UPDATE, Monday, July 28: Max has been found and is home. The signs can come down. Thanks to everyone who kept an eye out and — the hard part — kept their distance.
Max, a 1-year-old dachshund-schnauzer mix, went missing in west Bloomington on Friday, July 25. He was last known to be near West 83rd Street and Highwood Drive — the Reynolds Park neighborhood — and he's a foster dog still new to the area, which is part of why the people looking for him spent three days asking neighbors to keep their distance rather than help catch him.
He's medium-sized, 20 to 30 pounds, with a long, low body, short legs, a long tail, and a wiry brown-and-black coat. The report lists him in a green collar; the photo circulating with it shows him in a blue collar with a red heart-shaped tag.
Handmade signs have gone up around the neighborhood with that photo taped to them. The one pictured below says DO NOT CHASE twice — once hand-lettered across the bottom in marker, once printed underneath the phone number.
That instruction isn't a formality. Lost Dogs MN tells searchers to make sure everyone helping knows "not to call or chase your dog if he/she is seen," because doing either "may make your dog feel threatened and panic which could cause them to run even further, possibly into traffic." The advice for a sighting is the opposite of instinct: sit or lie down, look away, stay quiet, and put out food.
The search area is a residential pocket of west Bloomington built around Reynolds Park, a 14.6-acre park at 7201 West 83rd Street with ball fields, tennis and pickleball courts, a playground, a picnic shelter and seasonal restrooms. The surrounding neighborhood carries the same name.
Max's report is closed, so the numbers that were circulating — 612-293-5097 on the signs, (612) 564-0164 on the lost-pet report — don't need calling anymore. The next dog will have its own. Bloomington AI keeps a running board of lost and found pets in the area, and the advice on it doesn't change: note the time and the exact spot, keep your distance, and call the number on the listing.
