Social media helps South Haven, Minn. couple find dogs after kennel escape

SOUTH HAVEN, Minn. (FOX 9) - After going on a trip, a couple came home to a sad surprise: both of their dogs they'd left at a kennel had gotten out.

But, after the daring escape that took them on a "doggone" adventure, Jack and Maggie are back where they belong in South Haven.

“[We're] elated. When they are gone, it's like someone gut-punched you. When they are home, it's hard to describe," the couple tells FOX 9.

Dan and Corie Eckstrom put up flyers and posters after their two English springer spaniels got out of a nearby boarding kennel while the Eckstroms were out of town last Friday night. The couple also posted pictures of the escape artists on social media while friends, family and even total strangers searched for the cunning canines on foot.

"I'm a marketer; I know the power of social media," said Corie. "We actually paid to promote a post in the five local towns just to get the word out."

After a couple of sightings of the dogs together on Saturday, the Eckstroms found Jack Sunday morning at a quarry about a mile and half from where he disappeared. But it wasn't until the couple put another post on social media asking if anyone had spotted Maggie that they found her four days later about 5.5 miles away in Kimball.

"So relieved," Corie said, with Dan adding, "I cried like a little school boy finding his puppy."

The Eckstroms say, other than a few ticks and being a little tired, Jack and Maggie have gotten a clean bill of health from their vet. But they say the way people rallied around them both online and in real life will be what they remember most.

Corie tells us, "I would never want to go through having the dogs lost again but the community that came together around us this week was nothing short of spectacular."

The Eckstroms say both dogs had GPS collars. but the collars died on Friday night. Now they say they will invest in longer-lasting collars in the future.