaking,” Nina Scott said.
Anyone with information about Hannah’s whereabouts can call the Scotts at 413-320-7713 or Hepburn at 413-478-7084.