Just last week, I had to leave work to go find my two-year-old Husky that somehow had escaped the house in the morning. When I found out she was gone, I panicked. I tried getting the neighbors to see if they could catch her, however she was too quick and just kept running off. For those who might think leaving your shift just because your dog escaped is ridiculous… let me assure you that when you have "that bond" with your dog you will do whatever it takes to not lose him/her.
Luna, my Husky, is a beautiful brown and blue eyed dog with more black fur than white, and is quite skinny (view photo above). I have had her since she was three months old. She’s got the basic training down, is able to run around the beach without a leash, is very friendly, very social, and can be stubborn like any regular puppy/kid. Furthermore, to keep it simple, she’s also my only source of comfort and happiness when I come home. She is my best friend.
When I got home, I automatically started walking to where we would usually take our walks. Dogs will usually just run around to smell everything, but are more likely to follow a route they are more familiar with rather than just roaming around with nothing. I walked in circles, big and small, around my neighborhood for six hours straight. I drove a few blocks from my house one way and then another to see if I’d catch her incase she came that far.
My heart was aching, and I couldn’t hold back my tears because I was just not ready to let go. I was trying to force myself to just accept the fact that she was gone and move on if I didn’t find her so that I could not feel the pain as hard. It was very hard to stay positive, however posting on social media and getting help and support from others kept me somewhat stable and going.
I had her favorite noise-toy, treats, and just continued to call her name. Another thing that I was advised to do was leave food and water, or a piece of clothing that would help her get my scent to return home. The best thing you can do is post flyers online and around your neighborhood, look at what they are familiar with, and continue to just not give up on your dog.
There are so many things you can do to help get her back. However once you’ve done it all, there’s nothing else you can do but wait. The waiting game was the hardest part. It wasn’t until almost the end of the day when someone had commented on my posts, telling me they found my dog in the morning and was looking for a “Missing Dog” post for our community.
Picking her up was everything to me. She had known I was around because she completely stopped doing what she was doing and walked to the front gate as I was walking to it. The lady was very kind, didn’t ask for any money, and just was so happy to return her to me.
Somehow her name tag had "fallen" off of her collar when the lady found Luna and couldn’t contact me until hours later. After taking her home, she was completely knocked out on my lap for hours. You could see how stressful and draining the day was for her as much as it was for me and just looked happy to finally be home.
Losing Luna taught me so much about my relationship with her, and what to do when you lose a dog. Here are the best things you can do:
- Grab their favorite ‘Noise toy’, treat, and leash, and walk around in areas they are familiar with.
- Leave a bowl of food and water at the door to see if they can scent it or come back home because they’re hungry.
- You can also leave a sweater or shirt that has your scent, for them to smell and return back to you if they get lost.
- Post everywhere. Facebook, Instagram Snapchat, Pawboost, Paper Flyers, and ask for others to share with you.
- Call Babs Fry, a lady known in San Diego, that is a magnificent dog-finder when dogs go missing.
After the second day of being back, she was back to normal. I am so thankful to have found her the day she escaped. I am now making an appointment to microchip her, and probably get the spaying surgery done for her as well. There are also wireless GPS trackers you can put on your dog’s leash as their name tag (which works just like a microchip).
There should be a few websites or locations in your community that can give you cheap prices for these if you are to have a low-income. Do whatever you can to not go through nor feel the heartache I did because I just never ‘thought’ this experience was to ever happen. Dogs are a human’s best friend… and I am thankful for the blessing of not losing her to continue making memories with her.
Xoxo,
Princess J