As you know, I have headed to the Sunny tropical paradise and middle finger to the United States, Florida, for two weeks of relaxation and dogsitting while my buddy from undergrad is on vacation. Arrived mid afternoon, got unpacked, and was beginning to de-stress. At one point shortly thereafter, I remember thinking as I sat there petting Prescott on the couch, “I think this is the first time I have been relaxed in months.”
And that is how I fucked myself.
Shortly after, I went to the bathroom, came back out, and could not find Prescott. Riley was in his dog bed, but no Prescott. So I tore the house apart looking for him. Nowhere. Called my friend, he said he sometimes sits by in the bushes by the gate waiting for them to get him. “Outside, I thought? He was inside.”
Lo and behold, Prescott pushed his way out the screen door, squeezed through the gate, and took off. I then spent the next six hours having an meotional breakdown while trying to not have an anxiety attack or heat attack. My friend and his partner were apoplectic are STUCK on this island for two weeks. I walked every block for five blocks in each direction. I had them record their voice and send it to me and walked it again. I put up pictures of him on the community facebook page. Nothing.
I am not shitting you when I tell you I was manic. My blood pressure was at like 200/100 and I was crying and at the fucking end.
I am not lying to you when I tell you I was this close to just fucking giving up on life. I am clearly cursed. As a last ditch measure, I called my sister Devon, the dog rescuer, and told her I was damn near suicidal. Within an hour, from her fucking house in Pittsburgh, she not only used her dog rescue connections via a website called Pawboost to not only locate Prescott in West Palm Beach, but to arrange for the person who had picked him up to meet me at a local store to take him home.
I am now going to sleep the sleep of the dead. I’ve been up since 4 am, drove from SC to Florida, then had 5-6 of the worst hours of my life. How do you go on after letting your friend’s dog get lost? I had one fucking job.
I am bungie cording that dog to my leg and getting airtags tomorrow.
BigJimSlade
Sounds like they need to get a better screen door and a better gate!
BigJimSlade
Also, sleep well, John!
Honus
Can’t blame Prescott. I’d want to get away from you too with that beard.
BruceFromOhio
Prescott knew you’d just fucking love it.
HumboldtBlue
There is no writer of fiction who could get away with the storylines you tell.
At this point, your death will be reported as “area man chokes on chicken bone whilst attempting to shove a thermometer up a cat’s ass” and the world will shrug.
Trevor Lawrence and Dougie P didn’t shrug, however.
Also, Greg Judy’n’em put the rams with the ewes. So there’s that.
Honus
Had to flee back over here to get away from a LGM music thread where there are a bunch of posts saying Jeff Beck was mediocre and the Beatles weren’t really very good and then lauding the B-52s.
Mo Salad
I once accidentally left the beagle in the back yard while the sprinkler guy was blowing out the zones for the winter. He left the gate open, and yes, YES, the beagle is out.
The good news was she was chipped. The embarrassing news was we (my ex and I) hadn’t switched the registration from the animal rescue lady we had gotten her from a few years earlier.
We get a call from her saying that our beagle had worked her way into the back of a restaurant on Michigan Ave. in West Dearborn, hung around with the staff for a bit, and was then taken to the local shelter.
Adventuring dogs are annoying as fuck. I’m glad there was a happy ending. They should have told you about the screen door and to keep it locked.
mvr
Normally I just laugh at your long disaster scenarios because you tell them pretty well. But this time I couldn’t help but also feel the fear and desperation and exhaustion as you are trying to find the dog. That was rough. Sorry it happened. Glad your sister could work miracles.
Mai Naem mobile
Who would name their dog after Prescott Bush?
HumboldtBlue
@Honus:
Ringo gets his due from others.
eclare
OMG. I hope you sleep well tonight. What a terrifying ordeal.
Bumper
Whew, that was stressful just reading about; I can’t imagine how panicked you were. Prescott was just out searching for his people and had no idea the trouble he was causing! Thank goodness for your sister.
mrmoshpotato
Awwwww…. Look at that pupper!
