THE FOLD

MISSING SHOW DOG

BY DENISE FLAIM
Newsday Staff Writer

March 22, 2006

When Jil Walton of Claremont, Calif., got off the red-eye at John F. Kennedy International Airport yesterday morning, she beelined to a corner of Queens she knew only from the grids of a Hagstrom map.

The 39-year-old patrolled the marble angels of Flushing Cemetery, and trekked the trails of Kissena Park. Then from a remote trail, she spotted a pup tent camouflaged by high grass.

Her fiance and travel companion, Rick Patterson, 44, clambered down the hill. "Have you seen a little white dog?" he asked the human inside.

"Oh," came the reply, accompanied by a waft of marijuana smoke. "You mean Vivi?"

To dog cognoscenti, Vivi is Champion Bohem C'est La Vie, a prize-winning whippet who competed last month at the Westminster Kennel Club dog show. But to residents of Flushing, she is that slip of a hound that bolted from her crate at Kennedy Airport Feb. 15, and has now made her home in their community.

Thanks to a canine-centric consortium of animal lovers, Vivi has been tracked to this section of northeastern Queens by two pet detectives and five search dogs. Telephone poles have sprouted fliers, and volunteer searchers cruise by in cars plastered with Vivi posters.

"I know I'm just supposed to be putting down my scent" in order to encourage the whippet not to wander, said Walton, periodically shouting "Vi-veeeeee" as she walked. But in every rustle of dead leaves, she hears the jingle of dog tags. "I still have this fantasy that I'm going to find my dog."

She has reason to hope. Vivi alerts have come fast and furious since March 11, when the dog was spotted by both a landscaper and a resident near 192nd Street and 45th Avenue - a sighting confirmed by search dogs. Since then, Vivi was seen playfully approaching a 12-year-old girl and scarfing down Italian bread tossed to her by a resident around the perimeter of Flushing Cemetery.

An airport employee who saw Vivi the night she got loose at JFK said she was no longer wearing her black buckle collar, which Walton said was so snug-fitting Vivi could never have removed it on her own.

Yesterday at 5 a.m., Vivi was reportedly sighted on Bowne Street, about a dozen blocks from Kissena Park.

She's certainly not thrilled with most humans of late, bolting at least twice in the last week when passersby have tried to grab her. That aloofness is typical of the breed, but not her dog, said Walton, a horse trainer and former Olympian who took Vivi to work with her every day. "She's the greeter at the barn, and she loves boys," she said. "She's a shameless flirt."

As for Walton, her summer nuptials are on hold until her family is complete again.

"I told Rick, let's forget about the wedding," she concluded as she turned on to yet another brush-lined park trail, "and have a 'Welcome Back, Vivi' party instead."

For updates on the Vivi search, visit www.newsday.com/animalhouse.

Feb. 15

Vivi reported missing at Delta terminal and is spotted in marshes at the end of a runway.

March 11

Two tracking dogs pick up a trail in South Jamaica that leads them to Baisley Pond Park.

March 11

Later in the day, Vivi is reported near 192nd Street and 45th Avenue in Flushing.

March 15

Passerby reports Vivi at Utopia Parkway and Peck Avenue, Flushing.

Thursday

Sighting at 210th Street and 43rd Avenue, Bayside.

Saturday

Three children spot dog at Bagley Avenue and Auburndale Lane. They say they had also seen it there a day earlier.

Sunday

Vivi reported at Flushing Cemetery by neighbor who fed her bread at 164th Street and Pidgeon Meadow Road at 2 p.m.

Monday

Vivi reported at 12:30 wandering around Utopia Parkway and 47th Avenue. A woman who tried to approach said the dog bolted toward Flushing Cemetery.

Yesterday

Vivi reported near 42-14 Bowne St. at 5 a.m.