Many of you probably remember a few posts ago (but almost two years ago in real people time) when I wrote about the newest 4 legged addition to the Green family, Hurley. Well, Hurley buddy is a 75 pound goofball that wiggled, licked, chased, and played his way into our heart and we love him like none other. We really think that he's the perfect dog; he's amazing with Cameron and lets her get away with just about anything, he sets an amazing pace when Sara or I take him on runs (and never gets tired - he ran 10 miles with me last weekend!), he's very well behaved at the dog park, and he's just an all around great dog.
Our typical M.O. when we're at work is to put him out in the garage and he can come and go through the dog door as he pleases into our fenced back yard. For the last two and a half years, this plan has worked flawlessly until last Tuesday. I came home from work at around 5, walked into the house, and expected to see him staring at me through the back door. No Hurley. Okay, I figured, he must be still in the garage. I walk over and open the door, but still no Hurley. The panic started to set in as I realized that we didn't loan him to another family, take him to the dry cleaners, or any number of crazy things that I could think of. I immediately set out on foot walking through the neighborhood. I was that guy whistling and shouting up and down the street.
Sara came home from swimming lessons with Cameron and we went into rescue mode. What had happened to Hurley? Did he jump the 4' fence that he's never even seemed interested in during all of his years? Did he dig under the fence - no, only the beagles next door do that when they come into our yard. Would someone try and steal our buddy?
In any case, all we knew was that he was gone and we were devastated. I drove around the neighborhood until about 10:30 that night and Sara stayed home with Cameron making up excuses about why Dad wasn't home and hoping that she wouldn't ask about her buddy. On that note, as far as Cameron knew, Daddy was making the longest trip to the store in the history of Safeway. Luckily, we never had to break the bad news - not that we could have without losing it anyway. Our neighbors across the street - whom we really only know enough to say hi in the driveway - even jumped in their car and spent a few hours driving around the hood.
Still no luck and no sign of Hurley so I came home and Sara and I concocted every worse-case scenario that we could come up with. We finally went to bed and planned a big morning of searching and hopefully rescuing. There was obviously no sleeping going on (Sara was up at 4 and I was up not long after 5) and we quickly decided that I would go to work and Sara would stay home printing and putting up fliers. About the time that she spent $80 on non-refundable lost dog fliers at Kinkos, the home phone rang and it was a guy saying that he found Hurley! Any guesses as to where he found him?
At the DOG PARK!
Looking back on it, we think that Hurley was able to push the bottom of the gate open and he somehow made his way 3.5 miles from home to the dog park. We typically go there a few times a week so I'm sure that he got far enough away from home to realize that he was lost and found his way to another familiar place. In any case, a nice couple got our phone number off of his tags and gave us a call.
Sara went to pick him up and he came home and slept for about 36 hours straight. We were a little concerned because he wasn't eating or drinking for the first day and a half that he was home. We took him into the vet and received a clean, albeit worn out and a little banged up and bruised, bill of health. Three out of four of his paws were pretty torn up and one of his back "ankles" was a little swollen, but he's on the mend. He's getting back to his old ways and I think I may even take him for a run tomorrow.
We'll never know exactly what happened to him (it's not that we didn't ask, but he's a dog and can't talk) but we're happy to have him home. Maybe next time it will be one of the cats that goes missing. (just kidding)
Our typical M.O. when we're at work is to put him out in the garage and he can come and go through the dog door as he pleases into our fenced back yard. For the last two and a half years, this plan has worked flawlessly until last Tuesday. I came home from work at around 5, walked into the house, and expected to see him staring at me through the back door. No Hurley. Okay, I figured, he must be still in the garage. I walk over and open the door, but still no Hurley. The panic started to set in as I realized that we didn't loan him to another family, take him to the dry cleaners, or any number of crazy things that I could think of. I immediately set out on foot walking through the neighborhood. I was that guy whistling and shouting up and down the street.
Sara came home from swimming lessons with Cameron and we went into rescue mode. What had happened to Hurley? Did he jump the 4' fence that he's never even seemed interested in during all of his years? Did he dig under the fence - no, only the beagles next door do that when they come into our yard. Would someone try and steal our buddy?
In any case, all we knew was that he was gone and we were devastated. I drove around the neighborhood until about 10:30 that night and Sara stayed home with Cameron making up excuses about why Dad wasn't home and hoping that she wouldn't ask about her buddy. On that note, as far as Cameron knew, Daddy was making the longest trip to the store in the history of Safeway. Luckily, we never had to break the bad news - not that we could have without losing it anyway. Our neighbors across the street - whom we really only know enough to say hi in the driveway - even jumped in their car and spent a few hours driving around the hood.
Still no luck and no sign of Hurley so I came home and Sara and I concocted every worse-case scenario that we could come up with. We finally went to bed and planned a big morning of searching and hopefully rescuing. There was obviously no sleeping going on (Sara was up at 4 and I was up not long after 5) and we quickly decided that I would go to work and Sara would stay home printing and putting up fliers. About the time that she spent $80 on non-refundable lost dog fliers at Kinkos, the home phone rang and it was a guy saying that he found Hurley! Any guesses as to where he found him?
At the DOG PARK!
Looking back on it, we think that Hurley was able to push the bottom of the gate open and he somehow made his way 3.5 miles from home to the dog park. We typically go there a few times a week so I'm sure that he got far enough away from home to realize that he was lost and found his way to another familiar place. In any case, a nice couple got our phone number off of his tags and gave us a call.
Sara went to pick him up and he came home and slept for about 36 hours straight. We were a little concerned because he wasn't eating or drinking for the first day and a half that he was home. We took him into the vet and received a clean, albeit worn out and a little banged up and bruised, bill of health. Three out of four of his paws were pretty torn up and one of his back "ankles" was a little swollen, but he's on the mend. He's getting back to his old ways and I think I may even take him for a run tomorrow.
We'll never know exactly what happened to him (it's not that we didn't ask, but he's a dog and can't talk) but we're happy to have him home. Maybe next time it will be one of the cats that goes missing. (just kidding)
2 comments:
We are so glad Hurley Boy is okay. Maybe you should take him to the Dog park more often!
I was so relieved to hear he had been found! Just don't take him to Hawaii on vacation in case he should decide to attempt to swim the pacific ocean!
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