No bark, no trace: Tale of the condemned dog

Where's Scottie , the biting terrier? Is he still in Marshfield , where town officials have ordered him euthanized after he bit three people?

Or has he been "rescued" and delivered to a new out-of-state home by a little-known group of dog lovers known as the canine underground railroad ?

Town officials say they suspect the dog is no longer around but have no idea where he might be.

Theresa Murphy , the owner of the 7-year-old Scottish terrier, declined to say whether he is in her possession.

But Joanna Carroll McGinn, a former Acton resident who now lives in Las Vegas, says that she is a member of the canine underground railroad and that Scottie has been taken out of state. She said she personally had not seen the dog but knew some details about the people who had taken him.

"It's highly illegal," said Carroll McGinn, referring to the practice of removing problem dogs that have officially been ordered removed or euthanized. Carroll McGinn contacted the Globe after reading a recent story in Globe South about problem dogs such as Scottie. "But sometimes," she said, "it's in the best interest of the dog to get them out of town."

She said the dog had been placed with a family in the state of Washington. In another conversation a few days later, however, she said the dog had run away from his new owners while on a jaunt in the countryside and could not be found. She declined to provide the names of the new owners.

Carroll McGinn's account could not be confirmed, even by Marshfield officials.

But Norma D. Haskins, the town's animal control officer, went to the Murphy home last weekend and found no evidence that Scottie was there, although she could not get in because no one was home. Upon previous visits, the dog had been very noisy, she said.

Haskins believes the dog is gone, as does Town Administrator John Clifford.

"If we do find the dog is still here in town, we will . . . take the dog into custody," Clifford said. "If it's no longer in town, for all practical purposes, it is beyond our reach."

The town will not pursue charges against anyone in connection with the case, he added.

According to town and court filings, Scottie bit three people and chased others between 2000 and 2005. A Board of Selectmen's order to euthanize the dog was affirmed by an assistant clerk magistrate at Plymouth District Court on Nov. 29 .

If the dog was indeed rescued by the "railroad," it joins many others that have taken the same route to new homes. What makes the practice illegal is that the dogs are being moved while facing town restrictions.

Other, legitimate, canine rescue groups have operated for years, held together by people who do their best to help dogs that have been abused or neglected to connect with new, loving owners.

And many dog lovers take the cause seriously. Both rescues and railroads transport dogs from one end of the country to the other, until a pooch reaches its new home. A volunteer may drive from, say, Massachusetts to Virginia, where another driver will take the dog on the next leg of its journey.

How extensive such informal groups are and how many dogs they handle is difficult to estimate, since many are typically organized around particular breeds and operate casually, via phone calls and e-mail.

Some are more organized than others. The Cairn Rescue Network , which specializes in saving cairn terriers, has helped about 2,000 cairns find new homes over the past six years , said Kathie Rudy of Great Neck , N.Y., on Long Island. It's all done legally, she said. The dogs are from local pounds or bought at "puppy mill" auctions.

They, too, count on volunteers to help with elaborate transportation plans. A dog from a pound in Kansas may end up with a "forever family" in Hobart, N.Y., driven there by a "daisy chain" of volunteers, said Rudy.

Another organization, Shore Hearts Golden Retriever Rescue , based in New Jersey , transports about 80 golden retrievers a year, sometimes over more than 1,000 miles, said Wendy Ragan , of Missouri , who coordinates the transports.

Since people seldom drive more than 100 miles each, that can mean 12 or more volunteers driving legs that stretch across half the country.

While she does not participate in illegal rescues, Ragan says, she's certainly heard of people who have done so. Usually they involve pit bulls, she said.

"It's a big country, and there are people out there who believe every dog should be saved," she said, adding that it's not an idea she agrees with.

Scott Giacoppo , deputy director of advocacy for the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals , says the organization deals with legitimate rescue groups all the time.

"We have a list of people we'll call and say, hey, we have a great dog," he said. With 26,000 animals coming in a year, "we'll get an animal out of here anyway we can, as long as we're comfortable where the animal is going."

In Marshfield, Clifford, the town administrator, wondered what would happen to Scottie.

"If it's out of town, there's not much we can do," he said.

"The neighbors would be relieved, but we would be concerned it would be doing the same thing someplace else."

Matt Carroll can be reached at mcarroll@globe.com.