DOG OWNER HOLDS OUT HOPE FOR A HAPPY ENDING
Although Maltese might have met untimely death from a coyote, Kim Takeuchi is not ready to give up on finding her precious pet
Although the odds seem stacked against her, Kim Takeuchi has not given up hope of finding Happy, a fluffy white Maltese mix dog that was lost after an attack by a stranger in the Heintz Open Space area in Los Gatos last week. The Takeuchis have used a pet tracker, volunteers and social media, and although there is an indication the dog might have met a tragic end, Takeuchi is not ready to give up hope. “I’m going to keep looking for her,” Takeuchi says. “I have to.” Happy and two other dogs owned by Takeuchi were being walked by friend Sherri Harvey, who also had her own dog with them. Harvey was about a quarter- mile from the park entrance when aman walked quickly toward her, yelling profanities and claiming that one of the dogs had bitten him. Harvey was skeptical because the dogs, off leash, had been with her. When she asked to take a picture of the bite, theman rolled up his sleeve and then lunged at her. Harvey ran toward the exit of the park with one of the Takeuchis’ dogs, a huskymix, and Harvey’s dog, a For-mosan mountain dog. Another of the dogs soon followed, but Happy didn’t come. Harvey said she heard Happy yelp, but she was unable to find her. Another couple who was walking a dog in the area also was reportedly attacked. They told police that the sameman had approached them and began harassing the woman. When her dog barked at the man, he kicked the dog and then got in a fight with the woman’s male companion, who was choked and thrown to the ground. The assailant then ran away. Neither the man nor the dog was seriously injured. Takeuchi and her husband, Jeff, arrived at the scene within 10 minutes and began searching for Happy. The Los Gatos police joined in the search for the dog and the assailant. The suspect is described as 45 to 55 years old, approximately 5 feet 10 inches tall and weighing 190 pounds. He has medium- length gray hair, glasses and a beer belly. He did not appear to be homeless, officials say, but might be mentally ill. “Jeff and I expanded our search to include the surrounding area until dark,” Kim Takeuchi says. “After dark, we left and returned a halfhour later with jackets and highpowered flashlights. We searched until 1: 30 a. m.” In the days that followed, the Takeuchis have had help from a pet tracker with Pet Search and Rescue Investigations, a national company that specializes in finding lost pets, and the story has spread on social media. Happy’s scent was detected in the area, but no trail was found. The search was scaled back after the tracker found fresh coyote scat in the area that contained a few hairs of white fluff. Without evidence one way or another, Kim Takeuchi says, she won’t give up searching. Although the scat sighting is worrying, there also have beenmany sightings of a dogmatching Happy’s description. Happy does not have a microchip. “Our hopes are still high that we will find Happy,” KimTakeuchi says. “We want the community to keep an eye out for any sighting of her.” Takeuchi rescued Happy five years ago after seeing her in the parking lot at her workplace. It was during an extreme heat wave and it took Takeuchi three days to finally catch her. The dog’s hair was long andmatted, and she had a bite on her thigh. “I took her to the vet,” Takeuchi says. “They had to put fluids in her, stitched her up and gave her a good grooming. You could see all her bones.” Takeuchi wasn’t planning on keeping the dog. She already had a rescue dog, RooRoo, and Takeuchi was never attracted to small dogs. “RooRoo fell in love with her,” Takeuchi says, “and Happy fell in love with me. After the second day I knew she was mine.” Anyone having information about Happy can contact Kim Takeuchi at 408- 544- 0916 or 408- 316- 1387. A $ 1,000 reward has been offered for Happy’s return.