• Jennifer Preyss •
• Originally published December 26, 2010 at 11:12 p.m., updated December 26, 2010 at 11:12 p.m.

• HAVE YOU SEEN HIM?DOG: Bear, 5-year-old Black and white Australian Shepherd, 45 pounds with docked tail.

  LAST SEEN: Nov. 15, wearing a green hunting collar that reads "Peterson Ranch, Goliad, Texas, 361-645-2123."

  OWNER'S NAME: Jim and Arleen Peterson

  ...
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HAVE YOU SEEN HIM?DOG: Bear, 5-year-old Black and white Australian Shepherd, 45 pounds with docked tail.

LAST SEEN: Nov. 15, wearing a green hunting collar that reads "Peterson Ranch, Goliad, Texas, 361-645-2123."

OWNER'S NAME: Jim and Arleen Peterson

CONTACT: 361-645-2123, arleenspeterson@aol.com

REWARD IF FOUND: $1,000 - no questions asked.

Arleen Peterson is willing to do just about anything for her missing dog, Bear, including hire an animal psychic to channel Bear's whereabouts.

"I know he's alive and he just can't find his way back home," Peterson said. "That's what grieves me so much about this, he's not where he's supposed to be."

Out of character for the 5-year-old Australian Shepherd to stray, Peterson suspects Bear may have been stolen from her property while she was out of town in November having back surgery.

"I do think he was taken. He's never been a wanderer," Peterson said. "And it wasn't only him that went missing, three other dogs have been taken from the area."

While Peterson was undergoing surgery in New York more than a month ago, Bear disappeared from her Peterson Ranch in Goliad. He was last seen on Nov. 15.

Bear is a highly astute herding animal, also specially trained in therapy rehabilitation.

"I got him the same year I had my first back surgery," Peterson said, describing the freak back injury that left her with a severed spinal cord five years ago. "I always knew if I fell, he'd be able to go for help."

Peterson's attachment to Bear goes beyond a master's love for a pet. For her, Bear is like one of her children, and a trusted and needed friend around the ranch.

"I need people to see that he's not just a pet, he's a working dog, and he's my right arm," she said.

Peterson suspects Bear may have been abducted by an animal theft ring, primarily because Bear wasn't known to leave the ranch, and was always present before bedtime.

"Every night, I'd make sure all the dogs were present and accounted for," Peterson said of her seven working ranch dogs. "I had a certain whistle and I'd call for Bear every night, that was our deal. And even if he was off chasing some animal, he'd always answer me back."

When asked if there was any possibility Bear could have been killed by a coyote, or another wild animal lurking around the property, Peterson said "absolutely not."

When she discovered Bear was lost, she and her husband, and a handful of ranch hands combed more than 2,000 acres of Peterson Ranch and the adjacent lands on horseback looking for the dog.

"There's no way a coyote got him, we searched every inch of our property and our neighbor's property," she said. "They were nice enough to let us do that."

And Bear, it seems, was the mastermind behind keeping the coyotes at bay.

"That was part of his job," she said.

Since Bear's disappearance, Peterson has posted informational flyers in dozens of local businesses and newspapers from Houston to Corpus Christi. She's also listed Bear on PetAmberAlert.com, and other web sites that help pet owners locate their animals. Peterson alerted local law enforcement and the Goliad school district to be on watch for her dog.

And as a last resort, Peterson hired noted animal intuitive consultant Myra Logan, of Houston, attempting to metaphysically locate Bear.

"He went north through Goliad - I see him passing Linburg House. He is someplace more hilly (Cuero?)," Logan's notes read.

After reading Logan's report, Peterson said she began searching nearby areas that matched Logan's description, but has yet to locate her beloved dog.

For the safe return of Bear, Peterson will pay a $1,000 reward.

"I won't ask any questions, and won't turn anyone in," she said. "But I don't intend on stopping until I run out of ideas."

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