Tour De Kota Dog Update

Remember that dog, a cross between a basset and a beagle, on the first day of TDK that seemed to show up at every rest stop on the last half of the ride? I first saw the dog between Dalesburg and Volin, a merry little hound running in the road ditches along side the riders. I thought it was odd since I ride in this area OFTEN, as we were only about 6 miles from my house at the time, and I have NEVER seen this dog. I thought I knew all the dogs by name within a 20 mile radius of Wakonda!

We get to Volin and are taking a break and the dog shows up and the same thing happens again at Mission Hill. Now we know the dog has probably wandered off far from home. We check for dog tags and there are none. Melissa being very conscientious is trying to think of what to do to get the dog back to his owner; she’s talking to the local 4-H group putting on the rest stop at Mission Hill about someone taking the dog so it doesn’t follow the riders all the way to Yankton, she’s wondering if we should call the Yankton dog pound, etc. Since the dog has no tags it made it very difficult to try to locate the owner and I was hoping the dog would tire of this game and eventually go home.

To tell you the truth I didn’t think much more about the dog until this weekend my daughter told me some friends of theirs lost their dog “Bagel,” a beagle/basset mix, when TDK came through the area. Bagel, being the hound he is, has had a history of occasionally taking off on a scent and staying away overnight. This time he was gone for a few days. But luckily this story has a happy ending, somehow the owners found out their dog was at the Yankton pound and he was safely returned home. Bagel had gone all the way to Yankton with the riders…..about a 20 mile trip for him. I’m still not sure how he connected with the riders since he lives 3 miles off of the TDK first day route, maybe he is part blood hound too! I hope Bagel’s owners get him some tags.