Of the 31 Katrina dogs fostered by the SPCA of Monterey County in California, several were talented performers. The tricks they knew weren’t just cute; they were the key to reuniting the animals with their families. “We still recommend microchips and collars with current tags as the first line of defense,” says Beth Brookhouser, director of community outreach, “but in a pinch, tricks seem to … well, do the trick!” Brookhouser tells the stories of these clever canines.
Rocko’s Story
“Rocko’s owners lost him when they evacuated and left him in their home. When a family member went to let the dogs out of the house, Rocko jumped the fence and escaped. He was reunited on February 2—over five months after being separated from his owners! He had no collar or tags, so we identified him through the two tricks he knew: He ‘sits pretty,’ and if you hold a treat straight out in the air and say ‘jump,’ he will leap from a standstill and touch his nose to your hand.”
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| © Anne Muraski |
Puck’s Story
“We learned Puck could sit, lie down, ‘sit pretty,’ and stand and do a pirouette on his hind legs. He was a superstar! But without ID tags or a microchip and with no ‘found’ address on his paperwork, we had nowhere to look. Later that month, I was browsing lost ads on Petfinder and found a description that sounded like Puck. [Puck’s owner], Jimmy [Doss], shared all the tricks that Puck had already showed us, but added one more as a clincher— Puck could count. If you say ‘Puck, two’ and hold up two fingers, Puck will bark twice. Puck was reunited here in Monterey on October 5.”
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| © Anne Muraski |
Cocoa’s Story
“Cocoa’s owners, Sonny and Carla Goodwyne, saw a photo of Cocoa online and thought she might be their dog. They didn’t recognize some marks on her face in the photo [because] the marks were actually from her pushing her nose through the broken fence of their house to escape. She had no ID tags or microchip, but she knew a trick. She will sit, and when you say ‘paw,’ she gives you her right paw, and then you say ‘other paw,’ and she will give you her left paw. She did the trick flawlessly.”
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