Dog Gone: Cookie Needs Your Help to Come Home

After escaping from Asia’s illegal dog meat trade and surviving a 14,100-mile journey to Maryland, a terrier named Cookie needs one more break.

The Wheaten terrier needs someone in the Silver Spring area to see him roaming the streets and call the rescue group trying to bring him home.

Cookie was rescued in Thailand along with hundreds of other dogs being hauled on trucks illegally through Thailand to Vietnam and China for food consumption, says the rescue group that found him a home in the U.S. Dogs like Cookie are packed into small wire cages containing 15 to 20 dogs, then trucked to markets to be sold for $10 each.

“We need this baby found,” West told Patch. “We didn’t rescue him from a hellhole in Thailand to be a stray dog in this country.”

Karene West with Cookie’s rescue group -- Angus Fundraising Group for DMT dogs and other animals in need – says Cookie is skittish. Given all he’s been through, he doesn’t trust people, so he’s traveling around Montgomery County at night.

Cookie flew to Dulles Airport Oct. 2 to start a new life as a pampered pooch. On his second day with his new owner, Susie Homan of Kensington, Cookie bolted despite being on two leads. A pet tracker found him within two days in Homan’s neighborhood.

But, on Oct. 22 Cookie escaped from Homan’s house again. West says that an Oct. 29 post on Craigslist that Cookie was seen eight miles away in the Spring Valley area allowed Pure Gold Pet Trackers to pick up Cookie’s scent. The terrier was tracked for four hours, but they couldn’t catch up to the wandering dog.

West says they’ve also gotten reports that Cookie has been seen on the campus of American University in Washington, D.C.

Supporters have put up posters in the Kensington and Silver Spring areas, but no sightings of Cookie have been reported in the past week. West’s group has money raised to call trackers in again, but they need Montgomery County residents to look for Cookie, especially at night.

“He is roaming at night, which is one reason he’s not being seen. If we can get just one good sighting we can call trackers back in and most likely find him in one or two days,” West told Patch.

She urges anyone who sees Cookie not to approach him. Instead call 240-605-8701 or West at 615-812-6629.

There is a reward for Cookie’s safe return.

Cookie wearing a black collar, and the tag has the Homan’s phone number on it with the message: “Oh (expletive), I’m lost.” He hasn’t been fitted with a microchip.

»Cookie, a Wheaten terrier, has escaped his Kensington house and has been seen in the Silver Spring area. Photos courtesy of Karene West