Sebastian
I am sorry you had to go through this. I experienced it myself a few times, it’s horrible.
patrick II
I have told this story here once before some years ago, but it seems an appropriate context to tell it once again tonight.
When the kids were young we had a beautiful Samoyed named Shou-bei (Little White). She loved the kids, and of course they loved her and she didn’t really like to be away from them. One day I brought home some furniture in my van and I had to open the side gate to move it into my house. I came out again to close the van doors and realized that I had left the gate open and Shou-bei was nowhere to be seen. So, like John, I walked all around the neighborhood and especially her favorite spots, but she was nowhere to be seen. I then got in the van, broadened the search and drove around looking for her until about one in the morning before giving up. I got up early the next morning before work and drove around some more, and was feeling pretty desperate. She was a great dog.
I drove for a couple of more hours looking for her with no sign of her, when I felt something moving on my forearm. I looked down and there was Shou-bei with her chin on my arm looking up at me. She had hidden under the couch in the back of the van had been but a few feet from me the whole time I had been driving around.
She had a doghouse, and on some weekends if the weather was nice, we would visit taking her. Our neighbor lady would give her water and food. She would be alone for one night. I guess when she saw us moving stuff out of the van she thought we were packing for a trip to grandma’s and while I was inside the house she hopped in the van and hid under the couch so she would not be left alone.
So, as I drove around for hours looking for her, she had been hiding just behind me the whole time, waiting for us to get to grandma’s house, and finally came out when she thought enough time had passed. She looked up at me with that beautiful Samoyed face and I could not get angry, I was just glad she wasn’t gone.
mrmoshpotato
Now that I’ve read the post – so sorry about that, John.
Can’t say I’ve experienced anything like that while dogsitting for my brother or sister.
mrmoshpotato
@Mai Naem mobile:
LMAO! Thanks!
eclare
@patrick II: Awww, poor little girl (and smart!).
MobiusKlein
@Honus: I don’t appreciate Jeff Beck, but can tell he had talent
Anotherlurker
OMG! John, I have been through similar situations and they are horrible!
I am lucky that I always had happy endings and no lost doggie tragedies.
I’m glad everything worked out for you and you and Prescott with the best possible outcome.
NotoriousJRT
Oh, Cole, I’m so sorry you had such a stressful beginning to your adventure. Get some rest.
James E Powell
@Honus:
There are people who don’t really get music, but who nevertheless talk as if they do.
Tehanu
Poor baby! Glad the doggie turned up safe. Try to laugh about it tomorrow, AFTER you get some rest.
Shalimar
@Honus: Loomis is a troll. He likes what he likes, and what he doesn’t like sucks. Best to ignore him when he writes bullshit like that. Jeff Beck was amazing, something anyone who plays guitar can tell within the first minute of hearing him play.
theturtlemoves
@Shalimar:
Yeah, the music threads over there are frequently Pitchfork-wannabe pretentious horseshit.
NotMax
Obviously ceased petting way too soon.
:)
NotMax
@Mai Naem mobile
Would vacate the premises lickety-split if the other one was named Walker. Or worse, Jeb.
:)
mrmoshpotato
@NotMax: What if the other dog was named T***p?
NotMax
@mrmoshpotato
Petting would never have begun.
NotMax
@mrmoshpotato
Maybe someone with the initiative and the scratch will pay to re-dub all the episodes of My Three Sons whenever the dog is mentioned, just because the name is too damn close.
:)
Tony Jay
Prescott obviously reads BJ and took his chance to create another True Cole Anecdote.
Good dog.
West of the Rockies
I very much love multiple Beatles songs. Paul and George seem(ed) like very good fathers and fellows. My disdain for John as a person makes appreciating his contributions challenging. Anyone else have this issue?
Anne Laurie
Your beard is perfectly fine, Cole.
Ever tell you how our beloved rescue Zevon got his name? Spousal Unit picked him up from a papillon rescue in Pennsylvania, where a five-year-old dog with ‘no bad habits’ had been dropped off with full veterinary records and no further information. Next day, Spousal Unit drove off to Michigan for his late father’s memorial service.
