THE ARROWHEAD TRAIL – The first thing Zhing did when he got home was get a drink of water.

It had been a tiring stretch of days. The familiar steel bucket full of clear Cook County water was a welcomed and refreshing luxury.

Zhing is a Hedlund husky. His home is a parcel of land near the edge of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness known as Points Unknown. The business, which is owned and operated by Linda Newman, is situated on 40 acres of dense forest about 25 miles from Grand Marais, and just a few miles south of the BWCA.

During an April 16 visit to the veterinary clinic in Ely, Zhing slid from his collar and fled. He’d been neutered earlier in the day and was still under the effects of anesthesia when he took off, Newman said, with an added dose of a sedative to keep Zhing calm on the drive home from Ely to the Arrowhead Trail.

“That sedative didn’t work as planned,” Newman said.

Zhing spent the next five days roaming in and around Ely, traveling as far away as the Armstrong Lake area at one point, some 14 miles away. Newman credits an incredible network of communication by the Ely community for helping her find Zhing, along with tireless dedication from a lengthy list of supporters.

In addition to the emotional pain of losing Zhing for five days, Newman also came down with a sinus infection during the ordeal. She slept sporadically, often in the cab of her truck. She continually skipped meals, most of the time because she simply forgot to eat.

Jennifer Cadigan is the president and operations director for The Retrievers, a nonprofit group based in Minnesota dedicated to helping people find their missing dogs. Cadigan helped Newman find Zhing, both by mentoring Newman through the process and in being physically present on the day he was found. That said, Cadigan is quick to reference Newman as the person who should get the most credit for the story’s happy ending.

“Linda listened. She heard me. She did exactly what I asked her to do,” Cadigan said. “She was exhausted, sick, sad, and at the end of her rope, but she did it anyway. That took strength I don’t think she even understands yet. She’s the hero here.”

Kathleen Kimball-Baker is a friend of Newman’s who has been a supporter of the mushing scene near the Boundary Waters for many years. She was present on the day Zhing was found west of Ely, and credits the community as being instrumental in the fact Newman’s dog is now home near the Arrowhead Trail.

“It’s incredibly impressive,” she said. “It’s an example of what community really can be like. That people really can rally around a cause that is super important. These things can and still do happen.”

And while Zhing’s survival in the woods near the BWCA and along a paved highway is indeed remarkable, Newman wants to use the moment as an opportunity to teach others how to, and not to, look for a missing dog.

“This was a very educational and long process for us,” Newman said.

Linda said that she and her team of supporters “had to throw the idea of immediate results out the window and trust the process that was so thoughtfully laid out” by Cadigan from the Retrievers.

The default for dogs when they feel lost is to snap into survival mode, Newman explained. This reaction helps to keep them alive but is an extreme detriment to them when it comes to being found.

“Basically, they become feral,” Newman said.

When this occurs, a missing dog will likely not recognize their name, their human, or their human’s voice, Newman said. The only thing they retain is their scent recognition and their need for food and water, she added.

Communication is paramount in the success of finding a missing dog, according to Cadigan.

In this instance, communication was extensive. And Newman, like Kimball-Baker, credits the Ely community as a driving force behind making it happen.

“Words don’t do justice to the feelings that I have for the Ely community,” she said. “Supportive.  Jumping into action. Eager to help. So many people truly cared about us and Zhing.”

Newman and Cardigan agree it is extremely important to get the word out right away when your dog becomes lost so that when the sightings come in, you can go to the location of the sighting and drop a scent marker (piece of blanket with your scent on it). When they hopefully return, there is something familiar to them that makes them want to stay in the area.

Once, based upon sightings, that you know your dog has settled into a particular area, that’s when you start putting food out in those frequented sighting locations, again so that they want to stay there, they explained. Then, eventually a live trap can be located and a capture plan can begin to form. The general public should not be calling for the dog or actively looking for the dog. This will drive them farther away, Newman said.

It took days of trust, communication, and patience for this story to have the happy ending it did. There were dozens of sightings along the way, including one just 15 minutes after Zhing fled the parking lot at the vet clinic.

“He was all doped up and on the run. We knew that had to catch up with him sooner or later,” Newman said. “I found him lying flat in the middle of the alley behind the vet clinic. I honestly thought he was dead.”

Newman said she stopped her truck during this first sighting and slowly walked toward her Zhing.

