Constable: Rusty the royal stray's homecoming
When Rusty, a stray dog who captured imaginations and hearts during more than three years on his own in the wilds of Oak Brook, was finally apprehended in 2010 and sent for rehabilitation at a plush Utah facility, dozens of people who fed and cared for the dog threw him a going-away party. Rusty returns to Oak Brook today, if only for a visit, and the Friends of Rusty are hosting Rusty's Reunion party.
"Let's face it," says Harry Peters, who, with his wife, RonnDa, organized the homecoming. "There are a lot of dog lovers."
But not every stray mutt inspires this kind of love.
The Chow-Sheltie mix with the lush, reddish coat first showed up in 2007 in the Forest Glen and Woodside Estates subdivisions and nearby corporate campus in the village. People tried to lure him close with soothing calls and tasty treats, but Rusty stayed just out of reach.
The dog would show up in yards, where he played with other dogs. He'd frolic in the snow and below-zero temperatures. People thought that they alone had bonded with Rusty, but Rusty played the field. And animal control officers never came close to corralling him.
"I had a big cage in front of my house," Lynn Trombetta, a resident of Woodside Estates, said at the time. "He was very smart. The food would be gone, but the cage would be empty."
The meals people left for Rusty included fillet mignon leftovers from nice restaurants, an assortment of meats and even deluxe grilled-cheese sandwiches made exclusively for the dog.
"He was royalty," Harry Peters says. "I put a hot dog out on a paper plate, and he peed on it."
In this land of gated communities and home-security systems, Rusty opened hearts.
"He was never aggressive, ever, and he was always playful," says Peters, longtime president of the Forest Glen Homeowners Association. "He made such a difference to us. He brought people together."
Peters remembers going to gatherings where neighbors would hold drinks and munch snacks without talking to each other.
"The minute you mentioned Rusty, ears perked up and you'd get eight people talking about Rusty," Peters says.
In late September of 2010, the Trombettas opened a gate and the stray voluntarily ambled into the enclosed yard to frolic with Milo, the family's rescued bichon‐poodle mix. Rusty's life on the lam was over.
Seen by Naperville veterinarian Lisa McIntyre, Rusty was given X‐rays, blood work and urinalysis and got treatment for heartworms from the Hinsdale Humane Society. A healthy Rusty still wasn't sociable enough to be sent to a private home. People with the local humane society lobbied to win the dog acceptance into Dogtown, an exclusive gated community of several hundred dogs living in small group homes on the 3,800-acre Best Friends Animal Society sanctuary surrounded by national parks and nestled in what might be the most stunningly scenic canyon in Utah.
Coincidentally, Kristine Kowal, who read coverage of Rusty's adventures when she was a school nurse who lived in Lake Zurich, was about to retire to Utah and become a volunteer at Best Friends. She and Rusty, who was known as Redd at Best Friends, hit it off. In October of 2011, Kowal took the dog she called Rusty Redd home with her for good.
She was hiking in 2012 with her new dog and Maddy, the dog she rescued while volunteering at the Save-A-Pet shelter in Grayslake, when a rattlesnake bit Rusty. Having a history of surviving suburban traffic and Chicago winters, Rusty recovered from that brush with death without any permanent damage.
That didn't surprise the Peters family and other Oak Brook supporters such as Julie Gleason, an office manager for a software developer in the Oak Brook business campus where Rusty first popped onto the suburban landscape. Rusty's suburban friends continue to send him care packages.
"People sent Christmas cards, gift cards, toys they made, toys they bought," says Peters, who also has used the story of Rusty to raise funds for Best Friends and the Hinsdale Humane Society. "These two organizations saved Rusty. And they are always looking for a nickel here and there."
Peters took the extra step this January when he visited the dog during a business trip. "I had a free Friday, and I took a drive in the beautiful country. That's where Rusty got saved," says Peters, who got a tour of Best Friends from Kowal, who now is an employee.
"I watched the two of them together," Kowal says, noting Rusty warmed up enough on the couch to let Peters pet him for the first time. "I just felt inspired to bring him back."
Kowal says she shared the 1,700-mile one-way drive with her longtime partner Mary Ranos, while Rusty "relaxed in the back, having a good time." They visited relatives downstate and in Crystal Lake and Hanover Park, but Kowal says she knows how much Rusty means to so many people who knew him when.
"Everything they did to save this little dog is worth it," Kowal says. "Even though I have the Facebook page going, it's not the same as seeing him in real life. He's just so darling, so sweet. People are just drawn in by his spirit."
Rusty still isn't a big fan of crowds, but Kowal says she hopes the dog recognizes a few of the people who helped him during his wild years. She'll drive him around the neighborhoods to jar his memory.
"We're not going to walk the streets, though," Kowal says. "I don't think he wants to do that again."