BEFDORD - While it's owners were on a Costa Rican adventure, their dog Pippin was busy in New Hampshire making memories of his own.

The 8-year-old Sheltie from Epping was staying in Bedford with the owner's sister-in-law, Pamela Whitney, when he ran off one morning. It took six weeks and a massive effort from nearly half a dozen communities to bring him back safely.

Whitney said it wasn't like Pippin to run off.

“She's a Sheltie. If they know their boundaries, they tend to stay in them,” she said. “We think he may have taken off after something in the woods.”

The search for Pippin began immediately, with posters plastered everywhere, and family members handed out business cards with his photo on them. Whitney said more than a dozen sightings of the dog were reported in the six weeks he was gone, and no one gave up searching.

From kids on school buses to DPW workers to FedEx delivery people, everyone was keeping an eye out for Pippin.

Whitney said she went to great lengths to find the dog as well.

“We just did these crazy, crazy things to get him home,” she said, including putting out bait of hot dogs, chicken and gravy.

“I dripped gravy all the way up my driveway to the back deck,” Whitney laughed.

Whitney also enlisted the help of Granite State Dog Recovery, which uses technology, and before long, Pippin's photo was everywhere.

“They are just this phenomenal group of people,” Whitney said, that sent volunteers out to look for Pippin after each sighting.

After searches that spanned across Goffstown, New Boston, Weare, Bedford and Mont Vernon, Pippin was finally found by Goffstown police near an apartment complex on St. Anselm Drive.

Pippin was lame, exhausted and down a few pounds, Whitney said, but perked up immediately at the smell of Whitney's husband, who went to pick him up.

Vets had to remove more than 100 ticks from Pippin's face alone.

Whitney said the family's determination to find Pippin is what brought him home.

Whitney's mother-in-law had died just two weeks before Pippin's visit to Bedford, and her father-in-law died in November.

“It was just one loss after another,” Whitney said. “But this was one loss we knew we could do something about.”

She is still amazed by the outpouring of support from Bedford and surrounding communities.

“This speaks just so loudly about the community we live in,” she said. “We live in a great place.”