Wednesday, March 21st started out as a typical day. I got the kids up and ready for school then headed out to take Abby to the bus. Abby called to Newman to see if she wanted to ride to the bus stop but I told her no since I was going running afterward.
I came home after running and got showered. The appliance repair guy was scheduled to come around 9am so I got ready and waited. As I was waiting, I looked around a bit and didn't see Newman. She spends about 23 hours/day lying in the living room and when I didn't see her, I thought it was a bit strange. I called her name, looked outside, checked all the rooms. Hmmm...this is so unlike her. I couldn't really leave since the repair man was coming.
After the guy left, I called my neighbor to see if she had seen her. No luck. I drove around a bit and didn't see her. So strange. I was getting a bit nervous. There wasn't much I could do since I was then off to pick up kids. I first picked up Sam then had to pick up Abby. They both wanted to play at the park afterward and I was getting anxious. We finally got home around 4:45pm and I told the kids that Newman was missing and that we needed to go look for her. Abby began sobbing.
I hurried and emailed our Homeowner's Association a photo and details of Newman to have her send out to all the Chapel Hill residents. We drove around some more with no luck. Todd came home and he and Sam drove around a different neighborhood. I started making dinner and got a call from a man saying he thought he saw our dog at the opposite end of our big subdivision. I'd guess approximately a little over a mile away. What? At 6am. What?
I called Todd to let him know to head over that way and continued to cook. I then received another
phone call from a woman in the same general area that she's seen the dog running around most of the day. Abby and I hopped in the car and drove up there. As we drove, Abby called out Newman's name. If we saw someone outside, we stopped to ask and several people had seen her but we had "just missed her." One woman said she had given her some water. We drove around for like an hour with no luck. I was stopped by a couple on a golf cart and he was the man who first called. They were out looking and offered to go check the golf course. Another man also offered to go look. We were just headed home since it was getting close to bed time and the same woman who called earlier called again saying the dog was in her neighbor's garbage. We raced back up and there she was!!! We got her in the van, cleaned up the garbage and drove home.
What a relief!
We were so scared and not ready to lose her this way. It appears that she had crossed her electric fence line without feeling a shock or hearing the warning beeps. She's lost some weight so the collar wasn't as tight as it should be. She must have left in the very early morning hours and once the sun came up, she was far from home. Poor girl!
We are ever so grateful for strangers who were willing to pay attention to an email and to make that phone call. We are so happy she is home, safe and sound and back to her favorite spot on the rug.
Newman is more than a pet...she is our first born, a big sister and the best dog any family could have. We're so happy she is still with us.
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