Jennifer Hysell and her husband reside in Dallas. On Monday, December 13, they drove fifteen hours through the night, arriving in Michigan on Tuesday to retrieve their dog, Parker, who had been lost for over four months.
In July, Hysell attended her father’s funeral in Bangor, Michigan, and brought her pit bull Parker along. Hysell stayed in a camper on her family’s property while in Bangor, and Parker wandered off. Although Hysell searched for him, she eventually had to return to Dallas.
According to Fox 4, Hysell stated, “We had my family and everybody being aware, posting on Facebook from day one.” News Channel 3 of Michigan reported that while Parker was missing, Hysell was in constant communication with Van Buren County Animal Control and also sent numerous emails describing her lost dog.
Jenny Loyd, who resides in South Haven, Michigan, heard that Parker was missing and searched for him regularly. “Being a southern dog he doesn’t know about Michigan winters, so that was our main concern,” Loyd expressed.
In late November, Loyd spotted Parker in South Haven, walking behind a store called Old Village Market.
“At first I didn’t know if it really was Parker, I’m like, ‘Is this the dog we’re looking for?’ Pit bulls don’t usually have a bushy tail like him so I reached out to Jennifer in our private Facebook group and said, ‘Could you send me pictures of his tail?’ I needed to verify that this was actually Parker and not to waste her time,” Lloyd explained.
Weeks after spotting the dog behind the store, the only traces of Parker were paw prints on the ground that may have been his and glimpses of him on trail cameras. Parker was finally caught on December 11.
To catch Parker, they had to use a Missy trap, complete with an invisible laser beam to close the door, because the dog apparently outsmarted the simpler “bait on a string” trap attempts.
Being found in South Haven means Parker journeyed eleven miles from where he was originally lost in Bangor.
“The army that got together… went ahead and got together because of Parker the Marker, as we call him, because he really put a mark on our life,” Hysell said.
