Drone pilots, rescue workers and local volunteers are pressing their search for Beans, a miniature dachshund that bolted from her owner’s arms in early October near Route 32 in Saugerties.
While the last confirmed sighting came around Halloween, Beans’ family has received “a bunch of calls” from people who thought they saw someone walking a dog that looked like her, raising concern that she may have been picked up, said her owner, Maddy Armstrong.
Beans slipped from her arms while Armstrong and her partner were playing outside with her, said Armstrong, 26, a nurse at Northern Dutchess Hospital in Rhinebeck.
“We were chasing her outside like we normally do, and she jumped out of our arms and headed toward Route 32,” she said. Since then, she’s worked with the town’s dog officer, several rescue groups and four drone companies—two paid, two volunteers—to search wooded areas around Saugerties. Flyers have been posted across the Hudson Valley and in neighborhoods where unconfirmed sightings were reported, part of an effort to keep the dog’s image circulating.
Two months after the last verified sighting, the strategy has shifted to maintaining public awareness from active searching, said Adam Saunders, the dog control officer for Saugerties and Woodstock, and the founder of the nonprofit Ulster County Canines.
“It all boils down to awareness and attempting to keep the story out there,” he said. “Those sightings are what allow us to triangulate a dog’s location or movement patterns and set up cameras and traps accordingly. Without those sightings, we’re unfortunately playing total guesswork.”
If Beans is still moving outdoors rather than being held by someone, volunteers will try to draw her repeatedly to one location by setting up a feeding station.
“One of our volunteers, Mary Ellen, will frequently go as far as cooking bacon on a Sterno stove right there to get a scent out in the air,” Saunders said. Trail cameras are used to verify which animals approach, and, if a dog returns consistently, a humane live trap is deployed.
He cautioned the public not to chase any dog resembling Beans.
“You’re not attempting to chase the dog. You’re not attempting to corner the dog,” he said. “A dog in fear and in survival mode will run. Observe and report and let us do our thing.”
It’s rare that such a small breed can survive on its own for so long. Still, there have been exceptions, Saunders said. One dog was found and rescued two months after going missing in the Town of Ulster, almost 20 miles from where he escaped. Valerie, a miniature dachshund, survived 17 months in the Australian wilderness before she was reunited with her owners.
“I have seen it happen,” Saunders said.
Armstrong said she follows up on each lead.
“We’re just trying to keep getting the word out.”
Noah Eckstein is the editor-in-chief of The Overlook. Send correspondence to noah@theoverlooknews.com.