Rare New Guinea Singing Dog missing near Northfield

Missing Singing Dog search

A 1.5-year-old New Guinea Singing Dog named Arrow ran off from his owners' home near Northfield towards the end of May, and the area has been howling ever since.

NORTHFIELD, Minn. (FOX 9) - New Guinea Singing Dogs are known for their yodel-like howls, and there are only about 200 to 300 in the world.

'Not a dog you see all the time'

Local perspective:

As a pure-bred New Guinea Singing Dog, Arrow lives up to his name.

Now his owners are the ones who are singing the blues after the 1.5-year-old canine has been missing for nearly two months.

"It's kind of like a missing piece of the family. It's been a lot quieter around here without him," said one of his owners, Buck Nelson.

Dog gone

The backstory:

Nelsen says he was letting Arrow and their other dog, Atlas, who's half New Guinea Singing Dog, out to go to the bathroom in their yard about seven miles west of Northfield in late May, when he missed putting Arrow on his leash.
Nelson says he tried to lure the dog back with food, but Arrow ran off.

"We believe he can take care of himself. It's getting him sooner rather than later before the cold comes because I don't think that would go so well," said Nelson's wife, Christina.

Since then, the Nelsens have gone door to door with flyers and posted them on social media, offering a $2,000 reward for Arrow's safe return.

While there haven't been any confirmed sightings, there have been reports of unusual howling in a couple of areas about a mile from the Nelsens' home, which they've searched, singing as they go, hoping to draw Arrow out if he's within earshot.

"This case is unusual because this is an opportunity to use sound as an attractant. Normally with dogs, they don't respond to sound. They can be repelled by sound. They can be scared off by the sound of their owner's voice. So having this innate ability that Arrow has to sing and join in a pack behavior with the singing is a real opportunity to do something different with this case," said Devon Thomas Treadwell of the Retrievers, a non-profit that is helping the Nelsens find their missing pet.

"Yeah, it's a little awkward howling out into the woods. But it's more fun when we're all doing it together when we are here. So that's kind of what we're hoping for to howl together again," said Buck Nelson.