April 7, 2008

COON RAPIDS, Minn. -- A guide dog that ran loose on March 31 was found the morning of Friday, April 4.

Jasmine, a greyhound and deerhound mix, had only been with her new family a few days when a storm hit the night of March 31.

She apparently wasn’t yet accustomed to her surroundings, and when she was let out into her fenced-in yard, she found a gap in the planks and had been missing ever since.

Al Peters, executive director of Hearing and Service Dogs of Minnesota -- the organization that trained Jasmine -- said the dog became disoriented during the storm.

Before becoming lost, Jasmine had just begun her service work for a 17-year-old girl who suffers from muscular dystrophy -- a disease that attacks the body’s muscle systems. The girl requires a walker due to poor balance, and the canine was her first service animal.

“The dog had only been with the girl for two days, so she is not used to her new family yet,” said Peters.

In hopes of finding the canine, Peters’ staff and volunteers had been searching the area, which is north of St. Paul. Jasmine was been spotted more than once over the ensuing days, but ran off every time she was approached.

After all, she is part grey hound, and is very fast.

The dog, which was given to HSDMN by a breeder, showed at an early age an aptitude for service work. Jasmine’s training taught her to open doors and to help the girl should she fall.

Luckily, she was located late last week and can now resume her work as a service dog.

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Matt Van Hoven, Pet Pulse and Peter Bodley, ABC Newspapers, contributed to this article.