BAY COUNTY While the movie generated plenty of laughs, it's a pretty serious business for
pet detectives and the people who hire them.
That is the case for a Denver, Colorado resident who is in Bay County looking
for her dog.
Chances are, most of us never heard of a pet detective until Carrey's 1994
movie, but they are out there, and they don't come cheap.
Karin Tarqwyn doesn't call herself a pet detective, but instead a "K-9 handler
missing dog specialist." She and her search dogs started out looking for missing
people, but seven years ago she started to look for missing dogs after her own
dog went missing.
"It was the most grievous experience I had ever experienced, and the fact that I
was going through it, I knew other people did too," Tarqwyn said.
Gayle Johnson is going through the experience right now.
"On April 8, my little toy fox terrier Cici went missing and the last time I saw
her was about 4 p.m.," Johnson said.
Johnson searched on her own and put up fliers in the area of Topico Marsh north
of Bay City, the last place her dog was seen. But now she's hired Tarqwyn, who
charges a fee of $1,600 to take on the mission, and a $125 an hour fee. Her dogs
have picked up Cici's scent.
"It's been amazing to watch what Karen's team has been doing. I love Cici
dearly, she's my little angel girl and I miss her very much," Johnson said.
"We laugh about the Ace Ventura thing, but the reality is they don't bring me all
the way from Nebraska on a whim, this is serious stuff," Tarqwyn said.
That's right, Tarqwyn has come from Nebraska to search for the dog.
"Some may say this is a little crazy. I love my little dog and I'm not going to
give up on her. I know she's alive, I know she's here. She's also microchipped,"
Johnson said.
Being microchipped means the dog can be identified through the microchip
implanted in her skin, which can be scanned with a tool that most veterinarians
have.
