1/3/2012
By TIM UNRUH Salina Journal
KANOPOLIS LAKE --¬ A pork chop, some rope and a boat anchor contributed to saving Clay Boy's life over the holidays, and uniting the wayward beagle with a loving family.

Several parts were used in a contraption that Yancy Trostle fashioned to trap the elusive hunting dog from South Carolina.

Clay Boy has been renamed Buddy, and he's on the mend with new owners Yancy and Cindy Trostle, of Salina, after nearly two months on the loose in the semi-wilds of Kanopolis Lake.

"I don't think that dog would've made it through the winter," said Yancy Trostle, who works as a mechanic at Salina Regional Health Center.

"The real hero is Buddy. He kept himself alive through some pretty bad stuff," Yancy said.

Taking antibiotics for some nasty sores on his neck, Buddy makes his first visit to Salina veterinarian Stephanie Weckel's office -- Weckel Pet Care -- today, but he appears to be improving after surviving an ordeal at the lake. In the fall, the Trostles had to put down a 9-year-old beagle named Z, who suffered from terminal cancer, and were looking to fill a void.

"I really wanted to get a beagle. This worked out well," Trostle said.

Buddy's introduction to the Trostles was during the second week of November on Kansas Highway 141, that runs across the reservoir's dam in eastern Ellsworth County.

"We were going to the cabin and the dog ran out in front of me. I just about rolled my truck," he said. "I hollered at him and he took off running down the highway."

Talk of the town

The dog became the talk of the Venango Cabin Area near the northeast corner of the lake.

Deputy Salina Police Chief Carson Mansfield, a fellow cabin owner who spends time at the lake, knew about the dog.

Buddy belonged to a man from South Carolina who was hunting with beagles in the area, Mansfield said, starting in early November.

Despite wearing a shock collar, the dog had gone missing. The hunter's search turned up nothing, and he eventually left for home, leaving the 15-pound dog to fend for himself.

Buddy became the concern of park rangers, lake maintenance workers and several full-time and part-time residents.

"Hunters would tell me where they had last seen the dog," Mansfield said.

Baby, it's cold outside

Buddy was handling life on his own, but winter was setting in -- with snow, wind and temperatures that plummeted to 4 degrees above zero -- diminishing the dog's chances.

A number of folks began to watch out for the dog, and left food for him. Park rangers loaned live traps to Trostle, but the sly canine was able to avoid capture.

"The dog was apparently smart enough to get inside, pick the trap clean, and get out," he said.

Buddy was able to protect himself from coyotes, bobcats, eagles and other predators in the area. He had been seen running with the well-known herd of docile deer in the area.

"He survived at least in part by being evasive," Mansfield said. "That was almost his downfall because people couldn't catch him."

Now that's a sly dog

Trostle had all but forgotten about Buddy until a trip to the cabin just before Christmas. The dog caught the scent of the Trostles smoking ribs, and he ventured out of a nearby sandpit where he was staying. But humans couldn't get close enough to touch the dog.

"It would've been easier to catch a deer than this dog. I started asking people to see if they would keep an eye out for him. They all knew he was a stray," Yancy said. "I was really praying to God that I would get him, or that somebody else would."

A little peanut-eater

Worried about the harsh conditions, Mansfield put together a "calorie bomb" that included a ham bone and fat that was poured over dog food.

"Beagles are southern, peanut-eating dogs. They are not for 4-degree weather," he said.

Buddy apparently filled his belly, or least the pile was eventually devoured over a week's time, Mansfield said, but if the dog couldn't be caught during the extreme conditions over the holidays, there was not much hope that it would survive.

"I thought he was dead after that cold," he said.

First, get a pork chop

On Friday, Trostle decided to make his own trap, starting with a 5-by-10-foot kennel.

He tied one end of a rope to the kennel door and the other to the boat anchor. The rope was placed over the top of the kennel and the anchor suspended on the other side so the weight would pull the gate closed. But the gate was held open by a stick hooked to another rope that was dangled from the top of the cage. On the other end, Trostle tied a pork chop. The plan was to lure the dog into the cage with the fresh meat, and when the hungry and cold canine grabbed and pulled it, the rope would remove the stick and close the door. Trostle added a latch that would prevent Buddy from escaping.

Then he waited, checking the trap every two hours through the night.

During breakfast on New Year's Eve morning, he heard the sound of a gate slamming shut. Trostle ran outside and found the dog.

Skinny and infected

"He was skinny, and he had a massive infection around his throat area," Yancy said.

He picked up the shy and timid beagle and carried him inside.

The dog snapped at Trostle as they entered the cabin, and cut his finger.

A registered nurse at Salina Family Healthcare Center, 651 E. Prescott, Cindy Trostle obtained some antibiotics for the dog from Weckel's office, and was able to cleanse the wound where the shock collar electrodes had irritated and infected Buddy's neck.

Yancy Trostle called the South Carolina hunter -- there were phone numbers on the collar -- who gave him the dog.

"He just wanted his shock collar back," Trostle said. "That was the agreement to let me keep his dog, and I'm a man of my word."

After hearing of the feat, Mansfield likened Trostle's trap to something from the old "MacGyver" television show.

"I was astonished, and really happy," Mansfield said.

Growling in his sleep

Described as a friendly dog who likes to be petted, Mansfield said Buddy also displays classic symptoms of post traumatic stress disorder.

"If there is a loud noise, he can't help but duck. If you come close to him while he's sleeping, he growls," Mansfield said.

There is evidence of the dog's toils, from cuts on his nose, apparently from being bitten, to scratches and cuts on his belly. Buddy's right ear is "shredded," he said.

"To live in an environment where things eat each other, it amazes me he's still alive," Mansfield said. "They should name him Lucky. He's one tough s.o.b."

-- Reporter Tim Unruh can be reached at 822-1419 or by email at tunruh@salina.com.

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