Dogbert disappeared on Friday. She trotted nonchalantly out the back door and took a two-hour field trip. Two hours which shortened my life by about 2 years!As soon as we noticed she was gone I recruited the help of an American neighbor and we went out canvassing the area. On the bright side I got a lot of practice with German; some incredulous stares, some gentle smiles.
One man burst out laughing when I asked if he'd seen a black Labrador-- his answer began with: "As I told the other American who came around asking a couple of minutes ago..." Oopsssss. A little embarrassing, but at least my language gaffes were met with patience and understanding.
We eventually found her, with the help of a gaggle of school children and a couple of kindly retirees. She'd topped off her sightseeing tour with a trip to a nearby orchard to eat fresh apples. Can't say I blame her but hope she's gotten her fill because I don't think I can handle any more search parties any time soon.
D's escapade has granted her a kind of celebrity status in the neighborhood, though. M took her out for a walk this evening and was approached by a couple of strangers who bubbled over: "Oh great! You found your dog!!!"
Have I mentioned lately how much I like this neighborhood?
6 comments:
Great news on your found dog, Betsy! Remember, you might not be so fortunate if she gets away again! I understand how her being missing took years off your life, I would feel the same way!
Hi David! You're right-- I don't even want to think about all the ways this story might have gone wrong!
For now, though, I'm just glad that she's home safe and sound! And this week I'll be shopping around for something to close off our back yard to make sure this doesn't happen againj...
PS-- David, checked out your website and had to laugh-- I lived in Troy for 3 years and our old family GP works at office whose website you created! Small world!
Glad your story ended this way! Dogs are natural ice-breakers, aren't they? And if there's something almost every German person I've met loves, it's dogs...We have had a few people stop us on our walks around the neighborhood with an incredulous "der ist ein Hund??" Being a Pembroke Welsh Corgi, Murphy has no tail and (I hate to say it!) resembles nothing so much as a giant guinea pig when viewed from the back end. But he charms everyone too, just like Dogbert.
Betsy,
Really small world! Who is the GP to whom you refer? You probably work for Daimler Chrysler, no?
Phew!! So glad you found her, Betsy!! There are "lost cat" signs all over our neghborhood right now because the coyotes are apparently hungry... Since Boo is, like, MY LIFE (not... but I've been accused of it), we're really petrified of letting our cats out. A few nights ago, we were woken up by weird high-pitched squeals and looked out our window to see about 50 raccoon eyes peering back at us! Oh, the joys of living in the semi-rural Pacific Northwest!!
Carol
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