dogjournal:

ESCAPED DOG ELUDES CAPTURE FOR EIGHT MONTHS - “The dog was so damned elusive. He notices any slight difference in anything. We had to bide our time…Every night the dog came to the house, he would case the house one or two times. Very shy, very strategic.”

Pepper, a Shar Pei/Shepherd mix, was adopted by a woman but immediately ran away from his new home in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Pepper was so hard to capture, that the city of Santa Fe hired a former deputy who has spent the last eight months tracking Pepper around the area.  Finally, Pepper was lured in by food.  Here’s more from latimes.com:

He stalked Pepper with a net gun and a high-powered air rifle equipped with tranquilizer darts….he posted fliers and wanted posters all over town. He developed a posse of several dozen volunteers who created their own Facebook group, Pepper’s Posse.

The group huddled, traded tips on nabbing the runaway, and waited. Yet time and again, the pesky pooch slipped through Dobbie’s grasp.

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Their big break came in late July when a Sante Fe resident contacted them to say that a dog matching Pepper’s description came to her home for a free meal every night…. 

“Finally, this dog is going to be able to run in a safe environment,” Dobbie said. “He crossed the three busiest roads in Santa Fe at least two dozen times a day. He’s a sweet dog, not a mean bone in his body. But one day, he was going to get hit. I thought it was needless for him to lead a life on the streets. Now he won’t have to.”

Pepper will be taken in by an animal sanctuary where he will be safe from the dangers of the street.  Pepper is one clever dog. Click here for the full story.