A motion sensor camera, global positioning systems, an Amber Alert on the Internet, around-the-clock surveillance, animal psychics and roast chickens are some of the tools employed by a dedicated group of volunteers on the lookout for an outsized purebred dog missing in the Bowie area.

Haggis, a Scottish deerhound, didn't get lost in an ordinary way. He bolted after his owners' brand-new SUV was totaled in an accident on Route 50 the night before Thanksgiving. The back window of the vehicle either shattered or popped out during the crash, enabling Haggis and another dog, a greyhound named Attila, to escape.

Attila was struck...