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Vivi, now leader of the pack?

BY DENISE FLAIM | Newsday Staff Writer

August 9, 2006

Remember Vivi? A handful of diehard searchers do.

Tuesday marks the six-month anniversary of the wandering whippet's escape from her crate at Kennedy Airport after she competed at the Westminster dog show. Though Vivi's owners eventually returned home to California, the search for their dog never stopped. In fact, it has taken on a life of its own.

There's a toll-free tip line 877-JFK-VIVI. There's a conga line of sightings all over Queens, a half-dozen confirmed by tracking dogs. (The latest, albeit unconfirmed: On Monday two passersby reported seeing her in Forest Park in Glendale.)

And, not least of all, there's a small army of two dozen or so volunteers who send e-mails and make phone calls and follow the roaming whippet's every move on blogs and e-mail lists.

"They call me the Flier Queen," says Diane Tamm of Flushing, who estimates 50,000 fliers depicting the white and brindle whippet have been tacked up since that frigid February day when she bolted into the airport marshland.

The coming months could provide a break in the search: Vivi was expected to be in heat in late June, and last month the normally reclusive whippet was spotted with a pack of stray dogs.

Motherhood could curtail Vivi's wanderlust, at least temporarily, says Michael McCann of Randolph, Mass., an expert in corraling renegade greyhounds.

Even in such company, Vivi stands out. "This whippet has got me crazy - she just isn't routine driven," says McCann, who spent a weekend canvassing for Vivi on Woodhaven Boulevard. "No matter what you do, she pops up somewhere else a mile down the road."

Indeed, Vivi's Tour de Queens most resembles a game of hopscotch: Venturing into Jamaica from the airport, she surfaced in Flushing, then followed a greenbelt of parks to College Point and Whitestone. By May, she was spotted in St. Albans. After a detour to suburban Valley Stream, Vivi headed back to Glendale, where she has been seen since mid-June.

Perhaps harking to their ancient nomadic roots, whippets "turn into wild dogs very quickly," McCann says. Vivi doesn't seem to much miss domestication. With such an independent dog, McCann says, there is only one remedy: tincture of time.

The waiting is the hardest part, concedes Vivi's breeder, Bo Bengtson of Ojai, Calif. "I never thought she would cope" with the tundra-worthy East Coast winter, much less the traffic, he muses. What's even more stunning, he adds, is the outpouring his "Elvis phantom" dog has generated among complete strangers. "I don't want to be ungrateful, but also wish other dogs could get this attention."

Some have. In their travels, Vivi volunteers have rescued a Dalmatian, a Pomeranian, four kittens and a litter of nine puppies, among others.

But Vivi still tops their list. Tamm owns four whippets, the youngest of which resembles Vivi, and "I can't take her for a walk without getting dirty looks," she reports. It's proof to Tamm that Vivi is still on people's radar screens.

"I wanted her to be the most famous whippet in the world," Bengtson says. "But I didn't want her to be famous for this."

Dog spotting

Reported Vivi sightings since June 1

JFK Went missing Feb. 15

Valley Stream June 1-3p.m

South Jamaica June 3 - 1:45 p.m.

Glen Oaks June 19 - 3 a.m.

Glendale June 19 - 5 a.m.

Glendale June 21 - 5 p.m.

Springfield Gardens June 30 - Time N/A

Douglaston July 3 - 11:45 p.m.

Glendale July 4 - 9 p.m.

Glendale Mondy 4 p.m. & July 5 - 9 p.m.

Woodhaven July 5 - 3 a.m.

Glendale July 18 - 1 p.m.

Kew Gardens Hills July 24 - 1:55 p.m.