Missing Dog Found 2 Days Later, Up a Tree

A 7-year-old border collie who was missing from his Iowa home for a few days didn't get very far—he only went up. Laddy the dog was found yesterday morning stuck up a tree two blocks from his Davenport home, the Quad-City Times reports. His owner says she believes Laddy escaped Friday from his invisible fencing system courtesy of a dead battery in his collar. She says his love for squirrels and chasing things probably led him up the tree. Despite a few abrasions on the pads of his feet, he's otherwise fine.

The owner of the home where the dog was found had heard barking, but yesterday, "I heard a whining, and I knew something wasn't right. This time, it sounded in distress," he said. He spotted the dog at least 10 feet up and called police; not surprisingly, the dispatcher was skeptical. The homeowner climbed the tree himself to pull Laddy to safety; he says he thinks the dog ran up the oak tree's gradually sloping trunk but then became too scared to run back down. A responding police officer had seen fliers about Laddy and knew where the dog lived. He was reunited with his owner a short time later. "He was pretty subdued when he got home," she says. "He's been doing a ton of sleeping." (More dogs stories.)