Big Scare today!

bucutie02 · #1 12-02-2001, 12:45 AM

This afternoon I was home alone writing some essays I have to turn in on monday. Well a little while later my dad and brother came home from an indoor soccer game. As I opened the door for them, i noticed that my dog wasnt right there with me. ( He always runs to the door the second someone rings the doorbell or just when the door opens. ) I didnt think much of it because i thought he was probably asleep or something. Anyway I start looking for him in the dining room since its his favorite room and he wasnt there, then i looked for him in his bed and wasnt there either. Sometimes he gets scared and hides under the bed or in closets so i started looking for him and had no luck. By this time, my dad and brother were also looking for him and we were getting very worried. We looked in the backyard, in the front yard, under beds, in closets, everywhere! It was actually pretty weird because he never runs off when he does go outside so at this point we are thinking that he must of went out while we had the door open because we were unloading things from the car, forgot about him, and maybe someonr picked him up. Our dog is extremely friendly and small, so its a possibility. At this point I start crying and my dad calls my mom, she was getting her nails done, who kind of freaks out too. I end up staying home in hope he will show up at our door while my dad goes with my little brother in the truck to look around in our neighborhood. About 5-10 minutes later my dad calls telling me they found him!! I was so relieved!! It turns out he was about 4 blocks away. The lady that lives in the house our dog was in front of said he had been walking by her house for a while!!

We still dont know when exactly he ran away or really what reason, but my dad said there was another dog that seemed like he was lost as well near my dog. We are thinking that when my dog was outside today, he saw that other dog and decided to go after him.

Atleast it turned out to be a happy ending! This evening when my dog was back at home he looked so exhausted.... he is 12 years old, 84 in dog years, and walking 4 blocks for him must of seemed like a marathon!

He has never done anything like this before, he has always been very obedient, but it seems like the older he gets the more "rebellious" he gets too!

I wish no one would have to go through this, even though my story was a happy ending.... it was awful thinking we might never see him again!

aggieAXO · #2 12-02-2001, 12:58 AM

I am so happy you had a happy ending. We have a lost and found board at the clinic I work at and it is always full-mostly with lost dogs and cats-very very sad. I have had "strays" brought in and found their owners which is always a happy ending, one cat had been gone for 2 months. That was really a happy moment when the mom came back and was re-united

aephi alum · #3 12-02-2001, 06:38 PM

Glad you found your dog.

AGDLynn · #4 12-02-2001, 08:38 PM

Years ago, my mom was taking care of my niece. Patches, the dog, needed to go to the bathroom so mom just opened the door and let him go outside by himself. Normally, he doesn't go far, but I heard that there was a small female dog wandering around the neighborhood.

To make a long story short, Patches was gone for 10 days. People would say that they had seen him around town but we never could find him.

On th 10th day, a neighbor calls Brother #1 to say that he had seen Patches at Dairy Queen on the other side of town. Greg called him but he wouldn't come.

My parents had been living the door open a little so that Patches would come home..Lo and behold a couple of hours later, in strolls Patches like he had only been gone for a few minutes and plops on the rug to take a snooze. He lost 20 lbs but otherwise was fine. After that, when he took a walk outside, he made sure that someone was watching him!

((Wonder if he knew the way home b/c my parents would frequently take him to DQ to get HIM an ice cream, lol!!)

Beef · #5 12-02-2001, 10:17 PM

Glad to hear you got your dog back!!

My old dog, Bandit, ran off a few years ago like that. My mom let her out before she went to work and she took off. There was a storm coming and she was always scared of thunder so we figure she just got spooked and took off. My mom waited for her to come back but she didnt so she had to go to work. She got back the next morning and Bandit still wasnt there! So she drove around the neighborhood looking and didnt see her. So she got back and called the city to see if there were any reports of a stray dog and they said there was a couple of a dog in an area alittle over a mile from our house. So she went out in that area and looked for a few hours and didnt see anything! As she was about to drive back home she decided to go down one more block and out of the corner of her eye she saw a dog in someones back yard. She stopped, got out and called her name. The dog stopped and looked and it was our dog, but she was so tired she could barely even walk, my mom had to practically carry her to the car. Sad to say, but that was kind of the begining of the end for her. She was 13 or 14 years old and was having trouble getting up, losing her legs ect.. The thing that really got to me was when my mom had to put her down. I was out of the state living with my brother and we were coming back the very next weekend for his bachelor party. I was more excited about seeing the dog than anything else!! But her legs finally gave out and my mom had to put her down. I was so pissed/sad!!!

Its hard leaving animals, you can always call and talk to your family but unless you are right there with your pet, its not the same.

Shit, now Im all depressed..

sorry

bucutie02 · #6 12-02-2001, 10:45 PM

you know, a couple of years ago my dog's back legs gave out too. He couldnt even walk to go outside or go eat his food. He would just lay on a blanket we put out for him and every so often my mom would carry him outside, put him on the ground, and lift his back leg so he could go to the bathroom. We took him to the vet and they said he had a serious back problem and wouldnt walk again unless he went into surgery which was $500! My family and I love our dog put we were just not going to put out that kind of money for him..... it all worked out for the best though because about two weeks later he started walking....miraculously.... since we were told he would never walk again

Ever since then he has been able to do everything.... he stands on his back two legs to ask for a "treat"

goes up and down the stairs probably faster than me

and he used even jump on the sofa when we werent home

Even though my dog is old, he is going strong because he doesnt do anything but sleep and eat all day long! He even gets hyper when its cold out!