PENDLETON — Shaindel Beers and Matt DeGarmo, of Pendleton, are asking for the community’s help to find their dog, Malachi, and offering a $500 reward for his safe return.

“I just have been worried,” said Beers, vice president of the Pendleton Animal Welfare Shelters. “It’s not like him to disappear and not come back.”

Malachi is a 5-year-old Alaskan malamute that weighs 100 pounds. The couple rescued him five years ago at the Blue Mountain Humane Society in Walla Walla. Through the years, Malachi has played an essential role at PAWS.

DeGarmo said he began hiking down their usual trail with Malachi off leash at the Pendleton Adventure Trails Sunday, Sept. 29 around 6 p.m. on Airport Hill. Malachi then dashed up the hill toward the parking lot and never returned.

“We’ve done this 500 to 1,000 times over the past five years on that trail,” he said. “Sometimes I have to go get him, sometimes he loops back, but this time he did not return and when I went to the parking lot he was gone.”

DaGarmo combed through the area but could not pinpoint Malachi. He pressed on through the night by camping out on an air mattress at the trail parking lot. He went as far as planting clothes around the area so Malachi would able to sniff out their scent to help him return, but Malachi did not appear.

“We think that somebody thought he was a lost dog and put him in their vehicle,” Beers said. “But his collar has his name and has our phone number embroidered on it. So I’m not sure what happened to be honest.”

Beers said PAWS uses Malachi to see if other dogs are good with other canines and helps track other missing dogs. In 2022, Malachi found a canine that was lost at Emigrant Springs State Park, by tracking him through the snow.

On their Facebook page, the couple posted a $500 reward for the safe return of Malachi. Anyone who has any information can contact Beers at 541-310-0331 and DeGarmo at 541-310-1065. The couple’s contact information is on the dog’s collar.