Daisy the missing dog found safe after 19 days in snowy and cold conditions

A 25-pound-dog missing for 19 days survived two snowstorms and frigid winter weather before being reunited with her family this past Tuesday, February 20. Daisy, an adopted three-year-old King Charles Cavalier and Eskimo mix, had last been seen in East Northport on February 1. 

Help from community members and the dedicated work of Teddy Henn of the nonprofit organization Long Island Lost Dog Search and Rescue led to Daisy’s return to her family earlier this week.

Henn paired up with his search dog, a long-haired dachshund named Winston, for the rescue.

A puppy mill dog, Daisy was already skittish. According to a post on the Long Island Lost Dog Search and Rescue Facebook page, a scared Daisy was running off trails, in brush, over steep inclines and into valleys with lightning speed. Every time she was spotted, she disappeared again, covering terrain from East Northport to Centerport, including in the Betty Allen Twin Ponds Nature Park off 25A. 

Fliers were hung in multiple communities, and Winston brought in to help track the dog. Preserve trails and surrounding areas were monitored day and night with eight cameras capturing Daisy’s movements and rescue organization volunteers sleeping in cars awaiting the next sighting. 

Henn even spotted Daisy lying under a pine tree, eating a deer carcass near one of three humane traps set up for her rescue, but preserve visitors riding quads sent Daisy running again.

A sighting on the morning of Tuesday, February 20 led Henn, who had been tracking Daisy's paw prints in the preserve’s snow, back to the dog. “I walked for hours until I found her paw prints going behind some bushes on the front lawn of a residential home,” on Laurel Hill Road, Henn told the Journal. “It was difficult because there was no snow on the streets. There she was hiding between the bushes and a fence.” As Daisy attempted to run out in between the bushes, Henn, with some help from volunteer Lauren Rene, was able to get a slip lead on the dog. 

When asked for an update on Daisy’s condition, Henn told the Journal: “She is doing great and so happy to be home.”

Long Island Lost Dog Search and Rescue is a not-for-profit 501(c)3, working solely on donations for its search-and-rescue missions. Donations are accepted here.

Editor’s note: It’s been almost two years to the day since Henn and the Long Island Lost Dog Search and Rescue brought Athena, a lost East Northport dog, home to her family after a five-week-long search. Read that story in detail here.