MERCER COUNTY Guardsman seeks answers on dogs' fate

One pet was shot, and the other is missing.
By HAROLD GWIN
VINDICATOR SHARON BUREAU
WEST MIDDLESEX, Pa. -- Sgt. Thomas Rudich wants to know what happened to his two best friends.
Rudich, serving in Iraq with the Pennsylvania National Guard for the last four months, got word several weeks ago that his two dogs ran away from their West Middlesex home and that one of them was shot. The other is still missing.
"These two dogs are like a part of our family, and I consider them to be my best friends," Rudich wrote in a letter to the editor, adding that they have slept at the foot of his daughter's bed since they were puppies.
Lucy, a 6-year-old black Labrador retriever, was shot with a shotgun and is recovering, but Colt, a 2-year-old golden retriever, is missing.
What happened
Rudich's wife, Julie, said she put the dogs outside around 8:45 a.m. March 10, attaching Lucy to a line but leaving Colt loose. Colt won't leave the yard on his own, but Lucy likes to run, she said.
Moments later, she saw the dogs running off into the woods and discovered that Lucy had broken her lead line and took off, with Colt following.
Julie said she got into her truck to go after them but was unable to find them.
She got a call about an hour later saying that Lucy had been injured near the Shenango Township municipal building, about 2 miles from her home.
It first appeared that Lucy was hit by a vehicle, but a veterinarian who examined her determined she had been shot and had between 30 and 40 shotgun pellets lodged in her body, Julie said.
Colt was nowhere to be found and has yet to turn up, she said.
Lucy is recovering, but the veterinarian didn't remove the pellets because he feared the surgery would be too traumatic for her to survive, Julie said.
Both dogs are very friendly, she said.
'Sadness to my heart'
Rudich was particularly dismayed by the news because he is so far from home and can't do anything about it.
"Apparently, one of my fellow red-blooded Americans pulled out his shotgun, loaded it with buckshot and shot [Lucy]," he wrote.
"It brings sadness to my heart to know that my forefathers gave their lives for this person's right to bear arms and I am currently protecting that right. It also pains my heart to know when I get home there won't be two wagging tails there to greet me," he wrote.
Rudich is asking that anyone with information about the dogs come forward and notify authorities.
Police Chief Ron Preston said authorities have so far been unable to determine who shot Lucy or what happened to Colt.
Julie Rudich said she spoke with people who live near the township municipal building, and three of them told her they heard what sounded like a single gunshot around 9:45 a.m. March 10.
Preston said he was in the police station at that time and heard no shot. No one has come forward to reveal what happened to the dogs, he said.