Runaway

Yesterday afternoon my brother's Bull Mastiff, Deville a.k.a. Nillie DeVillie somehow got out of his yard. My dog's have run away on several occasions- and even worse, my first Husky, Chloe- ran away and was run over by a car. So when a dog runs away from home, I take it very seriously. Anyone who's been thru it knows it sucks. It's a helpless, anxious feeling.

My phone rang early this morning and I saw on caller i.d. that it was my brother. I was hoping he was calling to report that Deville was safely back home. But instead, he was calling to ask me to help him make posters and put them out. Everywhere.

He lives in a loft downtown. In the seedy part of downtown. So all sorts of bad things might have happened to little Deville.

My brother, my Dad and I worked all morning on the Search and Rescue Squad. As we'd put signs up, a few people said encouraging words and wished us luck. Others told us possible scenarios of what they thought happened. One man said someone had probably picked him up and had already sold him. A woman told us that her dog had been stolen by mean people and when she finally got to see him, he had become vicious. Those were the people, altho they might have been good-intentioned, I really didn't want to hear from.

I kept feeling like we still had a good chance of finding him. My brother had put out a $300 dollar reward. Lots of homeless people live in his 'hood and that sounded like a great motivator to keep everyone on the lookout. We must have put out about 50 or 60 signs all together. I patted him on the back and said, "I really think we're gonna find him" and within a minute or two my brother's phone rang.

I could tell that the caller had Deville. My brother had goosebumps on his arm as he listened to the caller tell him that her husband saw him wondering around in the street yesterday afternoon and had brought him home to their house in Cedar Hills. She saw our signs while she was on her way from work to run some errands. SHE SAW OUR SIGNS. They worked.

I'm not a person who uses prayer as often as I probably should. But I kept saying little prayers yesterday and today. And this time, it made a big, big difference. At least it feels that way!

My brother and I just got off the phone. He said Deville's been on his best behavior this afternoon, and he kind of has that look on his face like, "Whoa. I know I almost really messed up our lives! I won't run again." And of course, my brother learned his lesson too and is taking EVERY precaution that this will never happen again but securing his property, making Deville wear his collar (even tho he hates it), etc.

And Zoe and Scout have gotten about a thousand extra kisses today- and now...a big, long walk!!!