ksdaddy Posted February 25, 2012 Posted February 25, 2012 Last night I let maggie, the "not quite" 4 month old Golden Retriever out to pee. She's been really good about going out and coming right back. Not last night. It was snowing hard and she chose then to take off. About two minutes into the ordeal I realized something wasn't right. I was in my bathrobe and low shoes, and I drove up and down the road looking for her. The girl next door was out looking too, as she had seen her going down the road and knew it wasn't right. She waded through the snow because she saw maggie tracks. I went home, put pants on (still wearing mocassins with no socks) and tried wading to follow her tracks but they criss-rossed so many times it was futile. That was about 10. About 1 am I tried to go to sleep and had a fitful night. There are many coyotes out in the woods. Last night we got anywhere from 12" to 18" of snow with the wind blowing. I got up at 6 and resumed my search. No luck. The girl next door's boyfriend came by, all bundled up in a snowmobile suit and offered to help. I put many miles on the POS Trailblazer on unplowed or half-*** plowed roads, still snowing with little visibility. I tried to go about my business, running to the post office and store, all th ewhile resigned to the fact she was probably gone forever. About 10 this morning I was in the kitchen and saw the bf next door running down the road, hollering Maggie's name. I ran outside and he said he saw her in the field across the road. We hollered to her but she wouldn't move. We waded through waist deep snow, me with no coat on. We got to her... she was probably so tired out and mired in the snow she couldn't move. We got her back to the house, toweled her off, and fed her. She's zonked out on the floor right now and will probably sleep the day away. Not a 12 hour period I care to do again.
pfox14 Posted February 25, 2012 Posted February 25, 2012 Poor puppy. What a nightmare. One of my dogs loves to run away just about every chance she gets, but always returns home. Still, it's enough to give me fits knowing she could get hit by a car or something horrible like that. Glad your puppy is safe and sound.
Rocky4 Posted February 25, 2012 Posted February 25, 2012 Whether it's pet or a child, I can think of few things worse than not knowing where they are. I'm happy you found your lost family member.
Lungimsam Posted February 25, 2012 Posted February 25, 2012 I am soooooooo glad you got your baby back. What a cute girl.
ShredAstaire Posted February 25, 2012 Posted February 25, 2012 Glad she's back KS!!! I know the feeling...now go have a nap yourself. :)
glp2012 Posted February 25, 2012 Posted February 25, 2012 Brilliant..."She waded through the snow because she saw maggie tracks." Buy your neighbor some flowers or something nice. It's great when a neighbor helps. My dog got out and most people did not care. One lady, down the street, went to the pound everyday to check for her. She said "Well it was on my way home." That's what I call a quality neighbor! I never found my dog...
daveinspain Posted February 25, 2012 Posted February 25, 2012 I hate when that happens... Glad it all worked out and she is safe and sound in her loving home...
JohnMac Posted February 25, 2012 Posted February 25, 2012 I hate when that happens... Glad it all worked out and she is safe and sound in her loving home... What an awful feeling that must have been. I'm glad for the happy ending.
bonzoboy Posted February 25, 2012 Posted February 25, 2012 I'm glad that you found her,there aren't many things as distressing as having a lost pet,especially on a stormy night.
BigKahune Posted February 25, 2012 Posted February 25, 2012 . What a harrowing ordeal to go through. Glad it all turned out well and everyone, including Maggie, is safe. .
Malchik Posted February 26, 2012 Posted February 26, 2012 You have nice neighbors. My neighbors wouldn't call 911 if my house were burning down.
Bender 4 Life Posted February 26, 2012 Posted February 26, 2012 sooooo glad y'all are re-united KSD! I too know the feeling......Mrs.B & I were out looking for one of ours (about 15 yrs ago) and 1st saw him a split second before a car swerved TO HIT HIM and he got sucked up and circulated all the way thru the cars front wheelwell, then spat back out the front/side of it. Luckily, he was a big, strong dog and except for a severed achellies tendon was fine.(had I been able to chase the driver down, i'd STILL be incarcerated, i'm sure) one of ours (now) likes to jump our privacy fence, but won't jump the equally high wire fence around it. maybe it's time for Maggie to get one of those new "tracking collars"?
