Dog vanishes from home invasion found, returned to owner

PHOENIX (FOX 10) - A happy ending to a story we brought you last week when a Phoenix woman lost her dog during a home invasion. Luckily, the community stepped up to help find her.

More than week ago, police say a man busted in through the front door of a Valley home. He didn't take anything, but the burglary scared the owner's dog off, and the hunt for Hannah began.

"Hannah's the boss," said her owner, Susan Pickering.

Pickering will tell you Hannah, a Red Queensland, is spoiled. The proud dog mom rescued Hannah years ago and absolutely adores her, so you can imagine how agonizing this past week has been.

"When you can't find your animal, it's very depressing," Pickering said.

The Humane Animal Rescue and Trapping team heard about Hannah right away. A team of volunteers scoured the neighborhood, putting up flyers, talking to neighbors, and tracked sightings of Hanah.

"So we were able to use a lot her scent material," said Eva Livesay, volunteer at H.A.R.T.T. "And we Hannah's blanket [and] we had some of Hannah's toys in there."

Livesay says a contraption they own was the key to rescuing Hannah safely.

"You leave a little trail of food all the way to the back and the dog walks in, steps on that trigger plate, and then this door shuts," Livesay said.

And it worked. Pickering says that H.A.R.T.T. team gave her hope when she needed it most.

"They had a plan," Pickering said. "They would tell me what we're gonna do and it helped tremendously."

Reunited nine days later, Hannah is home.

"I cried, I did," Pickering said. "I'm sorry, it was amazing and she was so happy."

And Livesay says bright flyers are a huge help if your dog is missing - putting dozens of these up right away can make a difference.