This past weekend was quite an experience and also the reason I haven’t posted in a couple of days. I’ve been using those days to catch up on missed sleep and recover.
On Saturday I drove 2 hours away to pick up a new dog, from an animal rescue center in a rural piedmont county. Casi is a husky/shephard mix that was dumped in the woods as a baby and had lived there several months before being picked up and then rescued by the lady I adopted from. That same night I took her on a walk around the neighborhood, and she became spooked during our walk and she slipped free from her new harness that could have been adjusted/fitted better. This was Saturday evening, and since she slipped free I continued to look for her where I last saw her. She was scared and alone, and upon seeing me ran away. I was continuing to look for her on foot and by car until 6AM, at which point I had to take a nap because I was falling asleep at the wheel. I slept for about 2 hours, managed to get my car across the road where the marathon was taking place and continued my search. Over the course of the night I crossed several people’s back yards, front yards, alleyways and side streets trying to catch her. I saw her about 5 times, but she was scared and ran away from me as I ran towards her. For most of the day I hadn’t seen her, but a neighbor had moments before I went to FexEx Kinkos to get some fliers made. They barely charged me for them too, which was really nice. She was eventually found only a few feet from where the lady had spotted her earlier in the day.

The entire neighbor around the Raleigh Little Theatre and Rose Garden really came out to help me find my missing little girl. I can’t say enough good things about the folks there. There were a couple folks out actively looking for her. One nice gentleman driving a yellow Nissan SUV circled the blocks for more than an hour trying to find her. There were plenty of dog owners in the area that were very concerned and offered much help in coming the neighborhood in search of her.

The entire ordeal lasted about 17 hours, from the time she went missing until she was found. In the end, I got a phone call from a gentleman that I had handed a flier to earlier in the day. I am almost completely certain the man was homeless, and borrowing a resident’s cell phone to call me. The resident’s cell phone he borrowing was someone else whom I had handed a flyer to and had offered to be on the lookout. My other dog Elsi, the yellow-colored one in the first picture, was able to coax the lost dog out of the bushes and into my arms. Initially Casi (the lost dog) had run away from me and wouldn’t let me approach her. The homeless man suggested I push Elsi, my other dog, up the hill to lure her down. Elsi began to lick Casi’s face and afterward Casi relaxed and allowed me to snap a leash onto her collar. With the snap of the link a full working day of stress and exhaustion was over with.
I had probably slept about 2 hours total, including naps in my car on one of the streets. I had run the car battery dead when napping with the lights on and the engine off, and a resident was able to help get my battery jump-started.

I can’t say enough thanks to everyone who helped me get my dog back. The pictures in this article are from the neighborhood (about 2 or 3 blocks from where I live) that helped me find my lost dog. One such gentleman, Elliott, was a professional photographer walking with his family whom had also offered to help me find her earlier in the day. He took a few photos of my moments after I located her which I may append to this blog post later.