Ocean County Group's Mission - To Save A Dog

OCEAN COUNTY, NJ - Matt and Debbie Geissinger's license plate pretty much says it all.

"Lost Dog," the plate reads.

And when a dog goes missing in Ocean County, members of the Lost Dog Search and Rescue Team are here to help.

Phone calls, texts, interviews with anxious owners, long days and nights, are all free of charge. It's a familiar routine that often ends with the return of a much-loved pet.

Unfortunately, not all stories have happy endings. Sometimes a dog goes missing for one of two reasons. Either something has happened to the dog or someone may have stolen it.

"We want to stay positive for the owners," said co-founder Debbie Geissinger. "We tell the owner, "Don't ever give up hope."

And even after hundreds of searches, many successful, some not, all of the team members were shaken by the discovery of Hank, a missing Olde English Bulldog recently. They had spent many hours searching for the pup.

Hank had been missing from his Huntington Avenue home in Pine Beach for more than a week. A neighbor of Hank's owner called him last Tuesday, to tell him his dog's body had been found in the icy Toms River.

It hit the group members hard. Matt Geissinger, who co- founded the group with his wife Debbie, had a bad feeling when he first heard of Hank's disappearance. The owner's property wasn't that far from the Toms River.

"This is probably is the hardest we ever looked for a dog," an upset Geissinger said, after he went to try and help Hank's owner get the dog's body out of the water. "My heart really goes out to this family. This just took the wind out of my sails. I need to regroup."

Sophie, a dog that went missing from her Holiday City home in Berkeley Township recently, had a happier ending. The little pup's discarded sweater was found near where she disappeared, a sure sign that someone had stolen her.

"It was obviously placed there," Debbie said. "We knew that the dog was taken."

Sophie is back home where she belongs. The eight-pound Yorkshire terrier was found just a block or two from her last confirmed sighting. The sweater was a clue that the little dog had been taken. She was found behind the new Wawa store in South Toms River.

"It looks like someone might have dropped off Sophie behind the Wawa," Matt Geissinger on the Lost Dog Search and Rescue Facebook page. "She was found in the backyard of a homeowner. When the homeowner's dog started to bark, the homeowner looked out the window. Sophie was in their backyard."

It all began with Romeo

The Geissingers founded the rescue group back in 2008. That's when their much-loved pit bull Romeo - a rescue from an abusive home - went missing from doggie day care because an employee left the gate open.

Romeo was missing for four days. But it seemed like forever. The dog was found a mile away from the Geissinger's home, battle-worn and covered with more than 200 ticks.

"I cannot express in words the feeling you get when something like this happens," Geissinger wrote about when a dog goes missing. "It's a helpless feeling, a feeling of despair that turns into desperation as every second passes."

And it's stories like this that keep many of the rescue team members going. At one time in their lives, many have had a beloved pet go missing.

"We've felt that helplessness," Debbie said. "I'll say a prayer. "I say "please guide me, put me in that dog's path."

If you want the rescue group's help about a missing animal, the owner, and only the owner must make the contact, Geissinger said.

The search, rescue and recovery group is based in South Toms River. If your dog is missing, time is of the essence, he stressed.

"If you want us to help, we are just a phone call or email away and it's imperative you act quickly for the safety of your pet,"

Finding lost dogs as quickly as possible and bringing them home is the group's primary mission. But occasionally the Geissingers and others will make special trips to out of area shelters to rescue a dog in danger of being euthanized to free up space. They also arrange for foster care and medical care if needed.

"I don't do it for the humans," Debbie said. "I do it for the dogs "

They will also give dogs a quiet, warm place to sleep if they are picked up by certain animal control officers and left in an outside yard with no shelter.

They have no patience with people who neglect their animals, steal someone else's pet, or let their dogs out in an unfenced yard.

Items needed

The group is a nonprofit, 501 c corporation, but will accept donations. They actually prefer donations of actual items, rather than money. Number one on the list is an infrared night vision camera, which will make night searches much easier.

The group also needs two-way walkie talkies, traps and crates, wildlife cameras, and universal microchip scanners. To see the entire list of what's needed, click here.

Lost dogs works out of central Ocean County. Here's a list of the towns they help: Toms River, Berkeley Township and Bayville, Beachwood, Lacey Township, Manchester Township, South Toms River, Lacey Township, Island Heights, Pine Beach and Ocean Gate.

There's a voluminous photo album on the ilostmydog.org site with photos of animals lost, found and rescued or needing homes. Because of the large number of pets that go missing, the posts stopped in November of 2016.

"Due to the overwhelming amount of lost dogs, we are no longer keeping an online record of the dogs we have helped owners to find," reads the message at the bottom of the page.

Group members are involved in a number of rescue Facebook pages, including Lost Dogs in Ocean County,Lost Dog Search & Rescue, I Lost My Dog, Lost Dogs in New Jersey.

Contact information is available on any one of the pages.

Other rescue team members who attended a rescue group meeting in Lacey over the weekend included Pamela Jaccoud, Trish Brophy, Laurie Nigota-Robinson, Carl Depazza, Morgan Patito, Francine Brescia, Erin Ray and Joann Demarco.

Photos: Patricia A. Miller, Lost Search and Rescue