All's Well...

I lost my dog last night.

Hub and I and B had just gotten home from visiting some friends, about 9 p.m. Hub took B out of the car, and normally B runs into the house. I had been up at the street getting the recycle bin, and when I came into the house I asked “Where’s Buster?”

“Oh, he’s in here somewhere.”

But I didn't see him anywhere.

And that was weird.

I went outside and called him, and he didn’t come. So I went back inside and started looking through all the rooms, under the bed, etc, etc. No B.

I went back outside, down to the beach and started calling him. Nothing.

Hub came outside and we both started looking for him. Where could he be????

By this time, we’re both getting a little frantic. Although our house is at the end of a long driveway, the street we live on is very busy and my biggest fear is always that he'll get hit if he wanders up there. So I ran up to the street and looked up and down, but I didn’t see him. Hub and I were both calling and calling him. Pretty soon our next-door neighbors heard us and came out of their house to help us look. We all got flashlights and started walking up and down the beach, the road, over to the nearby park, and on and on…calling calling calling “Buster Buster Buster…”

At this point, it had been an hour since he disappeared. I started to have what I can only describe as an out-of-body experience. This is not really happening. It’s funny, but I went back into the house and looked again about 5 times, like he was going to be there somewhere. Then I ran to the park about 3 times, even though it was so unlikely that he would have walked all the way over there by himself. Then Hub and I both got in our cars and drove up and down calling and looking in ditches. I started to think the unthinkable...that possibly an animal, a coyote or raccoon, had gotten him...Or maybe someone found him and decided to keep him...

By now it had been two hours since we got home. Hub called some more friends who came over and started searching with us.

About 11:30, 2-1/2 hours after we had first lost him, I had stopped yelling for him. B is a quiet dog and I knew he probably wouldn’t bark to let us know where he was. So I’m not yelling for him anymore, just quietly walking around the neighborhood and listening. Every once in a while I’d say his name softly. “Buster, where are you?”

All of a sudden...Rustle rustle...“B, is that you?”

When I saw his sweet face peek out from behind a fence...I have never been so relieved. I grabbed him and hugged him. He was trembling so hard.

I ran screaming home “I’ve found him!!!!” Our neighbors and friends were all so happy, everyone hugged him and fussed over him. Hub was out driving around in his car, so I called him on his cell…You could hear the overwhelming relief in his voice. At that point, I broke down and I couldn’t stop crying for about half an hour.

Anyway, I think that this is what happened:

B must have seen that bunny, the one that hangs around our house, and taken off after it. Then when he chased it over to a neighbor’s yard (3 houses down), he must have gotten disoriented and couldn’t figure out how to get home.

All of us were so tired last night…I slept in late this morning, and had to drag B out of his bed to go outside. Ever since then, he’s been so needy. Pet me, pet me…and right now he’s lying right next to me on the couch…normally he lies on the floor or in his doggie bed.

As the saying goes…all’s well that ends well. Everyone kept saying that, and I guess it's true.

I'm so grateful to have such wonderful neighbors and friends who came to help in the search.

And you can bet I’ll not be taking my eye off B the next time we get out of the car.