Thursday, January 16, 2014

The Search Party

Have you ever not been able to find your dog or cat? You're searching everywhere for them - all the rooms in the house, the yard, yelling their name down the street, etc. And then the next thing you know, there they are staring up at you like they've been behind you the whole entire time.

Yea, that was me a few months ago. I have a very large yard, about 4 acres big. There are a lot of structures on my property including my house, 5 greenhouses, a barn, an old covered area that used to be a stable, a butterfly house, and some other stuff. (My family owns a nursery.) Shiner has a lot of places to explore, which she does on a daily basis. Everything is fenced off though and she never leaves the property.

Part of the yard that I speak of. You can see 2 greenhouses and part of a tree lot in the background. Plus the "woods".

Anyways, on with the story. One night when my mom was staying over, she was outside and told me that she heard a noise and it sounded like a hurt animal. So I stopped to listen for a minute and heard the noise too. Then she declared that she thought the noise was Shiner in the woods. I was skeptical, but went to check and see if Shiner was in the house. She was not.


I proceeded to call for Shiner outside. Shiner has selective hearing a lot of the time, so it's not that unusual for her to not come when I'm calling her. But Shiner didn't come.

My mom started freaking out a bit about the noise in the woods and she probably would have bet money that it was Shiner out there, hurt and yelping. I honestly didn't think the noise really sounded like the dog, but just to be sure we set off across the yard towards the trees.

The "woods" beind the fence. You can see a house from the subdivision through them. 

The woods aren't really "woods" anymore... just some brush and trees as they were mostly cut down to build a subdivision next door. Anyways, we trudged through the waist high grass and sticker burrs using my phone as a light. The grass hadn't been mowed because it upset those killer bees when the tractor was brought out to mow it. (The bees are gone now, by the way.)

We got to to the tree line and started looking in the brush for Shiner. I didn't see her, and I didn't hear that animal noise anymore either. My mom decided that she thought the noise was coming from beyond the trees... So we squeezed through a hole in the fence and went through the brush.

On the other side is the subdivision I was talking about. There's a storm drain and another field maybe 30 feet away from the sidewalk and some houses in the neighborhood. And yes, people were out walking their dog while we came out of the brush yelling "Shiner!". It was... interesting.

Unfortunately, the storm drain had water in it and I was wearing brand new shoes that I really did not want to get wet. Especially because I really didn't think the dog was over there. My mom told me to get on her back, so I did. Yea, it was kind of a funny site. She went across the puddle and we continued our search.

No dog. So off we went back over the puddles again, me on my mom's back. Back through the bushes and trees and through the fence. I told my mom that the dog was probably in the house by now.

We walked in the door and guess what? There was Shiner doing her goofy toothy grin thing and wagging her tail. My daughter said she had tried to call my cell phone to tell me Shiner was inside, but it had died during our search party.

Hi guys! 

So the moral of the story is... well, maybe there isn't one actually. I'm sure my mother and I both looked like fools crossing that storm drain. But we had a good laugh about it at least.

Has your pet ever led you on a wild goose chase only for you to find them in the most obvious place ever?



Since this event happened in the past, I'm joining Dolly the Doxie and DOGthusiast in the #Throwback Thursday blog hop.

44 comments:

  1. OMD what a worry. We have had that many, many times years back and we know that sinking feeling when you can't find your furend and the annoying part when they are inside and just chose not to come when called. Glad all was OK. Have a tremendous Thursday.
    Best wishes Molly

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    1. Well, Miss Molly quite honestly I did not think that she was missing. Better safe than sorry though! lol

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  2. The main thing is, Shiner was inside and showed you her smile . It's happened here too, that they couldn't find me in my back yard, because I was in my bed the whole time.

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  3. That's a very scary feeling. Those things are funny after the fact when all turns out well but we know it's not fun at the time.

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    1. Maybe the moral of the story should be "don't listen to your mom" lol. Just kidding! I wasn't really scared... I think the mom led me on a goose chase more than the dog!

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  4. That is very scary. We get "lost" in the house quite frequently!

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  5. I bet Shiner wondered what on earth you guys were up to. LOL

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    1. I think when she heard us calling, she eventually went inside like she's supposed to. I figured it would happen :)

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  6. Glad that Shiner was safe and sound...and adorable by the way! Our sweet pup doesn't go outside without a leash...because of his "born to run" disposition. When he was being transported from Puerto Rico to Maine by a rescue group he busted out of his crate at Boston Logan Airport and it took three days to catch him!

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    1. Wow - 3 days?! He must be fast... and very tricky!

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  7. I bet Shiner got a big giggle out of that whole experience......not so much YOU though I'm sure!!

    Pam

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  8. Archie is always going AWOL - luckily for me it's always inside the house!

