On Christmas Day I took our two German Short Haired Pointers, Max and Ben to Charlestown Beach for a run. GSP's love to run.

After they got out of the truck they were off. As always, they returned for treats and headed out again. But after their second return I didn't see them again that day.

Three hours later it was completely dark. My partner Marcia and I had been searching and calling along the beach from the breach way to the houses on Green Hill beach. No dogs.

Early Saturday morning we posted flyers at Charlestown Beach, Green Hill Beach and even further north at the access to Thurston's Pond. We also notified the Environmental Police, Police and Animal Control Officers in Charlestown and South Kingston. We searched and called again. No dogs.

Sunday was a repeat of Saturday without any signs of Max and Ben.

The weather to this point had been tolerable. But the forecast now was for single digit temperatures, high winds that would drive the mercury to temperatures below zero and freezing rain.

Desperate, at 7:30 on Monday morning I sent an e-mail to Celeste Long, GSP Rescue of New England in Wakefield asking for help and advice. She posted a notice on Facebook, immediately e-mailed the entire GSP volunteer network and suggested I contact a website called findtoto.com which is an "Amber Alert" for pets. They create a recording and place telephone calls to homes within a selected radius based on the street address. We choose to have 2,500 homes called.

Calling began at 9:00 AM and within 15 minutes I received at least 10 calls to my cell phone. Each caller was reporting noises in the night or sightings of similar dogs.

John Harrington of Charlestown reported that on Saturday around noon he and his wife Eileen had seen two dogs on a little spit of land across the water from their home on Green Hill Pond. He didn't think anything of it until he got the call from findtoto.com.

When I arrived the Harrington's, John pointed out the spot where he had seen the dogs on Saturday. It was at the end of an over grown brush covered peninsula that extends into Green Hill Pond. He directed me to the point where the peninsula connects to the mainland and I started working through the high brush out to the small sandy area where he had seen the dogs.

As I was walking through the brush I began to call for the dogs, not really thinking that they could be out there. Suddenly I heard a noise behind me and turned and there they were. Both of them. Tails wagging and looking at me as if to say, "ah.....and where have you been? We've been waiting." This was right around 10:00A. We had our dogs back in less than an hour after the calls began!!

The insides of their ears were bloodied and their faces and bodies were scratched and cut. Ben had lost over seven pounds but otherwise they were both OK. The only way I can think they could have gotten out on this piece of land is to have walked across the frozen part of the pond from the beach.

We did continue to receive calls throughout the week. Some from folks who were simply concerned about lost dogs and wondering how it turned out.

Now, Max and Ben are back by the fire, putting on weight and getting into mischief just like nothing ever happened. We humans however are beginning practice on new training regime so that this does not ever happen again.