Scariest thing happened yesterday!!

Husband went out of town for work this week, so it's just little man, me, & our 3 doggies. We have been out of town for the last two weekend in a row and it's nice to be home and do things at my own pace.



Yesterday, because we had been out of town, I had given my house key to the house sitter-- which meant I locked myself out. Well, our back gate doesn't lock so I went through there and got in a different way; a way that I was fortunate to find open since most of the time all of our doors are locked and bolted (which my hubby hates!). However, I didn't shut the gate all the way-- or as my six year old asked, "Did you hear the "click" sound?" 

A while later, I let the dogs out to go to the bathroom and play a bit before the rain really started coming down. Now, two out of three of our dogs are wimps and don't want to be outside in the elements anymore than they have to, so I was surprised when only our smallest, Oscar, was at the door wanting in. But, I didn't really think much of it because our two others are always wrestling around and always come back in when they get bored. 

Well, about 30 more minutes went by and I thought I had better check on them. They were no where to be found! They had gotten out of the gate and it was all my fault! I called and called for them, but our Jada girl is a runner and once she's out of earshot there is no getting her to come back without force. Nigel, our 10 month old puppy, is a follower and doesn't have his whits about him when he gets his sniffer onto something curious.

So, there I am in the middle of cleaning my house, doing laundry, 7 months pregnant, a kid to pick up from school in an hour, and a husband who is out of town. I immediately got in the car and looked and yelled and tried to think of any place they might be, but I couldn't see them. :(

My brother in law came and tried to help me look & my parents a but later. But, the darker and more rainy it got, the more scared I got that they wouldn't come back. In the past they had never been gone more than 15 minutes. By the time my parents left, it had been 8 hours. By the time I got off the phone with my distraught husband, it had been 11 hours. I really thought someone had stolen them as early Christmas gifts.



By 1 a.m. I had emailed everyone on our HOA list, posted on all kinds of Facebook pages, and put an ad on Craigslist. I completely blamed myself, my hubby couldn't talk about anything else, & Noah didn't really grasp that they could be gone forever. This morning, after dropping him off at school, I put up 10 lost dog signs in our neighborhood. I really didn't have much hope since our little babies aren't tagged or micro-chipped.

About 20-30 minutes later, we receive a call that our vet saw the post on her Facebook page! A woman had found Jada & Nigel in her backyard & taken them to our vet's office. The vet had recognized the dogs, but couldn't remember who they belonged to, so she told the woman that the owners would definitely be looking and advised her to take them to the animal control shelter. (All this just minutes after I called animal control looking for them both!) 



They had spent the night at animal control and it was $60 to get them back, but worth it to see my precious fur babies again. My husband and I treat all of our pets as if they were our children and it is so difficult to stick out a situation where you may never see them again-- and worse yet, never got to say goodbye.


I am so happy that there are still kind-hearted people in the world that will bring back what belongs to you even if they have no idea who you are. Our nest, and our hearts, are full again!