That evening, New Dog (who had been sound asleep on the other side of a large room) jumped out a briefly opened window, fell four feet onto gravel, and took off into a drizzly November night before I could even get my shoes on. I spent the night the way you just spent your day… except it was dark, and raining, and I was dragging one or the other of our two girl girl dogs along with me on every expedition through the neighborhood, hoping ‘Pepi’ would come to them if he wouldn’t come to me.
Did I mention our house is 100 yards from the road off the third-most dangerous exit ramp in this fekking state?
I called Animal Control as soon as they opened the next morning, and thank Murphy the Trickster God a couple of college kids had picked ‘Pepi’ up in a closed strip mall on the wrong side of the dangerous street. He’s really fast, they said, in genuine admiration. They couldn’t catch or corner him, but when they opened their car door, he hopped in happily, looking for more adventure…
So they generously dropped him off, and he gave me the widest side-eye smirk I’d ever seen from a dog. And so he was renamed Zevon, because he looked just like the original Excitable Boy.
I didn’t confess to the Spousal Unit until after Zevon was safely home, because how do you tell your beloved partner that you’ve just lost his new dog while he’s 700 miles away and dealing with extreme family agita?…
(Incidentally, Zeev turned out to be an incorrigible runaway… some dogs just have that run run run wolf gene. After a number of terrifying incidents over the years, he managed to escape through a side gate mistakenly left open by a meter reader some 12 years later, by which time he was deaf, near-blind, somewhat arthritic & descending into doggie alzheimers. He was picked two blocks away, and we got calls from *all* the numbers on his multiple tags — the search service he was registered with, the vet office, my cell and the Spousal Unit’s cell. All of them judging us harshly for ‘abandoning’ a poor old frail little dog just feet from such a busy street!)
WereBear
Losing our own dog is horrible enough. Losing someone else’s dog is a crisis indeed.
WereBear
@West of the Rockies: He had issues, but I’m sympathetic to children who were abandoned by their own parents and had their mother die more or less in front of them.
He managed to turn into a husband and father far more with the second son. And he was the genius of the songwriting team, no question, because as much as I love Paul the pop composer, he needs a leash.
“Silly Love Songs,” your Honor. I rest my case.
rikyrah
Get some sleep, Cole.😴😴
Nettoyeur
@HumboldtBlue: Florida Man!!
Nettoyeur
@HumboldtBlue: Florida Man!!
@Mai Naem mobile: Someone who lived in Florida when JEB! was gov.
West of the Rockies
@WereBear:
Perhaps I am too harsh on John. But then I think of his first wife and Julian and his abusive personality and often misogynistic lyrics… and I take a breath and admit that some-not-all of Paul’s lyrics could be saccharine.
Artists are often a-holes.
JPL
John I sure you were terrified, but all is safe for now. Get some rest and try to relax.
WereBear
@West of the Rockies: We are all wrestling with “icky artist” right now.
John Lennon, in the midst of his own battle with Nixon to stay in NYC, which he loved, was still concerned enough to be an activist for world peace. Even though that endangered him politically.
People can do better. Or worse. It is their choice, once an adult. Which is all about dealing with all the wrong stuff we learned so far.
prostratedragon
My dad spent near an hour scouring the streets and alleys looking for old Duke, a neighbor’s dog, who we looked in on, but weren’t really in charge of, while the neighbor was ill. He finally found Duke a couple of blocks away, before it got dark, hunkering down against -5F temp. Got him home and into blankets. Mom baked him a loaf of ground beef and rice, and he rested after an hour. We thought he must have been looking for Mrs. B; her family came and got him several days later.
Dad also teamed with Uncle E.T., who was the original afaiac, to find Roscoe, just in time at the pound. Apparently when they called out his name, Roscoe practically threw other dogs out his way to get out of there. It was like a movie.
BellyCat
With the death of your partner’s father being the reason for his absence?!?! Wow… Can. Not. Imagine.