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  9. YES!! I know exactly what you mean!!! LOL And it's like...really? come on where were you hiding?!?!?
    haha! Great post today!
    ((husky hugz))
    "love is being owned by a husky"

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  10. Very relieved Shiner wasn't lost. My mom panics in the park when she can't see on the other side of a tree! Love Dolly

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    1. Hehe, well I do the same thing with my kids when we go somewhere too. Shiner has actually never been lost thankfully! But she did venture out of the gate before which led her to be hit by a car. She has never sneaked out since that happened. Guess that's another story though.

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  11. OMG! Shiner's such a lil booger! hehe

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  12. I haven't had this happen, but that sure was funny! :)

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  13. That is the scariest feeling ever. We've lost dogs outside, hamsters and birds inside and our little piggy just once. It really isn't a good feeling but the best thing is to find that pet! So neat your family owns a nursery.

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    1. I have lost many a hamster inside of my house too! Our hamsters as kids were great escape artists! Our most recent Hammy escaped and we finally found him a few days later in the oven broiler. The oven was broken so he was unharmed, just dirty.

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  14. Lol! I've never had to do this for Nailah but I've lost track of how many times we've done this for our cats. They always turn out to be sleeping in some corner I've already triple checked. The joys of pet ownership.

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    1. Hehe I figured this was a common occurrence for cats :) My old cat was indoor/outdoor and she used to scare me sometimes too.

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  15. we will say !!!! frum both kittehz AND dawgs.....bak in gram paw dudes day. him "vanished inta thin air" and de food servis gurl was freekin...her could knot find him for hours....troo leee...her wuz even checkin placez there waz noe way he coulda gotten IN two..like closed closets.....her was act shoo a lee on de phone askin her mom ta come over N help N when her turned round...ther him waz.....sittin in de middle of de livin room floor...her haza one BR home N ta this day her still doez knot noe wher him...went...

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    1. Mysterious! Maybe he knew the secrets of the teleport tunnel before your human did!

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  16. LOL! That's just too funny. I have a finished basement and had gone down there earlier in the day to do something. I didn't realize, though, that Maya had followed me. When I realized she was missing, I looked everywhere around the house except the basement. Then I really freaked out and looked outside and called frantically out the front door. Suddenly, I heard a loud thud in the house. And that's when I realized Maya was waiting at the basement door.

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  17. Bailie does that to Mom all the time. Mom has no idea where she goes but suddenly she appears.

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  18. Wow you have an amazing garden! Wish I was there to explore it too.
    The only time the peeps couldn't find me was the day I got locked in the bathroom:-(

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  19. I am sure that has happened to us although can't remember exactly. That is very scary. Great yard. What fun for Shiner.
    Take care.

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  20. oh yes, all the time! And since all 3 are indoor cats, one must wonder exactly *how* they ca hide -- but somehow they manage!! Shiner you goof, you worried your mom!!

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  21. Wow, what a scary story but glad all was well in the end! And wow, what a perfect dog name - Shiner - I LOVE it!
    Thanks for joining the hop!!

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  22. Haha it's always fun when there's no moral to the story! Thanks for sharing.

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    1. Also yes, my sapien's also have that panic too when I am MIA temporarily. Your yard is HUGE!!!

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  23. We're glad Shiner was safe and sound back home. But we wonder where she was when you were calling and calling her!

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    1. Oh just probably sniffing around the barn. Nothing special!

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  24. That must have made a funny picture, you on your mother’s back. I love to hide so TW can’t find me. She goes crazy after she’s gone out cos she’s afraid I got into the hall.

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  25. the only time I got a scare was when hubby was next door working in his mums garden and he had Speedy in with him after I said not to as there was no fence on the gate,he told me there was any way half an hour later hubby is running up the street after Speedy who thought this was a great new game,we managed to get Speedy to come in to our front garden and hubby got a good telling off,xx Rachel

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  26. One time I saw my Keeshond in the distance in a neighbor's yard. I couldn't imagine how she did that, since she was supposed to be inside and there is a fence between the yards. I panicked for a minute, but then I realized my new neighbors had a Keeshond too.

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  27. Oh goodness, I bet you and your Mom were quite the sight to see! That was quite an adventure anyway. I've lost my animals, in and out of the house, but only for a few minutes at the most (just last night I spent 5 minutes calling to Cricket and looking everywhere and she just showed up). There was one time we couldn't find the cat at all in the house....we looked everywhere we could think of, and nothing. Eventually she just showed up too and we never did figure out where she was hiding.

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    1. Cricket does sound like Shiner then :) And your cat story sounds similar to Sammy's!

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  28. omg, well at least she was at home!!! My heart would've been beating out of my chest!!

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