After three months on the run after leaping out of his owner’s car last November, the small dog Henry is now safe.

Many islanders have been following Henry’s plight, spotting him, mostly late at night, and reporting his location to his owner Karin Debelius and Vashon Island Pet Protectors’ Amy Carey, who led the rescue effort. The news of his capture traveled via Facebook on Saturday after Carey posted that Henry had been caught and was safe. Carey also thanked the community for its support and singled out two volunteers who had been instrumental in Henry’s rescue, Ena and Peter Reynen. For the last several weeks in the wee hours of night, one or the other of them has often been watching over the trap that had been set up for Henry at the north end, ready to pull a rope to close the door behind him should he enter. In the early hours of Saturday morning, Henry did just that, drawn by bowls of water and kibble, bringing the months-long effort to a close.

“It’s pretty awesome,” Carey said on Sunday. “Yesterday was really, really good.”

Carey, who coordinates VIPP’s dog program, spoke with determination throughout the effort to bring Henry back home. She showed that same resolve on Sunday.

“It was not a question in my mind,” she said about the odds VIPP would be successful with Henry. “You just have to have lots of patience and trust the protocols.”

Henry’s difficult situation started in California, where he was rescued last March from a hoarder and was eventually placed in a foster arrangement through Collar of Hope on the Kitsap Peninsula. Vashon owner Karin Debelius adopted him from that organization last fall. He was unsocialized, she said, but believes he was making progress in the five weeks in her care. He liked to ride in the car, she said, but last Nov. 20, on the way back from Costco, where she had purchased several dog toys, she said he “freaked out” after she handed him a toy. She moved the toy away from him, but when she got to her home and opened the car door to put the leash on him, he leapt over her and out of the car.

That began an intensive effort to return the small mixed breed dog, who is estimated to be about 4 years old. VIPP became involved quickly, and in December asked for volunteers to simply sit in cars at night on the north end, Debelius’ neighborhood, and see if they could spot Henry. The first humane trap they set for Henry, who was spotted frequently, did not draw him. VIPP volunteers constructed a Missy Trap, which is a type of trap that has been used in recent years to catch skittish dogs. They set that up — with aromatic food inside — also at the north end. The trap also required that someone be present should Henry enter and then pull a rope to close the door. As Henry was nocturnal, that meant volunteers kept watch at night.

Ena and Peter Reynen live near the trap and became involved with “Team Henry” before Christmas. In the last four weeks, Ena Reynen said, either she or her husband have been on duty frequently. Ena works full time, and credited Peter with being at the trap, in a car with a window open, ready to pull the rope to the trap’s door, from about 11 p.m. to 5 a.m. most nights in the last month.

It was Ena, however, who was on duty in the early hours of Saturday morning and pulled the trap’s rope, capturing the elusive Henry. Last Sunday, she shared some of the highlights of that night and what led up to it.

She believes the recent snowstorms are what led to his capture. With a thick covering of snow, there was no food around for him to eat, she said. Previously, he had come near the trap and would sniff around but would not cross the threshold. Then last Monday, when there was considerable snow on the ground, Peter Reynen spotted Henry’s footprints in the trap. On Wednesday, when no one was present, the camera there captured footage of him eating kibble from a bowl in the trap. On Thursday night, he again walked past the trap, but on Friday night they set out kibble and water, replicating what had drawn him two nights earlier. Carey had received word that Henry had been spotted in Dockton earlier in the day and doubted he would come up that far. And then Carey got word he was near Thriftway — and knew he was on his way.

Carey was on lookout by The Wild Mermaid, and Ena was in position at the trap. By 1:30 a.m. Saturday, Henry still had not shown up, Ena said, and Carey planned to head home. But five minutes later, Henry appeared. While he had always been leery of walking through the door, he was halfway through it when a man in a large camper drove by and called to him— and Henry bolted.

“I thought that was it,” Ena said, expecting Henry would not return.

The man parked his camper in the north-end ferry lot — and apologized profusely when he learned the nature of what was happening, she said.

A short time later, Henry came back, sniffed around the door of the trap and walked in, Ena said, noting she knew she could not pull the rope until he was all the way to the back of the trap and eating.

“When he lowered his head to the bowl, I pulled it with all my might,” she said.

Carey quickly came up the hill and the women summoned Peter too. Over the next two hours, the trio worked to calm Henry and get him into a kennel to transport him to the Reynen’s home. They are caring for him on an interim basis while Debelius recovers from recent surgery.

Now, he is safe in their laundry room, Ena said. He is eating and drinking and spending a lot of time in his kennel resting. He is “grossly underweight,” she said, but a vet who visited on Monday confirmed he has no major health problems. He will need a lot of rehabilitative work, both she and Carey said, and that process has started. An experienced behaviorist has already met Henry.

Debelius, who is recovering at her home, has been by to visit Henry and will continue visiting until she is well enough to have him at her house again. On Sunday, she said she had been there and that Henry was not responding to a lot of things, but she said he did respond to a special pat on the head that had been part of their weeks together.She is anxious to have him back at her home.

“I adore Henry and want him back in my life,” she said.

She and her neighbor Dan McDevitt logged many hours in the effort to bring Henry home, she said, often from 10 p.m. to midnight standing watch near The Wild Mermaid and a smaller trap near there. They would see Henry often, but extremely skittish, he was wary and would not enter.

“It has been so hard to see him,” she said, about being so close, but unable to capture him and take him home.

Last Sunday, with Henry safe at last, she was quick to credit Carey and the Reynens for their many hours of effort and the care they are providing for Henry now.

“I have every admiration for them,” she said. “Ena is the hero. She pulled the rope.”

Among the members of “Team Henry,” each is quick to acknowledge one another, and step out of the spotlight themselves. Carey singled out the Reynens for praise.

“Peter and Ena are the rock stars of Team Henry,” she said, “I cannot say enough how remarkable both of them are.”

They, in turn, singled out Carey.

“We were the band, but Amy was our lead singer,” Peter Reynen said.

And they all — Debelius, Carey and the Reynens — thanked the community for its support and continuing to look out for Henry and report to VIPP when they saw him. Each sighting was plotted to understand his patterns, Carey said, and the tip that Henry was by Thriftway, indicating he was on his way from Dockton, was particularly helpful the night he was captured, so they knew he was coming.

Close to dawn Sunday, with Henry safe, Carey said she and the Reynens opened a bottle of champagne.

“I am absolutely over the moon elated,” Carey said. “We have had some great saves … but with Henry, because of how much the community was involved, it really was something.”

Coming up next: a party in honor of Henry’s rescue; details will be forthcoming.