It never ceases to amaze me how a big dog can dig out of our backyard and out of a small hole.  It also never ceases to amaze how kind strangers can be and the efforts they will go to in making sure a dog gets returned to its owner. 

Two days ago, we let our old girl out and when I went to let her back in, she was gone.  She is very scared of loud noises and since it was not storming, my only guess is that the road construction equipment nearby must’ve been her undoing.  I loaded up the kids in the car and drove around the neighborhood behind us to no avail.  Matthew cried and wailed, “Find Goldie, find Goldie!” 

I wanted to wail right along with him. 

We waited for a phone call from someone saying they had found her.  She’s gotten out a couple of times before and we always get a phone call right away from the tags on her collar.  An hour passed, then two, then eight, then twelve, then seventeen…my heart was broken.  Did someone take her?   Who would want an 11 year old Golden Retriever with bladder problems and hip displacia?  Did she get hit by a car and was lying in pain on the side of the road?  Did animal control have her?  Did she lose her collar? 

After not sleeping well that night, I loaded up the kids the next morning to head to the office supply store to buy sign supplies for my neighborhood, local vets offices and grocery stores.  As I was walking out the door, my friend Mindy  called (she only lives about five miles from here) and says, “You know, there is a sign in my neighborhood that said ‘Found:  Golden Retriever’ – do you think it could be Goldie?” 

I said, “Well, its worth a shot!  I’ll drive over there and look at the number and call!”  I got the in the car to head that way, and lo and behold the SAME sign was at the entrance to MY neighborhood, PRAISE GOD!!  It HAD to be Goldie.  I called and the lady asked me to describe her, and I said she’s an old dog with a gray face and she laughed and said “Yup, that’s her!”  Oh, my heart just skipped a beat knowing she was safe! 

 So I guess yesterday when she got out, she lost her collar, went swimming in a pond and made her way into the back of the neighborhood behind us where this couple found her (dog-lovers themselves with four dogs).  They kept her until a neighbor came home, then they went around to houses around them to try to find the owner.  When that search turned up nothing, they took her to a local vet to see if she had been microchipped (oh yes, we’ll be looking into this technology now!).  After that, the second family took her home and bathed her, fed her and kept her for the night while the first family put out the signs in the morning. 

The cool thing is that the second family had had previous experience with putting together missing dogs and their owners with signs on the same street my friend lived on and this neighborhood – so they put signs there again!  How cool is that! 

Our prayers were answered.  She was safe and sound and clean and fed all night long.  They brought her home to our house later that afternoon when the family who kept her came home from work.   Such nice people.  When you continually read news stories about the horrid crimes against our fellow man people committ, its nice to encounter the true kindness of strangers.