When famed (if fictional) detective Sherlock Holmes caught the scent of a suspect, he'd declare: "The game is afoot!" Detective Deborah Cooke takes that statement literally.

She was scheduled to arrive in Corvallis late Friday night, braving wintery driving conditions along a 1,271-mile car trip from Phoenix to solve what could be called "The Case of the Missing Mutt."

Cindy Tucker of Corvallis lost Annie, a small mixed-breed German shepherd, on Dec. 7 while she was preparing for a horseback ride at Peavy Arboretum near the horse trailer parking lot. Tucker willingly paid Cooke $2,400 to come to Oregon to help track Annie.

Tucker knows it's a lot of money to spend on the slimmest strand of hope. "That's what credit cards are for, right?" she said. Besides, she's had Annie for 10 years. They're very close.

So far, although she's bought ads and pasted up posters and made repeated calls to animal shelters, no one has reported seeing Annie. Cooke is bringing tracking dogs to try to pick up Annie's scent. Tucker has rolled Annie's bed in cotton balls.

"The cotton balls absorb Annie's scent, and the dogs work off the scent," Tucker said. Apparently the fact that it has rained and snowed since Dec. 7 doesn't matter.

Tucker knows the chance of finding Annie with the dogs alone is not promising. "Deborah says what we really need is sightings," Tucker said, "but we haven't had any so far. If I can just get some sightings, it will really help Deborah."

Cooke has helped many others. She's been a pet detective for two years. With the help of her canine operatives Higgins, Riley, Tess and Dudley, she goes where she's needed. She prides herself on finding pets when all the clues have run dry.

The trail certainly is cold in Annie's case. Tucker was tacking up her horse in preparation for a ride the day Annie vanished. Annie was going to walk alongside. It was a routine outing for the trio. "She was doing her usual sniffing about, and I turned around, and she was gone," Tucker said.

She wasn't concerned. Annie often went exploring on her own. She was shy around people and animals, Tucker said, so she never went far and always came when she was called. Tucker finished her ride. Afterward, she called Annie. No answer.

Tucker found Cooke at www.missingpetdetectives.com. If money was an object, it wasn't an insurmountable one. "It's not too much to spend if I can find Annie," she said.

Annie is mixed-breed spayed female, tan with a black saddle and tip of her tail. She has four white paws and white on her chest. Her tail is curled over her back. Her ears stand up half way. She was last seen wearing a magenta collar with rabies tags. She answers to her name.

If anyone can help the pet detective find Annie, they can call Tucker at 740-2256. Tucker is offering a reward.