A Town Full of Bloodhounds Goes Sniffing for Lost Dog Worth $9,000

A family’s search for a lost dog, which has included a $9,000 reward, a helicopter sweep and wanted posters, has turned this small farming town into a posse of treasure hunters.

“I’ve heard jokes that people are going to go buy a (Great) Dane and paint it the right colors,” Police Cmdr. Vern Gardner said this week. “Everyone’s heard about it.”

Giuseppe Campanella, 40, said he offered the reward because the 80-pound black-and-white Great Dane named Diana was the close companion of his mother, Maria, 61.

“To her, it was like a little kid,” Campanella said. “Diana was hardly a week old when we got her. She was raised here. She slept with my mother. She was part of the family.

“Picture if your child or brother was missing. That’s what it means to us.”

The dog, which Campanella bought for about $75 last year, disappeared Sept. 1 from the family ranch.

Besides the reward, Campanella rented a helicopter for a daylong search and tacked up lost dog posters all over town.

Campanella, who manages several auto body shops, said that much of the reward money will come from borrowing on his credit cards.

“I really can’t afford this,” he said.