If you live anywhere between Buchanan, Moneta and Woodbridge, you may have seen a black and white dog trotting along the side of the road at any point in the past year.
You’re not alone. There have been 177 reported sightings of the furry traveler since last October, organized into a map by two women — Stephanie Bowyer and Cera Wadsworth — who are working to catch Bandit and give him a permanent home.
An animal rights advocate they connected with, Ariel Wardle, chose the dog’s name — “because he runs fast and far, like a bandit.”
Bowyer said her family first spotted Bandit around U.S. 11 over the summer. She said her family was worried about him, and she soon started to see photos of dogs described as Australian Shepherds and cattle dogs on Facebook.
Bowyer said after seeing one crystal clear image of a dog near Route 11, she realized she was seeing multiple posts of the same animal.
She said she began researching and found Facebook posts with photos of Bandit from Botetourt and Bedford counties going back to March.
“It was just surreal because it’s hard to imagine this little dog traveling so far,” she said.
She began documenting the sightings of Bandit and started a Facebook page, “Help Find ‘Bandit’ the Dog,” which now has over 200 members. She reached out to Wardle, who started an animal rights advocacy group, “Justice for Max,” after a Vinton dog had to be euthanized as a result of being kept in a cage for years.
Wardle also helped in Vinton to trap a stray dog, Emmy, who required an entire weekend of cheese bribes to get close enough for Wardle and others to trap her and get her adopted.
“The goal of this group is to encourage people to report where they see him, to not chase him, and to not call animal control because he will run further, and to ultimately track his route and be able to set up feeding stations,” Wardle said in a Facebook message. “By setting up feeding stations, we can hopefully keep him in one area, like Emmy, and trap him.”
The map of Bandit’s sightings came along with the help of Wadsworth, who worked at a local humane society as a dog trainer for almost eight years. Wadsworth said she had some “trial by fire experience” in dog trapping because one dog escaped from a shelter she worked at, and it took eight months to trap the animal and bring him back. When they started the map, there were only about 10 sightings of Bandit to record.
The map they created includes the date and time the person saw Bandit, the location, and information about which direction the dog was headed in. They also note instances where the person is not absolutely sure it’s the same dog or if the sighting is in contradiction to another confirmed sighting.
But by now, they’re able to help the person identify that, based on Bandit’s mannerisms, they said, like his shyness and his patterns of running in and out of roads and neighborhoods.
The pair found one post going back to October 2025 that they believe to be Bandit, which means that he may have been on the run for as long as a year.
Bowyer said the pair also reached out to a group of women in Lynchburg who did similar work to trap a dog they named “Shy Guy” and were told to track the dog’s travel patterns.
Bowyer had previously adopted a dog that showed up in her neighborhood, after taking months to gain the dog’s trust before she was able to put a leash on the animal. If dogs get scared off, they might not return to an area, she said.
Bowyer said she has gotten close to Bandit five or six times, running into him while she’s in Botetourt. She usually tries to feed him a few treats, which he takes tentatively, but has not been able to get close enough to get a leash on him yet before he gets spooked and runs off.
“He would come up to me and knew that I meant food,” Bowyer said.
“It’s breaking both of our hearts because we’ve been so, so close,” Bowyer said. “He’s yearning for something. He’s looking for a connection, but he’s very weary.”
Sightings have gone quiet
Over the summer, the two were receiving phone calls about Bandit almost daily, they said. But sightings have gone quiet since late September. It’s the longest stretch the pair has been without news, Wadsworth said.
“It’s really discouraging. We’re trying to stay hopeful and positive,” Bowyer said. “He just hugs your heart strings, and you want to help him so badly.”
But she said he’s a “survivor.” He’s in “remarkable shape,” she said, and has been found to be resourceful. The pair know that he has inhabited places where people feed feral cats and has even been caught eating from a bird feeder.
Wadsworth said she’s not discouraged yet — she sees the same “street dog savviness” in Bandit that she saw in the dog she rescued before. “He’s going to turn up one day or the other.”
She said the local rescues and shelters are aware of the situation and are keeping an eye out for Bandit.
While searching for Bandit, Wadsworth and Bowyer have both found and rehomed other animals on the street.
During a 90-degree summer day, Wadsworth said the two got calls from someone reporting a dog on Williamson Road in Roanoke who had been there for days.
That dog, Khaki, now lives with Wadsworth. They’ve also found lots of cats, including one caught in a dog trap and multiple in one spot under a building in Salem, which they’re working with the landlord to get sorted out, they said.
For anyone who might encounter Bandit, she said if you can feed him some treats in a yard without scaring him off, feel free, but otherwise, reach out to her or Bowyer — both of their phone numbers are on the Facebook page.
“The more we can get people aware right now, the better,” Wadsworth said.