Cole, you realize that next time your harrowing tale is told, you’ll need to conjure up a few extra literary garnishes such as these to remain the undisputed leader of existential panic.
lowtechcyclist
Glad everything worked out, John! And man, I feel your pain and panic. I still remember when my 17 year old cat escaped, just months after we’d moved into our current home. It was July and we were in the middle of a godawful heat wave, and I was seriously afraid I’d never see her alive again. Fortunately, in the middle of the night, she showed up on the back deck where we’d left the lights on, and my wife saw her and scooped her up.
That was in 1999, and Fuzzer’s long since gone to her grave, but I still feel the panic and fear when I think about it. So I have an inkling of how it must’ve felt for you yesterday.
p.a.
John really should write a book. Is that too 20th Century?
SteveinPHX
Glad it worked out for you! I can only imagine the stress. Keep Prescott chained to your leg for the duration.
HeartlandLiberal
Just sayin’.
different-church-lady
@Honus: “The Drive By Truckers are the only musicians that matter. Also, you are racist.”
Dog Mom
Oh, John – so glad you got the pup! I know the sick horror of a missing dog from too many wanderers. My Ellie, a beautiful Vizsla-Weimaraner, loved to take herself on walk-abouts. One Thanksgiving just as we were ready to leave for dinner, she chased some deer out of the yard and kept going through woods and farmland. After frantic searching, circling a larger and larger area, I stopped back home. It was hunting season and I worried about all to excitable hunters ready to shoot at anything that moves in the woods – and echoing in my head that they have the ‘right’ to shoot at dogs chasing deer. Up the drive comes the sheriff’s car and proudly sitting in the back seat is Ellie – so pleased with her adventure and the nice guy giving her a ride home. (Found running a couple of miles away, jumped right in the car.)
different-church-lady
And this isn’t even the worst lost pet story currently on the front page.
Nicole
I’m so glad Prescott is okay and that is amazing, that your sister knew where to go to try to track him down. I’ve never heard of Pawboost, and now I know it is a thing.
Maybe it’s all the bad luck getting out of the way early, so you can enjoy the rest of your stay.
Respectfully disagree on the John v. Paul debate; Paul McCartney can write hooks upon hooks upon hooks. McCartney’s last top 10 (as co-artist with Rihanna and, bleah, Kanye West), “FourFiveSeconds,” absolutely slaps and his fingerprints are all over it. Rihanna sings the sh*t out of the lead (Kanye could have used some Autotune), but the structure of that song is clearly McCartney.
raven
Our neighborhood Facebook page is really helpful for finding lost critters. Glad the little dude is safe. I just signed up for Pawboost!
lowtechcyclist
@WereBear:
Judging by Lennon’s hit-and-miss solo career, neither of them was the genius of the songwriting team. Their collaboration was genius.
If there’s a dictionary of common English phrases, either a pic of Lennon and McCartney, or for that matter the Beatles as a whole, should accompany the phrase “the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.” Individually, they had their moments, but nothing that would have defined them as great. Together, they revolutionized popular music.
raven
@lowtechcyclist: Bah, that’s because he let Yoko in his “solo” career. Anyway Cold Turkey kill it!
WereBear
@Nicole: We also have cultural lenses. When I was in junior high, Carmina Burana was a solemn church song we listened to in Music Appreciation. (Which dates me. Everybody got that back in the day! Damn Republicans!)
A young co-worker thought it was scary because that’s how it was used in horror movies of her youth. Now, it’s been in beer commercials and it’s comedy.
I can’t listen to Wagner without knowing his politics and how the music was used. It’s great music. But it has a past.
The thing to do is be informed. Like listening to the Ninth, and knowing Beethoven was deaf, and never, ever, really heard it.
satby
Agree the owners should have mentioned that Prescott can (and does) open the screen door to go out by himself. Key detail, a dog who can get out will go looking for his people no matter how nice the stranger petting him seems to be. So not really on you John, but I’m sure you’ll be locking the door now you know Prescott is an escape artist. The main door, screen won’t stop a determined Houdini.
Owners forget that cute little quirks while they’re home can become dangerous when they aren’t.
The Thin Black Duke
I’m not going to give Lennon a pass for punching a waitress in a restaurant. I loved him as a musician, but he was a garbage human being.
