Avon Beagles Found on Woodhaven Reunited with Owner

Two beagles found roaming on Woodhaven Drive Thursday night were released to their owner early evening Saturday.

"They did not roam far. They were right in the neighborhood," Avon-Canton Animal Control Officer Beverly LaPlume said Sunday morning.

The beagles – a female puppy named Baby, 5 months, and a male Shaggy, 4 – live in a heated dog house in a fenced-in pen area behind an Oxbow Drive home. They escaped by jumping over the fence from a high snow bank.

The person caring for the dogs noticed they were missing Friday morning when she went outside to feed them. When the owner returned Saturday and learned from her that they were missing, he called LaPlume.

LaPlume said she had also looked into other leads after getting several calls previously from many people who saw the Avon Patch post Friday about the missing beagles. Some expressed interest in adopting the dogs if the owner did not claim them.

The rabies tag on Shaggy's collar was registered to a disconnected phone number and a Vernon address that didn't turn out to be the owner's home when Vernon police looked into it.

The owner came forward and met LaPlume to fill out some paperwork and license the dogs. While Connecticut does not require dogs to be licensed until they are 6 months old, he did choose to have Baby licensed a month early, LaPlume said.

The owner often takes the dogs tracking in Simsbury to let them run and chase – but not kill – rabbits, LaPlume said he told her, and when he calls them, they come back. The last time he took them tracking, he pulled collars he had in his home on the beagles to put leashes on them. While the collar he put on Shaggy had a rabies tag, it was not his. He told LaPlume he recently got Shaggy from a friend who just moved.

LaPlume brought the beagles to Dr. Shannon Bertolino, of the newly opened Veterinary Emergency Center on Dowd Avenue in Canton, for a check-up. The owner met her there. Bertolino confirmed the dogs were healthy, LaPlume said, and neither dog showed signs of being underfed.

Neither dog was altered or had the rabies vaccination. Both beagles were given the rabies vaccine at the vet's office and released to the owner around 5 p.m. Saturday.

The man owns three beagles, LaPlume said, but the third dog did not escape.

Did you lose your pet or are you trying to find a home for an animal? Post an announcement at avon.patch.com/announcements/new with a photo or email Jessie.Sawyer@patch.com.