Correspondent photo / Sean Barron Adam and Annie Sofran of Boardman are all smiles after having been recently reunited with their dog, Bailey, who went missing for six days. Their pet was found in Canfield.

BOARDMAN — If Hollywood were to make a movie titled “The Adventures of Bailey,” neither Annie Sofran nor her husband, Adam Sofran, would wish for a sequel.

“We had her for a week when she went missing, so we didn’t have much of a relationship with her before she took off,” Annie Sofran said.

Sofran, who works in Akron Children’s Hospital’s marketing department, was referring to Bailey, the couple’s 4-year-old light-brown doodle dog who somehow chewed through her leash, then escaped from the backyard. The pet was missing for six days before being found in Canfield.

Before embarking on her unwanted — and potentially dangerous — nearly weeklong escapade, Bailey was living with an Alliance woman who was fostering her and about 12 other dogs. Before that, the animal had apparently been with an Amish family who no longer wanted her, Sofran said.

What began with a neighbor noticing something was amiss quickly morphed into a large and coordinated search party — everyone from family to fellow neighbors to friends to the Boardman Police Department.

“When she took off, a neighbor texted me and said, ‘There’s a doodle loose. Where’s your dog?'” Sofran said.

Before long, friends, neighbors and even strangers were searching for Bailey, as were Sofran’s sons, Toby, 16, and Bennett, 18, both of whom attend Boardman High School. Her older son also recruited several friends to look for the lost pet, Sofran added.

Along the way, the Sofrans were informed of numerous sightings of their beloved dog, including in nearby Forest Lawn Cemetery and at various locations along Market Street. In their efforts to track her down, Boardman police along that corridor formed something of an escort but were unable to catch her, Sofran said.

The search effort also included Keri Hunt, who lives across from the Sofran residence. She asked two men at a Market Street business who were taking a work break outside if they had seen the dog, to which they said they had spotted her in a nearby vacant lot, Hunt said.

In addition, she was part of a group that scoured the cemetery in search of the animal, she added.

“To me, it was amazing how everybody came together,” Hunt said.

At one point, Bailey was seen sitting in a large pipe near a construction site, but ran toward Southern Boulevard and a wooded area when called. A bit later, police spotted the dog near Glenwood Avenue, Sofran said, adding that she also was continually updating — and receiving updates from — her neighborhood’s Facebook page while also looking online at two local lost dog websites.

A few days later, Bailey had somehow made her way to Kennsington Golf Club & Grille on Westford Place in Canfield. Soon after, the dog entered a woman’s fenced-in backyard not far from the golf course, Sofran said.

While looking out a window to her residence nearby, Christine Dascenzo, a mutual friend of Sofran and the woman, saw Bailey enter the yard, then closed the door to the fence, ensuring the dog would not escape again. It wasn’t long before the Sofrans received a call containing a large dose of good news.

“She came right to us,” Adam Sofran, who works for First National Bank in Hermitage, Pa., said. “When we brought her home, she was like a different dog; she ate better and was happier.”

Softan added that Bailey’s fur had many burrs and briars, but the dog suffered no health problems from her six-day odyssey. He also gave her a bath and removed the nettles from Bailey.

Just so recent history doesn’t repeat itself, the Sofrans, whose last doodle died Oct. 23, 2023, are in talks with a professional dog trainer to learn techniques regarding how to safely leave Bailey at home while they work during the day, Annie Sofran said.

Sofran also was anything but shy about expressing her gratitude and thanks to those who spent hours and days participating in the arduous search for her beloved dog.

“We can’t begin to say how grateful we are for everyone’s care and support to find her,” she said. “It means a lot to us, the time they put in to find our dog.”