Andy Tullis / The BulletinMelinda DeVine posts a flier for her missing Pomeranian dog, Leila, near Whispering Winds Retirement home in Bend on November 15. The location is where her small orange dog was last seen.

It’s every pet owner’s nightmare.

When Melinda Mudie DeVine left home for a car trip to Portland, she left a loved one in charge of Leila, her brown-and-orange Pomeranian, and Hero, her Border Collie. When the dogs were let out in the backyard for an evening potty break, the pair disappeared into a neighbor’s yard.

Only Hero came back.

Leila has been missing since Oct. 28 — more than three weeks. The 8-year-old dog wears a black collar, a pewter tag and has a microchip embedded under her fur. The dog was last sighted near the intersection of NE Tuscon Way and Yellow Ribbon Drive, near Whispering Winds Retirement, where DeVine has placed a live trap containing food and items carrying her scent. The dog’s name is pronounced “Lay-la,” although the word treat may elicit a stronger reaction.

While DeVine continues her search, she will take heart in one local statistic: lost dogs enjoy a significantly higher owner-reunion rate than cats, according to the Humane Society of Central Oregon. The key to its high return-to-owner rate is active communication with the community, said Lynne Ouchida, the HSCO community outreach manager, in an email. From April through October this year, 588 stray dogs were brought into the shelter; 86 percent of them were reunited with their owners.

Leila’s owner practically phone-stalks the shelter.

DeVine is also using social media to find her dog, a tool that is being increasingly utilized by pet owners everywhere. DeVine frequently posts photos and chronicles her search on two Facebook pages, Lost Pets of Bend and Bring Leila Home, which she created herself. Countless Facebook pages similarly feature missing pets — even missing people.

DeVine, who lives in the Mountain High subdivision in southeast Bend, said she and several volunteers have posted hundreds of fliers around town. They include identifying characteristics and photographs of Leila at home during happier times. For anyone who returns Leila, DeVine is offering a $1,000 reward — no questions asked.

“She’s so little, I’m surprised she’s made it this long,” said DeVine, 47, whose hope is bolstered by every sighting someone phones in. “But our weather is going to start shifting soon so I don’t know how long she can hang out,” she said. “It’s such a traumatic experience.”

The sighting locations show Leila making a slow, north-northeast path across town from DeVine’s backyard. Roughly six miles, it’s a long trek for a Pomeranian with bad knees. DeVine wonders if her dog is trailing the faint scent she may have left as she drove north to Portland.

The first sighting came on Nov. 3, by Brosterhous Road, near Pines Mobile Home Park — less than a mile from DeVine’s home. Another caller described a second sighting on Nov. 5, when a driver nearly ran over a dog matching Leila’s description as it crossed U.S. Highway 20 near Team Hyundai of Bend. The driver, aware of the missing dog fliers, pulled out her phone to tap out a message on social media to DeVine. By the time the would-be Good Samaritan looked up, however, the dog had disappeared.

Several other callers said similar things. DeVine’s greatest fear, for all the roads Leila seems to be crossing, is that she’ll be hit by a car.

“I’m like, ‘Her legs are three inches long. If you see her, jump on her. Do not let her go,’” DeVine said, a hint of exhaustion betraying the resilience that has fueled nocturnal stake-outs at the latest sighting locations until early morning hours.

“What people don’t realize is that Leila cannot outrun you, she will tire, so grab her,” she added.

DeVine suspects Leila may have entered a feral-like survival mode and may spend much of her time in hiding. DeVine, who owns Studio DeVine Beauty Boutique downtown, has had workers cover her client appointments so she can duck out to post more fliers and scour the streets with her Border Collie — Leila’s “dog brother.” Most nights she walks him from 8 p.m. until 3 a.m.

“We’re at a bizarre juncture. Not even our Border Collie would bring her out,” she said.

The extent of DeVine’s commitment to getting Leila back knows no bounds. She has enlisted a local drone operator to help spot her dog, and she has even consulted with two different pet psychics. Both mediums said they could sense that Leila was in someone’s house. When DeVine received another sighting and called a psychic back, she said the medium changed her tune by saying she now sensed Leila was in a state of unrest and that she may have since freed herself from that person’s home.

“But I really don’t think so. I’m kinda calling a little bluff on both of the psychics,” DeVine said.

A man in Madras called to say he had her dog, but when he didn’t follow up with her request to text photos, she decided he was a scam-artist.

Jill Rosell, 48, began the “Pets Lost in Bend Oregon” Facebook page as an extension of the “I love Bend OR” page the New Zealand native began when she moved here in 2009. The freelance photographer began receiving messages from people who lost pets, prompting her to devote an entire page to such listings, which now has more than 5,000 likes. The first missing dog to be advertised on the page was a Corgi, whose dog-sitter lost her when its owner vacationed in Hawaii. The Corgi and its owner were reunited, however, thanks to tips shared on the Pets Lost in Bend page.

Rosell said her page fills a niche that local shelters can’t practically fill.

“If it’s nighttime, you can’t go to the pound because it’s closed,” Rosell said. “People are just distraught. If it’s midnight in the middle of the weekend, it’s a good way for people to vent and get the word out there.”

Rosell, who owns two cats, empathizes with pet-owners. Lost animals include birds, sheep and horses. Sometimes posts will inform readers that the body of a particular animal, presumably a pet, was found on the side of the road.

“For everyone, it’s like it’s their baby. There’s a white dog on the site now. Their person is just beside themselves, they keep reposting it,” Rosell said. “They can’t give up. It’s heart-breaking.”

A week ago, an epileptic Labrador that is also deaf escaped on Awbrey Butte. The dog hadn’t had its medication in two days. Its owner messaged Rosell and she put a post up asking people to volunteer to help find her. Even though it was raining, people rallied to her aid, ultimately finding her.

DeVine is hoping for a similarly happy ending with Leila.

“The great thing about social media is that you get your (posting) out there far and wide, but the downside is the barrage you get with people’s ideas and comments and sightings,” which can be overwhelming and contradictory, DeVine said.

After she posted about a recent sighting, DeVine said she was touched by the 20 people who, despite the rain, drove around to help her search.

After a late-night search on Nov. 16, DeVine posted an emoji-filled update for her near-800 followers on “Bring Leila Home”:

“Just home from searching (through) the night … I called her name in the most loving, soothing momma way I could for hours, going up and down every street. While she did not come out and jump in my arms (darn it), it feels good to think she may have heard my voice calling to her.”

Privately, DeVine said the search was taking its toll.

“I feel like I’m reaching the levels of complete exhaustion,” she said. “It’s getting tougher with each passing day.”

— Reporter: 541-617-7816, pmadsen@bendbulletin.com