Last Friday, my friend came by for lunch, opened the gate, and Agatha Pocket shot out, through the shrubbery, and disappeared down the street.
She’s a hunter so I knew her first stop was going to be two houses down where ‘the cat’ lives. I have a Whistle GPS tracker on her collar which gives me extremely accurate readings on where she is located.
Sure enough, about ten minutes into our neighborhood search, the tracker app on my phone pinpointed her at the cat’s house. Problem was we couldn’t locate her. We were both calling her, walking up and down the steps, circling the house, when I suddenly heard rustling and realized she was trapped under carport deck. She had somehow chased the cat under a small opening on the side of the building and couldn’t figure out how to get back out again.
We laid down on the sidewalk and every once in a while she would shimmy up to the opening, not close enough so we could grab her, and then disappear again.
Two hours later, after calling the Humane Society (who said they’d come but couldn’t do much because it wasn’t my property) and the management company who rents the house and told us the only way into the house was through a padlocked door and we’d have to wait until they got permission for us to get someone over to saw off the lock), the Fire Department showed up with this tool big enough to cut through anything and they cut the damn lock off. Soon enough, we’re walking with flash lights calling Pocket, not seeing her anywhere, finding the itty-bitty ‘runway’ where she was undoubtedly located and wondering how the hell we were ever going to find someone small enough to crawl down through that space. Then miracle of miracles we hear “I’ve got her.” My friend had placed a huge old marrow bone at the opening of the hole, lured Pocket back down to that side of the house, snapped the leash on her collar and managed to finagle her to squiggle on her side through the narrow opening she’d entered hours before.
She was filthy, limping at first, but walked it off.
That night and for a few night afterwards, I had big problems sleeping, imaging what might have happened if I didn’t have that GPS tracker on her. How I would have walked and driven all over, imaging the coyotes had gotten her, when all the time she was trapped in under my neighbor’s house.
This is the third time Miss Pocket has gotten trapped. Twice before on the mountain she got stuck in thick low-to-the-ground brush after chasing some small wild critters. Both times for hours. Both times not making a noise and she was so deep in the thicket and we’d almost reach her and then she’d back away. Spooked. Just totally disoriented. The first time she was out with a friend and I was in the city, got home at dusk and she’d already been in there for over two hours. I finally managed to snag her after going in with huge clippers (it was like she didn’t even recognize me!) Second time, she was out with a dog walker who left me a message which I picked up four hours later. The dog walker was standing right by that damn patch of bush and I knew Miss Pocket was in there but she hadn’t made a sound the entire time. I was like a wild woman lifting a car with her kid trapped underneath. Don’t know how the hell I got her, but I knew she was there.
I spoke today with a ‘dog whisperer’ of a trainer today who knows Pocket. She said independent dogs are much more likely to go into shock and become totally disoriented if they get trapped somewhere. They don’t call out for help. Eventually, she says, she probably would’ve figured out how to get out from under that house. But those times in the brush? Those really had her scared, too.
So we’re going to start playing this game at her suggestion: I’m going to throw a blanket over her and when she emerges from underneath it, praise her and give her treats like crazy. Do it again and again and start thinking about other problem solving games where she can figure out an answer and get lot of kudos.
Whew! Maybe I can start getting some sleep again.
How about you? Any stories about times your pets got lost? Happy endings only, please.
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