Lost: One black and tan Shiba Inu dog, named Mochi.

Found: A threatened city fine, a rush to take down "lost dog" signs and a new look at a confusing ordinance.

That's been Nicole Currivan's experience since the abused dog she adopted in late May slipped away June 6. The fliers she posted drew verbal warnings that she'd face a $300-per-sign fine -- an admonition that drove her to tear down the signs, but which Pittsburgh officials now say was a mistake.

"Our search has been kind of truncated" due to the city's fine threat, she said yesterday.

Ms. Currivan, a 27-year-old graduate student, and her husband Chris, 32, a software engineer, fell for 2-year-old Mochi right away -- not despite her skittishness but because of it.

Adopted from a private individual who takes in dogs in need of rehabilitation, Mochi took baby steps toward bonding with the couple. In less than two weeks, she went from being a dog that wouldn't leave her crate to a cautiously affectionate pet.

She even took to the Currivans' favorite food, macaroni and cheese.

"There were things like that, which made us feel she was our dog," said Ms. Currivan.

Then she slipped out of their Shadyside home, and was gone.

The Currivans launched an effort that has included notifying and repeatedly visiting shelters, sending e-mails and direct mail, running ads in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and online, issuing a news release, and even placing a humane trap, food bait, and automated game-spotting camera with night photography capabilities.

Why go so far for a dog they were just getting to know?

"Any animal lover will tell you that the thought of an animal out on the street, with the possibility of being hit by a car, is something you can't stand," Ms. Currivan said.

One thing they couldn't do: brave a $300,000 fine. That's what they thought they might face after they and allies put perhaps 1,000 fliers on utility poles and other surfaces. The fliers generated most of the leads that allow them to document 10 Mochi sightings on the Web page www.isqueal.org/mochi.

On June 24, though, they got a call from an employee of the Department of Public Works.

"He was very pleasant," Ms. Currivan said. "He said it's illegal to post anything. He said there's a $300 fine for every infraction of this code. ... They were giving us two days" to take the fliers down before sending out an investigator to photograph as many as possible to show the district judge.

The Currivans and friends tore down every flier they could still find, which amounted to around 400.

Yesterday, Public Works Director Guy Costa said it was all an honest mistake.

The city code bars the posting of "business and political advertising" on city property, and that is interpreted to include utility poles on easements granted by the city.

"It doesn't say anything about pets," said Mr. Costa. "That's why we have to let the pet lost-and-found signs stay up."

When people overdo it, the department sometimes asks them to post fewer fliers, and even then some anti-litter residents take them down. But the city only cites those who put fliers on poles for, say, electoral candidates or music shows.

He said his employee may not have known about the code's silence on lost pet signs.

The Currivans' plight spurred animal advocates to contact City Council, urging a specific exemption for lost pet signs.

"It's worth thinking about," said council President Doug Shields. It's also rife with problems. Can the city bar political fliers while explicitly allowing lost pet signs? Can it in effect invite people to put signs on poles owned by Duquesne Light Co.?

Maybe the city could prompt the creation of "a couple of strategically placed [message] boards" for such fliers, Mr. Shields said.

As for Mochi, when the signs came down, the leads dried up. The last reported sighting was June 28 in a back yard on Hobart Street in Squirrel Hill.

Ms. Currivan is still optimistic.

"She has crossed major roads all over the place and hasn't been hit," she said. "I'm just worried about when winter comes or she runs into a raccoon."