MomSense
@Honus:
NONONONONO. Just no.
sab
We once found a newly rehomed rescue dog wandering around on our street. We took her to our home and then began the search for owners on Facebook. Meanwhile the sobbing owner and her boyfriend were driving around looking for her. It took all day for the two parties to connect.
In retrospect, we should have posted a notice on the telephone pole nearest to where we found her, and they shouldn’t have left home with a new dog alone in the fenced yard. It all ended happily.
Ken
Blogs now seem 20th century. The young now tell their stories via subtitled interpretive dance videos on TikTok.
Ken
Not just for reporting a dangerous black man driving through the neighborhood in a windowless blue-grey van, slowing down to check out the houses and leave suspicious packages on some porches?
brantl
@West of the Rockies: John did a shitload of good in his life, too, and much of it cost him no end of bullshit.
Eunicecycle
I sort of lost a friend’s dog one time. And I say “sort of” because they were the ones who left the gate open when they left for church! I was hysterical, I remember. I drove the neighborhood until I saw a bunch of kids standing around something, and there was Levi. He willingly got into the car with me, fortunately, because I didn’t know him that well. Crisis averted.
brantl
@WereBear: Hear HERE.
delphinium
Glad Prescott was found-may the rest of your stay be far less stressful for you.
brantl
@lowtechcyclist: One word answer: IMAGINE. The best anti-war, anti -greed song ever written.
Leslie
What an ordeal, John. I’m so glad doggo was found safe.
We had one of our dogs escape through an open gate once. She loved to get out and roam up and down the street, finding all the houses that had dogs and “fighting” with them through their fences. This time, though, she disappeared. She was not a young dog, either. A little doxie-chihuahua mix.
We drove around looking for her repeatedly, to no avail. Reported her to some place like Pawboost, made up flyers, everything we could think of. We were in the high desert, with frigid overnight temps.
Two days later (an eternity), we got a call from animal control. She’d been found in the parking lot of a restaurant five miles away, across several roads with heavy traffic. The only thing we could think of was that someone had picked her up, and then dumped her there. Thank goodness she was microchipped.
She didn’t go to the pound; the animal control officer met us near the restaurant. Poor dog was trembling with fear and hunger and her eyes were irritated from all the sand (it must have been windy, though I don’t remember specifically). We got her home and babied her.
She was much less inclined to wander off after that.
Re the Beatles: they are the first band I ever loved, so I can forgive them almost anything. John had a lot of personal demons, and at least he did try to do some of the work to become a better person. But if he’d had fewer issues, the band would have had a longer and more productive life.
They produced their first several albums while on an exhausting and relentless touring schedule, and their later ones while dealing with all the fallout of Epstein’s death, their business problems, and John’s drug use, obsession with his new girlfriend, and disinterest in the band. There’s a scene in the Let It Be documentary where the filmmakers bugged a plant to record a private conversation between John and Paul, and Paul essentially tells John that he’s only stepped up to try to lead the band because John won’t do it anymore.
I agree that they were greater, in many ways, than the sum of their parts, but I also think that we would have seen even greater things from them under better circumstances.
Leslie
@The Thin Black Duke: That was during his “lost weekend,” a roughly 16-month period that he spent drunk and out of his head on drugs after he and Yoko had separated. Drunk people do a lot of awful stuff, and John had a lot of asshole moments. But also a metric ton of early childhood trauma. I can’t imagine being five years old and being forced to choose between my parents.
brantl
Paul did a lot of saccharine shit, and a few good songs. John wrote the good stuff, mainly and most of the good stuff that ended up in Mainly-Paul written songs, as well. Revolution, Yer Blues, Strawberry Fields, Glass Onion, Get Together against everything Paul ever wrote except BlackBird and Yesterday? No contest. And the stuff Paul did Post-Beatles, Jayzus, what a load of dreck. Rocky Raccoon, and Maxwell’s Silver Hammer, FFS!
