Rogue had been in her new home for about four minutes when she got loose. The four-year-old collie mix bolted on Aug. 5 while being moved from the car to the house in Montana’s Flathead Valley, and then she was gone into the woods with her leash and harness still on.
What followed was 86 days of sightings and volunteers checking the same roads, plus thermal drones at night. Casey Corbett, who led the search, told MTN News in October that he never doubted she was alive. On Halloween, a humane trap on Bragg Road between Whitefish and Columbia Falls finally held her.
The vet’s report is the strange part. Rogue had gained weight since she disappeared. No injuries, no scratches, nothing to suggest months on her own. “If she didn’t know better she would’ve never known that she’d been out for months,” Corbett said. She is working with a trainer now, has been reunited with her sister Anna, and is still looking for a forever home.
What this means for your dog
A newly adopted dog can slip a collar in the first five minutes, before either of you has learned anything about the other. Use a slip lead or a harness with a backup clip for the first few days, and check the gates twice. If a dog does get out, do not chase. A frightened dog runs from the person chasing it. Set up a feeding station, borrow a humane trap, tell every neighbor, and post in the local groups. Rogue’s searchers credit the sightings and the trap, not luck, and the same approach is behind how San Francisco caught a dog that outran everyone.