Thursday night was like any other night except my
mom who lives with me was out at a training session with her dog.
She doesnt usually come home till about 830pm. So around
720pm I let Daphne and Chopper out to do their last potty and go for a short
walk. Chopper went running down the stairs as we both saw car lights
entering the driveway. Oh my god I thought she is home early, this does
not bode well for us. Chop immediately
thought to himself "lights do not belong here at this hour" so he
started to become aroused and ran to a better vantage point growling and
barking. I quickly hustled Daphne back in the house and ran down
calling Chop back to me. Meanwhile the gate is opening and the car
is coming up and Chopper is getting more agitated. He starts to run down
and greet the car but came back to me as I shouted for him but ran right by me
so he could meet the car in the driveway, and meet the car he did right at the
precipice where the car starts to level out after going up. This
precipice is also a blind spot for drivers. It was here that he was
sucked right under the car and out the back and raced down the hill barking
like mad and straight into the darkness. I started screaming his
name as he faded out of sight. There
was only two ways he could go and one was under the fence that crosses the
creek and off the property or curve around and be somewhere on the property.
I was worried because the creek is low right now and easy for him
to leave.
I raced back to the house to get my
flashlight, jump in the mule and started driving all around the property
looking for him and calling him. I called Yanni to come over asap
and bring a flashlight. By the time he got there I had felt that
Chop was no longer on the property. The creek section is the only
real place the dogs can get out and it is hard to keep closed up due to the
water levels and debris that comes thru in winter. Normally the dogs
don’t care about it but apparently an adrenaline inspired LS was drawn straight
to it. So we headed out beyond the property to search and knock on
doors. How far could he go, how long does the adrenaline burst
last, was he hurt, are the coyotes in the neighborhood now, were all questions
in my head which was causing me to freak out more. It was also raining.
We searched until about 11pm to no avail. Yanni went
home because he had dogs to care for in the morning. He promised to be
back at dawn to keep looking.
I didn’t sleep a wink and kept going to the door
see if Chop had come home and if not I would holler for him. He was not
coming home, I knew that. I also knew
that injured dogs might go and hide and sleep it off. So I figured there
was a chance we would not find him until he roused and started to wander.
I hoped he wasn’t so far away that he could not find his way home.
I hoped he was not curled up in a ball dying. I kept thinking to
myself how I would get so mad at him for being an LS, how many times he has
been a bad boy but I also remembered how proud I have been and that he is my
sunshine. We were so bonded to each other and I was going to be
crushed if something happened to him. Morning came none to quick and
Yanni was here ready to start the search again. I started making flyers
and hanging them up. I was convinced that someone was going to
find him and call me or take him to the shelter or a vet. I faxed all the
vets my flyer. I posted more flyers around my area. I contacted
both shelters and the Sheriff and Animal Control. My sister ran the FB
campaign. She had every Nevada County group alerted. I actually
got a call from a woman who told me her story with a happy ending. The
hours passed, Yanni kept searching, the rain kept falling, my partner Ron was
also on his ATV and searching the area. I was alternating between
searching and working and being a command center of sorts.
My company Christmas party was this evening.
Yanni said I should go to take my mind off of it. I
think he meant for himself too. So far I had not cried. I was
careful to not talk to anyone who was not directly involved in the search about
this. I did not want sympathy I wanted my dog. I did not
want to hear “I am so sorry” because that meant it was over. I did
not want it to be over. So we went to the party. A sat
across from Yanni because I did not want anyone else to see my dark circles and
morose countenance. That may have backfired on me as every time I
looked in his eyes the tears started to come. We were both in the same
place. He was as heart broken as I was. He was as sleep deprived
as I was. In spite of everything the evening was very nice which is hard
to imagine as I spent so much time choking back tears while sipping champagne.
Yanni who never drinks was even drinking. I am not sure
that alcohol helps, as it seems to magnify emotions. It was finally time
to leave so we headed back home and Yanni again left to take care of dogs in
the morning. I went to bed for another almost sleepiness night.
This morning I woke up feeling a dread that no
one should ever feel. I feared the worst. I started crying
and the phone rang and it was Yanni telling me he was on his way. Ron
called me too to tell me that Big John’s dog was hit by a car and hid in the
neighbor’s barn for 2 days until the found her. I decided it was time to
let a couple other people in to my grief. I wrote to Jason and I wrote
to Lynn. Jason because he is my dog family and Lynn because she is the
great and powerful Lynn, at least, to me she is. Lynn called me
immediately and asked if she can come over and help. I felt so bad for
wanting help and so relieved that she offered, I said yes please.
This was not a time for my usual “I can do it” attitude.
About now I felt a genuine rush of hope coming back to me. I
decided to re-vamp the flyer and post more of them and also knock on doors and
give them to people. I offered a $500 cash reward to anyone finding my
boy in their barn or under their house or anywhere. I came outside
and the sun was shining. This was a good sign. I posted more
flyers and talked to a few more neighbors. As I was posting flyers on
the road neighbors were stopping to talk to me. I heard another
story about a small dog that was hit and hid under the furniture in the house
for 2 days before she would come out. I passed the flyer to people
who were driving by asking them to search under their houses and outbuildings.
Someone told me a blind Springer Spaniel was also missing and to be on
the lookout. Another car stopped and a woman got out and said
“Lorelei” and I nodded. She said “I’m Denise, do you remember me?”.
Oh I did remember, she was my PT from about 15 years ago when I had back
surgery. We reminisced for a few minutes and then she told me about her
missing blind Springer. She and her neighbors were looking up the road.
