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But the story of the happy-looking Bernese mountain dog -- and the dozens of efforts to find him, feed him, trap him, sedate him and get him back to his newly adopted home in Bluffton -- captured a lot of hearts.
Virginia Culter at Wild Birds Unlimited taped to her store window daily updates from Remy's website, www.lostdoghhi.com. That was one of the ways Remy's story took on a life of its own, with an outpouring of emotion and support coming locally and through e-mails from as far away as California and England.
Remy was found dead in the woods off of William Hilton Parkway a week ago today by his owner, Gary McCarney of Bluffton. He said the cause is unknown and that he buried Remy in the woods where the dog chose to live a homeless life.
McCarney hopes something good will come of Remy's story.
"It has a lousy ending," he said. "I'm not sure it would have been better if we caught him. He wanted to be free."
McCarney adopted Remy from a Georgia club for the large tri-colored breed often seen pulling little carts for children or providing friendly therapy to the elderly.
McCarney sketched the history he was given for his second Bernese mountain dog: Remy lived in the woods on a farm out West for his first year. His owner wanted to put him to sleep, but a veterinarian spared him. He was caged for much of the next two years and subsequently turned over to the Georgia dog club.
Four days after McCarney adopted Remy last October, he took him to a local veterinarian. One look inside the door, and Remy broke free from his collar and bolted. Posters went up, and countless searches took place. In mid-December, Remy was located in woods off of Marshland Road, several miles from where he escaped. The dog settled in there.
McCarney drove 13 miles every day to feed him or try to trap him.
"Remy was a full-time job," he said. The dog would come to a whistle, see McCarney, wait at the edge of the woods for the food, but never come out if people were around. Search-and-rescue dogs couldn't catch him, and finally -- because of the heat and the dog's long coat -- McCarney agreed to have authorities shoot him with a tranquilizer dart. Two days later, he found Remy dead.
"There's a dark side to all this," McCarney said, "but there's really a bright side to it. So many humanitarian people helped."
The dog club helped in the search and was going to help find Remy a new home where he could run free in wide open spaces.
McCarney is left with a long list of thank-yous and a resolve to do good things in Remy's name.
