Worst/Best

[mkilcz]

Today was both.
Jack dug out from the fence this morning. I think he saw a deer...I heard him barking and by the time I came around to the back yard, he was gone. The entire morning was a living nightmare. About two hours in, we heard that somebody saw him on the bike path, headed for the railroad tracks. Oh, and did I mention that the tracks run parallel to a busy highway? Jack had been missing for over 5 hours when my son's girlfriend insisted on checking the highway one more time. Unbelieveably, they found him, nearly 4 miles away from home, darting in and out of traffic. Brett was able to catch him without incident, but a young couple that stopped told him that Jack had crossed the highway and nearly been hit several times. To me, it is an absolute miracle that he made it home unharmed. Jack is tired, and needed an immediate bath, but no worse for wear....Best possible outcome.

[dmedric]

How scary! Thank goodness Jack is okay. Definitely, someone watching over him. I can definitely relate to your story -- our Cooper is a runner and still a work-in-progress on recall.

[MaggieRocks]

Thank God he is ok! That is my biggest fear-that one of the dogs will run off and either get lost or hit by a car. Maggie and Emma are pretty good, but Sammy-his recall is 0%. He couldn't possibly be any worse. I'm so glad Jack was found. Hopefully, he won't try that again! (And I hope you're relaxing now with a nice glass of wine )

[PCTech01]

Thank goodness you had a happy ending!

PC

[Cindy]

EEKS!!! Glad this story had a good outcome but ... how will you keep him from digging out again? I know that's what you're thinking too!

[janet909]

In one word, terrifying !!!!! I can't imagine going 5 hours with a missing dog and the entire highway/traffic part makes me cringe in fear. Thank goodness everything turned out okay. A jumble of emotions I'm sure. You want to scold him for being naughty (though after the fact, it does no good) and you want to hug him madly for being back in your arms. So GLAD it worked out for you and that we are all reading a happy ending.

[gingersnap]

Wonderful news that he made it home safe. I would have been terrified. These pups Guardian angels must work triple overtime shifts somedays.

[mkilcz]

Yes, the whole episode was terrifying on so many levels... Jack really doesn't have a history of chasing critters, or trying to get out. In fact I usually have to give him a push to make him go outside at all! Now Rocket is another story, and we do pretty good surveillance on the fence because of him. The big problem is that trumpet vines grow along the one side. We've replaced the fence wire on the other two sides, but the vines have made it difficult work, and we've just been patching the weak spots. It doesn't help either that birds keep nesting in the trumpet vines, so Jack and Rocket are obsessed with standing along the fence line, just in case some hapless baby bird should land on the wrong side... or close enough that they want to paw and dig. Tonight we're staking the fence at close intervals, so hopefully that will help.

I'm still a little shaky, but forever thankful that he made it home. And yes, a glass of wine was definitely in order yesterday after the dust settled, lol.

[AuntieMom]

Thank goodness it is a happy ending. I have a friend whose two Britts got out and were hit by a train and and my grandpuppy, Rogue, is still missing so your post hit close to home. KUDOS to your son's girlfriend for her perseverance.

[adele]

Wow, its lucky he got home safe. Phew.