PORT ANGELES — Zena the mold-sniffing dog was lost but now is found.
Zena, who has sniffed out toxic mold in structures all over the state over the past six years, was discovered missing Tuesday morning but was found several blocks away some 41/2 hours later.
Zena’s owner, Paul Collins, said he heard the 7-year-old specially trained Belgian Malinois in her kennel in his yard at 1125 E. Third St. at about 2:30 a.m.
“She has what we call puppy dreams. She barks softly,” he said.
“I knew she was out there then because I could hear her.”
A little before 7 a.m., he left the house with his house dog, Scooter, to feed both dogs and take them for a walk.
But Zena wasn’t there.
Collins and his girlfriend, Carrie Heaton, scoured the neighborhood, called the Port Angeles Police Department and the Olympic Peninsula Humane Society, and were preparing information for news agencies when the call came in at about 10:25 a.m. that Zena had been found.
Found dog
Allie Burwell saw the 50-pound dog with two collars wandering around when she arrived at an orthodontist’s office on East Eighth Street for an appointment.
She decided the dog must have an owner and called the Humane Society, which directed her to Collins.
In the meantime, Collins said, staff at Shaltry Orthodontics gave Zena food and water.
Soon, man and dog were reunited.
“There’s not a lot of kids who would put in the time and effort,” Collins said.
“Allie was just a great help.”
The dog is both livelihood and service dog for Collins.
She is the centerpiece of Collins’ mold-inspection and remediation business, Enviro-Clean Northwest.
Trained at Vom Kaiserhofe Training Center in Lawrence, Kan., under Tom Brenneman, Zena is one of about 20 dogs in the United States certified in detecting toxic mold.
She is the only trained mold-sniffing dog in the state, Collins said, and during her career has investigated hundreds of homes.
She also is a service dog for Collins to help him deal with post-traumatic stress disorder, he said.
The two have volunteered to help with such disasters as flooding in Lewis County and in Pacific, near Auburn, in 2009.
“Zena’s really touched a lot of people’s lives,” Collins said.
Collins said the hasp at the back part of the kennel had been lifted off and her doghouse, which is attached to the aluminum kennel, was lifted off so she could escape, Collins said.
“The probability of her getting out of there herself is very slim,” he said.
“I believe she had some help.”
Collins said he didn’t know if she had been stolen or “if someone got in there and opened it up and let her out,” he said.
Not investigated as theft
Port Angeles Police Department dispatchers said a report had been made of a missing dog but that the incident had not been investigated as a theft.
However the dog escaped, her brief foray may be the beginning of a new friendship.
Allie “asked me if she could come by and see her,” Collins said.
“Zena and she really bonded.”
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Managing Editor/News Leah Leach can be reached at 360-417-3531 or at leah.leach@peninsuladailynews.com.