Denali5
Our Sheltie is so lovable, but hates school buses. I can deal with it when I see it coming, but last week, one came right around the corner as my hands were grabbing a treat for her. couldn’t pull her back with the retractable lease – she immediately began barking and chasing it- and when it stopped, ran in front of it! She caught the school bus! I am so grateful that the driver stayed stopped until I could pull her out of its way. But it was very scary. I no longer use that leash when school buses are in the neighborhood. I am so sorry that you had to deal with the stress, John.
Elizabelle
Forgot you were petsitting, John.
Saw the photo and figured this was the latest opportunistic dog that launched itself into your car.
You foiled pup’s plans to try that with someone else, via the interwebs
ETA: Prescott. You can say that just right, and it sounds like an expletive.
Elizabelle
@Denali5: Yeah. Not a fan of retractable leashes, for just that reason.
Fidos nights at the botanical garden bans them. I no longer use one in the park with Miss Hates Bikes doggo. She is on a short leash, and we both enjoy our walks better. (A friend said it would make her easier to train, and it’s true.)
zeecube
You should watch “Dog Gone” on Netflix to relax.
Starfish
The dog was in West Palm Beach, and you ruined his vacation?
Your sister is the best, John Cole.
Starfish.
@Elizabelle: This is what I thought, too! I was happy. John Cole got himself a new dog.
Barbara
A very similar thing happened to us when we brought our rescue dog home after a six hour car ride. She found an opening in the door and just ran as fast as she could. We were reunited the next day via microchipping. It was a really long night. I’m so glad you found Prescott. We used baby gates after that for a while.
Citizen_X
Uh-oh.
We’re gonna need video of this, John.
RaflW
Our longtime family dog was an adventurer. Multiple near-death experiences did not convince him to chill out. He even joined a pack of feral dogs for a time, but at least he hadn’t lost his collar and tags so the dog catcher eventually returned him that time.
He lived to a ripe old age, while giving us all many chances to freak out and panic. We loved him just the same.
Citizen_X
@Leslie: Re the Beatles: What Leslie said.
And I will put up a slight defense of Silly Love Songs. Who were the “some people” that said the world had had enough? John, when he said, “Oh, Paul just wants to write his silly love songs.” So yes, I may not actually like it, but the song is the ultimate passive-aggressive Fuck You, aimed at his best friend/constant aggravator.
billcinsd
@Shalimar: While Loomis is often a troll, he, in the OP, did not say Beck was mediocre, he said that the guitarists he knows don’t really know or think about Beck. The parts of the music thread I read, were nothing like honus said. Not saying honus is wrong just that I had to quit reading because it was kind of a Loomis is wrong Beck was great, all guitarists know that hagiography
OldDave
Two comments. One: Prescott appears to be a beautiful long-haired dachshund. Speaking from experience (we have *four*) they can be sneaky little bastards. Two, I’m still trying to decide if “meotional ” is a typo or intended.
zhena gogolia
@HumboldtBlue: That is so great, thank you!
zhena gogolia
@Honus: Anyone doubting the Beatles needs to be sat in a chair like Alex the droog and watch Get Back with their eyelids propped open.
John Cole, I’m so glad Devon was able to help you get Prescott back! He looks like such a sweetie.
Barbara
@OldDave: My runaway doggie is half dachsund. Her prior owners said that she was very loyal. We hadn’t known her long enough to understand what that might mean for us.
Another Scott
@MobiusKlein: I think Jeff Beck brought a lot to Seal’s Bring it On (3:57).
Cheers,
Scott.
Another Scott
Sorry, John. I hope you slept well.
A few months ago our Ellie escaped on a walk when she saw a fox and backed out of her harness (and backup collar). She was running back and forth across a couple of streets in the subdivision and was always about 20-30 feet ahead of me.
She was single-minded about getting the fox!
I saw a Smart ForTwo coming up to a stop sign, the driver apparently oblivious to her running around. I was too far away. She was heading across the street in the path of the car and I had no idea what to do. Should I yell for her to stop? Should I try to distract her???