T Bone Posted February 27, 2012 Posted February 27, 2012 Gut wrenching, I know that feeling. Great looking dog, I see she wears a collar, hopefully with a tag w/ ph. number. If she ever goes missing again, don't forget to call the pound/police/animal control. For some reason, even with a tag on the collar, they won't always contact you. Living at a co-workers down in FL a few months ago, his German Shepherd Katie got loose from his estranged wife's house (shared custody of dog, a mile apart). He was beside himself and his 7 year old daughter was distraught. He had no idea what to do and was trying to prepare himself for the worst. 2 days after she went missing, I called the pound and after a few questions to me they said "yes, Katie's here with us". Called him and told him to go pick up his dog, he couldn't believe it. (They'd picked her up 2 days earlier, about a half hour before his wife had even realized she'd slipped out an open window).
rocketman Posted February 27, 2012 Posted February 27, 2012 Glad everything worked out for you. We have an electric fence and a chip in our dog. Some may think it's cruel for them to get zapped but it only takes them a few zaps before they know not to go any further (it beeps 3 feet away and they quickly learn their boundaries).
ksdaddy Posted February 27, 2012 Author Posted February 27, 2012 A friend has one of those collar/fence things and he says it works great. He has 2 Welsh Terriers and they are terrors. I may invest in one for the new house. I had Maggie crate trained but now she's getting old enough to not have any mistakes overnight. She still pees inside on occasion but it's not as much of an issue as it was when she was 10 weeks old. I've been letting her sleep 'wherever' the last few nights and it's worked out fine. I got up at 5 today and looked around... where's Maggie? Sleeping on the foot of the bed. I don't spoil my dogs rotten, I really don't.
TommyK Posted February 28, 2012 Posted February 28, 2012 Glad it turned out well for you Scott. Lost my last dog that way. She never returned. I suspect the new fallen snow was just too inviting for the still-a-puppy and she got all excited about romping and forget where home was. Friend of mine has one of those invisible fences on a 10 acre lot. It worked well for a while, but his smart dog figured out how to defeat it. His dog would lie on the ground, then creep towards the underground cable. Then just lay there. After a couple hours he was G-O-N-E. Seems that the collar would begin to vibrate or buzz, but not shock the dog when the dog got close to the cable. Any closer and he'd get shocked. After an hour or two of just vibrating, the batteries were dead.
pippy Posted February 28, 2012 Posted February 28, 2012 Wow, I'm so happy to read that it all turned out well at the end and a +1 for a small 'Thank-you' gift for your neighbour! P.
Elmer Posted February 28, 2012 Posted February 28, 2012 Poor doggy, lucky some good people helpt the 4 months old sweety! Good food for a blues man!
davidl Posted February 28, 2012 Posted February 28, 2012 Horrible feeling knowing your pup is out there possibly in danger. I too have a Maggie but she knows her boundaries. Showed her once and that was all it took. Really the smartest dog I know of. (Border Collie) My younger one, Dakota, a Belgian Shephard worries me more. She doesn't go out without supervision. My wife had a Husky before I met her that ran off. She thought he was gone forever. A few days later a taxi pulls into the laneway with the dog in the back seat. Now that was a smart dog. The cab driver saw him get clipped by a car and rescued him, checked the tags and tracked down home. The dog was not seriously injured. A happy ending. Really glad your episode ended well KS. Dave
Elmer Posted February 28, 2012 Posted February 28, 2012 My younger one, Dakota, a Belgian Shephard worries me more. She doesn't go out without supervision. Dave yeah, those Belgians, lucky me I can go out without supervision once in a while
davidl Posted February 28, 2012 Posted February 28, 2012 yeah, those Belgians, lucky me I can go out without supervision once in a while And without a leash?
Andre S Posted February 29, 2012 Posted February 29, 2012 She's adorable! Really happy to hear she's safe and sound.
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.