Meet the volunteers who track, find and reunite lost pets in Philadelphia’s collar counties

When Rhett and Chelsey Austell returned home to Bucks County after weeks of cancer treatments in New York, they were exhausted, hopeful and eager to settle back into a sense of normalcy.

Chelsey was eight-and-a-half months pregnant, and Rhett had just undergone surgery for metastatic appendix cancer, a rare cancer that starts in the appendix and moves to other parts of the body. Their support system was already stretched thin.

Then came the news that pushed them into panic.

Lenny — their affectionate, two-year-old tri-color Bernedoodle who lived for lap cuddles — had run from Chelsey’s family’s backyard.

The couple did everything they could think of, and called on friends and family for help.

“We commenced this pretty large operation to find him,” Chelsey said.

The Austells posted on Facebook, drove around late into the night, and called Lenny’s name into the darkness.

Rhett remembers feeling “totally bereft.”

After 24 hours with no sightings, their fear deepened. That’s when they were connected with a volunteer-run nonprofit called K911 Lost Dog Search, also known as Team Ruby — a collection of trained missing-animal responders who track, monitor and safely recover lost pets across Bucks, Montgomery and Lehigh Counties.

And they do it all for free, thanks to donations.

A volunteer army built on experience, and a Greyhound named Ruby

K911’s story began more than a decade ago, when volunteers spent months searching for Ruby, a missing greyhound who captured the region’s attention. Ruby was never found, but the neighbors, dog lovers and rescue workers who searched for her stayed together. Over time, they formalized their efforts as Team Ruby of K911 Lost Dog Search, developing evidence-based tracking methods, community alerts, flyering strategies, and safe, humane trapping techniques.

The group’s success rate is really high, according to Founder Julie Metzger. “It’s kind of unbelievable. It is in the 90 percentile,” she said.

Julie and her volunteer network field messages around the clock and handle hundreds of cases each year. Most people reach out through Facebook, phone calls, emails, or word of mouth.

“We take a lot of cases that are hard,” Metzger said. “As long as we have a volunteer in the area, we’re on board.”

Every case begins with a detailed intake: the dog’s personality, fears, habits and last known sightings. Then the team starts their search.

‘We are here 24 hours a day.’

The Austells were matched with Stacey Clemens, one of K911’s missing animal response certified volunteers. From the moment she stepped in, she offered structure, expertise and calm.

“We are here 24 hours a day for their dog,” Clemens said, “We’re going to do everything we can to get their dog back home to them.”

Her first instruction was one the Austells would repeat over and over: Do not chase.

“Please do not chase the dog if you see it,” she tells every family. “The best thing to do… is ignore it and keep on moving and go pick up the phone.”

Instead of chasing after Lenny, she walked the Austells through a method that works to bring dogs home: flyers, pattern tracking, scent mapping, trail cameras, food stations, and slow, low-pressure contact.

They printed and hung hundreds of neon-colored posters across a wide search grid — a tactic K911 emphasizes as sightings drop sharply when flyers disappear.

Then came the cameras.

“We have eyes on that camera 24 hours a day,” Clemens says. “We all take turns throughout the middle of the night.”

For days, Team Ruby monitored alerts, analyzed Lenny’s movement patterns, and adjusted traps and food stations. Like many lost dogs, Lenny stayed close to wooded cover and emerged only at night. But as long as the tracker images showed him healthy and mobile, Clemens and the team reassured the family: Dogs are far more adaptable than people think.

“These dogs are so resilient,” she said. “They will find a way to survive.”

The fried chicken, bacon and liverwurst that cracked the case

After eight long days, they made a call that often turns the tide in difficult cases. They headed into the woods near where Lenny had been seen. Clemens had a pan, a portable stove and some powerful scents: fried chicken, bacon and liverwurst. She got to cooking.

“That’ll put a lot of smoke up in the air,” she said. “To try to lure the dog to where we are, where we want them to come to.”

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The smell drifted across the trees. Lenny, finally hungry enough to investigate, followed the scent trail into a waiting humane trap.

Minutes later, Clemens was there — and soon after, Lenny was headed home.

“It’s one of the most rewarding things that I’ve done in my lifetime,” she said.

‘Lots of tears to have him home.’

The reunion was everything the Austells had prayed for.

“He was ecstatic,” Rhett said. “He’s just off the walls, so excited. And yeah, we had lots of tears to have him home.”

Chelsey remembers the moment with a laugh: “He says hi to everybody, gets his hugs — and then he went back in the cage to finish eating the liverwurst.”

She and Rhett didn’t hesitate to nominate K911 for the Good Souls Project. “Stacey and K911 are good souls,” Chelsey says, “because they really care about these animals and care about the families in our communities.”

Why They Keep Doing It

For Founder Julie Metzger, the work is deeply rooted in compassion.

“When I hear good soul,” she said, “I think of somebody that is very giving of themselves, that does things for the kindness of doing it.”

Being part of K911means helping people “at a really, really bad time of their life.”

K911’s volunteers — vet techs, dog lovers, office workers, retirees — juggle their day jobs with the all-hours demands of lost dog recovery. They hang flyers in rainstorms, watch cameras at 3 a.m., respond to panicked families, and track dogs through neighborhoods, construction sites, riverbeds, and wooded parks. Their work is consistent, patient, and rooted in the belief that reunion is possible, even after many days.

There are no cold cases at K911 —only families waiting for closure — and a team that refuses to stop working until they get it.