The driver never saw her. I didn’t yell. Ellie stopped with (literally) about an inch to spare from getting hit and her front feet runover, then took off after the fox again. The driver went about their business, and I followed Ellie, calling her, and eventually catching up with her in some shrubbery, and managed to get her back in her harness…
We got a new harness which so far has worked well. (She’s broken the leash end while lunging after some deer, but a new stainless carabiner fixed that, and that time she stopped in a yard for me to get her after chasing them off.)
She’s a strong little beastie, and very determined…
Hang in there. Thanks for the story.
Cheers,
Scott.
stinger
Oh, God, my heart goes out to you, John.
Bill Wright
Hi, John…
First, take a Deep Breath…
Prescott=Dachshund. Dachshund=Escape artist.
At one point, in a former life, I was a member (and deeply involved) in Dachshund Rescue of North America–at times had up to 14 weenies under roof. My alpha female, Chloe, could escape the PERSONALLY AND AT GREAT PHYSICAL LABOR dachshund-proofed backyard. Generally, my alpha male and her bonded mate, Jayke, was with her. And, on more than one occasion, fosters would tag along just to keep my gut in knots.
If a teckel wants to get out, they will. Period. They are hunters and inquisitive as hell. Bungie cord? I had a mini who could bite through half-inch thick leather leashes like they were paper.
Love the hell out of Prescott. He reminds me of my beloved dapple Barney–same red on white. Miss Barney a lot.
Be well, John, I’ve loved dachsies since I was ten. Prescott will return the love ten times over….
Bill
EmbraceYourInnerCrone
@patrick II: My sister had Samoyed’s for a while, a mother and daughter pair. Beautiful sweet dogs but the younger one got out once and fell in the neighbors inground pool (no one was home at that house at the time) the only thing that saved her was her mom dog got too and when the youngster could not get out of the pool the mom howled and howled and ran back and forth to my sisters house until someone followed her to the pool. SO glad they got her out of the pool in time.
Ryan
Did hero’s work, keeping that dog out of Mar-A-Lago.
dr. luba
Back in 2016 I was visiting friends in India. One friend’s daughter was graduating from college in an old hill station town, and invited me to come with her to the ceremony. We took a night sleeping bus and spent the night rolling around on the bed/bunk as it slowly climbed the hill. We didn’t get much sleep.
When we arrived to the town, we went to the house of a former classmate of hers, who let us keep our stuff there during the day, while we were at the graduation. She had several dogs, and asked us to make sure to keep the gate to the grounds closed.
You can guess where this is headed. My friend, for some reason, left the gate open, and one of the dogs got about. We then went searching the neighborhood; the dog avoided us, as we were strangers to him, of course. After what seemed like hours, we finally got close enough to the dog (I think treats were involved) that I got him by the collar. We were some distance from the house, of my friend went and got the car, and we loaded the dog into the car.
As we approached the house the dog, which was in the back with me, managed to escape through the driver’s half opened window. Oy!
We had to abjectly apologize to the dog’s owner. She wasn’t too horribly concerned, thank god. He does it all the time, she reassured us. All the neighbors know him, and will get him back to us.
The actual graduation, OTOH, went off without a hitch.
Skepticat
I really wish I didn’t know exactly how you felt, and it is NOT good. I’m so happy and relieved you managed to get Prescott back safe and sound. My cats were born feral and usually aren’t interested in going out, but one (the former male) leaned against a screen that let go; I was asleep at the time and didn’t notice. Fortunately, cats don’t seem to go as far as dogs, and he was gone only long enough for me to go through almost a full day of the agony you endured. When I was in between homes and staying in two fairly small rooms, one of the other cats disappeared, but I knew she could not be outside; no door or window had been opened. Over and over, I looked in, behind, over, through, under, and around every one of the few pieces of furniture. Finally, I opened a door to a space under a desk—a space I’d looked in twice—and there she was. Apparently every time she heard me coming toward the space (which had an open back), she’d slip out the back, but when I looked behind the desk, she was back inside. It took a few years off my life. I hope you’ll rest well and that Prescott doesn’t mind being superglued to you.
karen marie
@WereBear: The Carmina Burana ain’t “church music.”
I love Carl Orff.
Orff’s philosophy of music education is still being used today. You can find a chapter of the American Orff Schulwerk Association near you!