We both agreed to keep an eye out for both dogs. So now we had 2
groups looking for 2 dogs, this was good. Right about now Lynn was
driving up with Dave who was also willing to help. We drove back
to my house so she could park.
She got out of her car and started asking
questions about the whats and wheres and whens of the events that had
transpired. She went back for her phone and called a psychic.
This was a real psychic who has actually helped in a recent case
of a missing child. Lynn gave her my name and Chopper and the
psychic went to work over the phone. She said it is a park like setting,
there is a creek and homes and some culverts. She said he got out by the
creek and was around the homes for a while but then he was one the move.
She said he was alive but hurt. The information gave me more hope.
Lynn and I started to search the neighbor’s properties that are in the
path that we thought most likely that Chopper went. One woman came out
to tell how the coyotes were out on Thursday night. Oh that was nice of her. About now, Yanni came back from searching
and started to scold us for searching areas he had already combed over.
He said Chopper is not here or there or there. He explained that we need
a plan and we need to stop overlapping. Lynn suggested I get
another dog to come with us, not so much as one to search but because if
Chopper was scared he would be more likely to come out for one of his buddies.
I opted to bring the Schipperke. So back to the house I
went and rounded up the Schipp to put him on a long line. He was none to
happy about this as he is used to beating to his own drum. I came back to
hear Yanni finalizing his plans for us. I wanted to tell him that no,
Chop could not possibly be there and that I wanted to search over here but Lynn
touched my arm and told me let’s do his plan and then we can do our plan.
Yanni then decided to tell me the coyotes had got the other neighbors cat
on Thursday night. Yanni and Dave got
in the mule and went down to the left and we gathered up Bodie and got in the
car and went to the right.
We had specific instructions to search the 3
houses to the right which covered about 20 acres. These 3 house
were directly to the left of my house about 70 acres away as the crow flies.
We drove to the first house where there were 3 Goldens make a ton of
noise barking and growling. We figured there was no way Chop would be
there so we walked to the next house. A red Border Collie came
running out to bark and growl along the fence line as Lynn and I walked with a
reluctant and sullen Bodie following. So we kept walking to the
3rd house. Here at least the dogs were confined. I handed
the leash to Lynn and walked in shouting “hello”. The resident
came out and I gave him a flyer and asked him to please check all his
outbuildings and told him I have 500$ cash for whoever finds Choppy. I
walked back to Lynn and we felt we had done our duty and fulfilled our end of
the bargain, which was to check out the 3 houses to the right when my phone
rang. It was Denise and she said Lorelei we saw your dog. He is
running down Angie Court and on to Long Valley Rd. I turned around
to head back to the car and as we approached the car I saw a black dog.
I said Lynn that’s him. My eyes are not so good but how many other black
dogs his size would be running toward us, sort of. He was acting
erratic and did a zig toward the Goldens and then zagged away. The Goldens started barking and freaking
out. I started calling him and running toward him. That was
all it took. He turned and ran the other way. But, there he was.
We saw him. He was not in a ditch. He was not in someone’s
barn dying alone. He was alive and vibrant and running, albeit away from
us. The crazy Goldens were now between us and the direction that Choppy went.
Lynn and I turned to each other
and both said “damn, Yanni was right” and sort of laughed, it figures. I called Yanni to let him know that we had
sighted Chop and lost him but we were on his trail. So Yanni and Dave stopped searching and
headed back our way.
I was finally able to rouse the residents in the
house. Between the dogs barking and us calling Chopper I wonder why it
took so long. The lady came out and said they are harmless and I
said umm ok but can you lock them up anyway and may we walk thru your property?
She obliged and we walked in the direction that Chop ran but could not
see any sign of him but with each footstep we were walking closer and closer to
my house. I was thinking this is
good he may be able to find his way home.
I had also hoped that hearing my voice and seeing Bodie he may be waking
out of the fear that was obviously still in him. We walked until we got to a road. One way led up to the log cabin directly
behind my house and the other way went up a hill to one of my neighbors. I pulled out my phone to take a look and
there was a missed call from my mother.
I checked the message and it said “where are you where are you there is
a little black dog with a beautiful collar at the door and I let him in”.
Now it was my turn for the rush of
adrenaline. Yanni and Dave were just
pulling onto the Golden’s property and driving toward us. I told him the good news. Lynn discovered her phone was missing. She told me to go to my dog and they would
look for the phone. I gave my car keys
to Yanni and Bodie and I jumped into the mule to head home. As I drove up the driveway my mom was
driving out of the gate with Choppy as co-pilot. Boy was he a sight. She turned around and we headed up to the
house and Chop and I laughed and hugged and kissed each other. Amazingly he appeared to be none worse for the
wear.
Lynn and Dave and Yanni arrived with Lynn’s phone
and they all hugged and kissed Chop.
Yanni asked Chop if he wanted to come live with him. We felt Chop all over and he had a few
scrapes and some heat spots and swollen areas but did not appear to be
hurt. Lynn helped me by making an
appointment for him to be xrayed at 4 pm.
His xrays checked out and in other news he has beautiful hip
sockets. (yay!) The vet game me some anti-inflammatory and
amoxicillin and sent us home. Choppy is
now snoring in the big crate. I hope he
wants to sleep in tomorrow. I can use
the extra sleep.
One lesson I learned is that no matter what never give up hope, it is hope that gives one the energy to keep going. To me we found
All in all this was Choppy’s craziest LS stunt ever. I hope this is the worst because I am not sure how much more adventure I can handle.
