Dog's Day Out

Last week Mike was vacuuming the house for Jeanne and Matt's and kids visit,when I heard the phone ring. I didn't recognize the number, but I asked my husband to stop for a second and picked up the phone.  The caller confused me at first by starting the conversation with telling me she was around the corner, but she had my full undivided attention when she told me our dogs were loose. Turns out the fence gate had been slightly open and they had escaped, and we were none the wiser.

I thanked the caller profusely and promptly told my husband the girls were loose, to which he immediately ran out the door to find them. I grabbed my shoes, their leashes and followed suit. It probably only took less than 60 seconds to reach them, but it was a long 60 seconds.  Because even though I knew everyone was ok and that it would be fine, it's still a moment of panic when you realize that your beloved dogs aren't where you thought they were and you didn't keep them safe.

The caller and girls were right where they said they were, and they both looked as happy as clams with big, tongue lolling goofy grins on their faces while they they sniffed the other dogs (who were probably the same dogs they had seen and had escaped the yard to get to). And when they saw mommy and daddy running towards them they got even happier, enjoying their escape, none the wiser they had scared the ever living crap out of.

As I was sprinting towards the girls (and I am not a sprinter, I'm a distance runner) it took me about 15 seconds to realize that the caller had called the home number on Bailey's id's tag that she always, always wears. I used to scratch her name and my cell number on the back of her licence when we lived in Kentucky, but it was pretty crude id. Once we moved to North Carolina and got settled, I got her an engraved one with her name and our contact information.  Bailey's also micro chipped, but that would only come in handy if she was taken to a shelter and they scanned her.  Jules has an id tag as well, but she doesn't wear it all the time (oh believe me, she does now), and she also wasn't micro chipped either until 2 days ago. So we're even more lucky that the girls stayed together when they escaped, or else we might have not gotten them both back. 

Anyway, once we reached them, we leashed them up and took them the short walk back home. They pranced all the way back. Of course they did. Of course they did.