“When I got within a few feet his terrified eyes met mine and then he staggered up and somehow then gracefully flew up a rock landscaped flight of steps into a neighborhood,” she said.

Newman shouted ‘In your house!’ the command for the dogs at Points Unknown to go through any gate of a kennel or crate. Despite being in a medically-induced stupor, Zhing stopped.

“He looked at me as if he recognized me and the command for literally a split second, but he then turned and bolted,” she said. “My heart sank.”

Linda and several others plastered flyers all over Ely shortly after this and started to post on social media, including the popular ‘What’s Up, Ely MN’ Facebook group.

Not long after, the sightings started coming in. However, Newman had another problem. She’d driven to Ely that morning, a distance about three hours from the Arrowhead Trail. She had five other dogs with her that day. Two of the dogs had surgeries, one had an exam for a mass, and two puppies needed their rabies shots.

“We were now buzzing all over town with these dogs in the vehicle and keeping them exercised and fed,” she said of that tumultuous first day.

The following days were marked with a repeated series of highs and lows. Someone would spot Zhing and, just as quickly, he’d seemingly vanish. On the final day, a series of repeated sightings led Newman and other supporters, including Cadigan, to an area near Eagles Nest Township, about 12 miles southwest of Ely.

Newman was on the phone when she first saw Zhing.

“There he is!” she remembers declaring.

Zhing was on the lefthand side of the road, within feet of Newman’s truck, turning right onto the bike trail.

Newman explains what happened next: “I immediately stopped, ran to the back of my truck, extracted Siri (Zhing’s mother that also lives at Points Unknown), grabbed the bowl with food and we walked briskly to the bike trail just about 12 feet from my truck.

There, I sat down facing sideways to Zhing. I put the food bowl down as I shook it. When I shook it, he came closer. At the farthest point, he was about 50 feet away. He slowly came closer, and I began to throw handfuls of food as far down the trail toward him as I could without over-exaggerating any movements that might scare him.

Remember, he is now feral and in survival mode and has no idea who I am. He came closer and is now within about 10 feet of Siri. This is when she pins herself to my side and growls at him.

But then the wind must have changed because she finally caught his scent and recognized him. Her body language instantly became more playful. You’ll see in the video, this beautiful reunion.

She lured him to the bowl of food and to me. He was wagging his tail as he ate the food. I was not going to trust that he recognized me at this point for fear of reaching out to grab him and spooking him for good. He ate the food, Siri interacted with him, and I played with stones on the trail to get his attention between us.

I kept pulling Siri closer to me so he would move closer. I pulled Siri from my left to my right and when Zhing was directly behind her with their heads facing away, I reached over her and snatched him by the scruff and held on for dear life.

He was instantly caught off guard and went to bite me but I was able to twist his head in such a way that he couldn’t make contact. But the thing is, after he did this, it seemed as though he gave in.

His body got heavy and, as I began to slowly place the slip leash around his neck, he was no longer fighting. It was at that moment that I could tell he recognized me and had reverted back from a terrified feral animal to my sweet, quirky and goofy dog, raised from birth.

Then a car pulled up between my truck and the capture and I thought for sure that would spook him, but my hold of him became even more intense as I told the car to keep moving by. I got the slip leash on him while still hanging on to his scruff. In the meantime, I had let go of Siri’s leash but she was sticking right by my side.

They opened the door and with a human wall all around, I gave him a slight push and said ‘in your house’ and he willingly went in, leash and all. I secured the crate door and then collapsed on top of the crate from exhaustion and emotional overwhelm.”
Below is a video of Zhing being reunited with Siri and Newman on April 20.

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Home again near the Arrowhead Trail, Zhing appeared to be back in the routine of things on the morning of April 24. He was curious about the reporter visiting from Grand Marais, but a few treats from Newman kept Zhing and Siri distracted until the gate to the “play area” at Points Unknown could be secured. The sky was a deep blue overhead as Newman explained that things are getting back to normal at Points Unknown. A familiar rhythm is again taking hold.

“We’re doing okay, aren’t we?” she asked the two dogs who playfully bounced and paced around the spacious enclosure.

Earlier that morning, Zhing woke up only to discover that the water in his steel bucket froze overnight. It would be a challenge to break the ice, to figure out how to get to the other side. The natural elements would help. So too would Newman, who arrived with a ladle to make sure everything was okay. Zhing waited patiently. Time was on his side.

Listen to an interview with Newman recorded April 24 at Points Unknown.