Scooby safe and sound after a few nights on the town

Scooby, the 8-pound miniature pinscher that went missing in Gilberts more than a week ago, proved he has more mettle than his namesake.

The 1-year-old dog was returned home Sunday after a Daily Herald reader spotted the black and brown puppy near Route 72 and Tyrell Road in Gilberts, about 100 yards away from his owners' home.

Scooby had outwitted, outplayed and outlasted the sometimes brutal elements to survive on his own for eight days.

"It is amazing, this thing is 8 pounds and 11-inches tall," said Cliff Surges, who was petsitting for his brother, Scooby's owner Roy Surges, when the dog ran away. "We don't know, but he was sitting on a berm on Tyrell Road looking down on our house."

It was a happy ending to a week-long ordeal that began when Scooby bolted from home after one of the Surges children opened the front door. Scooby was not wearing his tags because "it was an absolute fluke" that he ran out the door, Surges said.

The family's distress deepened when "lost dog" signs the children made and posted around town were removed for violating the village's sign ordinance.

After reading about the family's plight in the Daily Herald over the weekend, Gilberts resident Jeff Barnum called the Surges' to tell them he had seen Scooby.

Surges said the Barnums were returning home from church in West Dundee when they saw the dog near Route 72 and Tyrell Road.

It took 15 people and a little help from Scooby's brother, Scrappy, but the Surges finally caught Scooby later Sunday in an open field by the Reimer Center.

"We would get like four feet from him and the little thing would run away," Surges said. "I had to call my brother to bring the other dog so we could catch him. Scrappy barked and they ran to each other."

Despite subzero temperatures at times, Scooby survived unscathed except for a case of diarrhea, Surges said.

"It was a great feeling to tell my five little nephews, 'We've got Scooby'," Surges said.

<div class="infoBox"> <h1>More Coverage</h1> <div class="infoBoxContent"> <div class="infoArea"> <h2>Stories</h2> <ul class="links"> <li><a href="/story/?id=270397">Have you seen Scooby?<span class="date">[2/8/09]</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </div> </div>