Early Wednesday, June 22, the day the dog lost in Dunsmuir was found, townsfolk were startled to see two women being towed up and down streets by three large Catahoula leopard hounds. The two ladies were Teresa Bressoud and Lisa Mora, of Hillybilly Hound Hunter.

The lost dog's owner, Rochelle Zolna, had called the professional pet detectives in after her dog, Tinker, had been missing in the Dunsmuir area for ten days. It was Tuesday evening that Zolna met the hound hunters at the Railroad Park Resort, where she had paid for their stay.

Though the pros did not actually find Tinker, their very visible contribution to the search heightened interest in it, and Bressoud remarked afterward over what a special breed of people she found in Dunsmuir.

She said that Hillbilly Hound Hunter's efforts began Tuesday evening. While meeting with Zolna, they collected scent from her car where Tinker had ridden many times. They rubbed the place where Tinker liked to sit with a 4 X 4 gauze sponge. Then they sealed it in a plastic bag to avoid contaminating it.

The next morning they started at the dry fountain on upper Pine Street where Tinker, frightened by the blast of color guard rifles at the beginning of the Railroad Days parade eleven days earlier, had bolted from her collar. Right away, the hounds picked up her scent.

The three four-legged hunters were Coon, Lucy and Rogue. They were experienced tracking hounds who had found missing pets before, including cats and dogs, a tortoise, even birds. Bressoud explained that air scent settled like dust, so a bird could indeed leave a trail her dogs could follow.

Wednesday morning, they tracked up and down the streets of Dunsmuir for hours, until heat set in and the hounds began suffering from what Bressoud called, "nose exhaustion". The search party took cover in the shade, and shortly thereafter came the cell phone call that led to Tinker's recovery.

It was during the long victory lunch at Burger Barn where Bressoud met Dunsmuir. Folks who had tried to find the dog, along with those who had just heard about the search, checked in and offered their congratulations on the find. Bressoud said that this procession of well-wishers lasted until 6 p.m, and that impressed her.

"It was a really good feeling to have all these people come together to help this stranger find her dog," she said later. "I haven't seen a community like yours in quite a while. They came out from the bottoms of their hearts. It was absolutely phenomenal."

Bressoud offered her professional opinion on why Tinker might have hiked all the way to Railroad Park, where she was found. "When Rochelle met with us Tuesday, she left air scent," mused the pet detective. "She had the windows of her car down. She left a trail. Tinker tried to track her down."