Are you missing in action?
Yes, I have been MIA for a bit. But I have tails for you!
It’s a big story!
How big is it?
As big as Mr. Orange!
I bet it’s a boring story.
Shut up, TWEED!
Actually, I’ve just been uber busy with other stuff. First I had a photo shoot with these two lovely critters:
Devon wasn’t too sure about me. He was thinking about biting me in the pants.
Mmmm … pants ….
But his sister thought I was just fine, especially because I came armed with cookies.
So things were going well! The sun was shining, I was getting gigs, my book made it to the Blurb best sellers list, the WooTWoo were mostly coming when called … what more could a gal want?
And then the universe decided to f*ck with me, because just that’s how me and universe roll.
My first day off and it peed rain non stop all day long, which messed with my plans to build a new, bigger hen house and take photos. It was the crappiest of crappy days. But no matter, I had two more days off to enjoy. Right?
The next day I spent most of the morning hiking through the mountainous forests of Mission with my dogs. This sounds lovely, and would have been lovely, except it wasn’t recreational … I was hunting for poor, lost Finn.
Finn is a tiny little male border collie who was transferred to our rescue from a rescue in Oregon. He’s a very shy guy and also wasn’t getting on too well with the foster home’s male dog. So she hoped a change of scenery would do him some good, and I had a new foster home who was hoping to “fail” Fostering 101 and add a new member to their pack for agility – seemed like a win-win. Alas, his new foster home got no further with him than his own driveway when Finn bolted from the car and vanished into the forest :(
Poor Finn. He has no frame of reference for “home,” coming as he does from Oregon, and he has absolutely no connection to the new foster folks who only knew him for an hour in the back of the car before he took off. And he is lost on a property that back onto a reserve populated by coyotes, bears and cougars and stretches for literally miles of wilderness. It is imperative that we find him … and we haven’t yet.
May I just say how wonderful the dog community here in the Lower Mainland is? The first day after Finn pulled this magical vanishing act, we had no fewer than 4 shifts of people out searching for him, many of them driving a long way from home to come and assist. Someone brought a dog with some tracking experience. Everyone slogged through the rain, sleet and snow (yes, how wonderful of the universe to bring snow at a time like this!) hoping to catch sight of the little devil, but no luck. In fact, it was not until much later in the day when the foster home was returning from posting yet more “Lost dog” flyers that the first Finn sighting occurred … in their driveway! But as soon as they pulled in, Finn checked out again, at a dead run.
So he’s hanging around, which is GOOD. But he’s not going to let anyone catch him, which is BAD. But it’s definitely preferable to him running North up the mountain.
This is the point where I decided to call in the big guns. I hired Al from Pet Searchers Canada to come out with his bloodhounds and try and track Finn. I’ve heard he does good work, and he’s successfully trapped and caught other wayward rescues in the Lower Mainland. And this is where, again, the dog community excels … they donated to pay for Al’s tracking fees, which are not inexpensive, even with the discount he offered for rescue. Thank you friends!!
He went out today and was not successful at finding Finn, but he has put out a live trap. The little guy has got to be hungry by now; but we need you all to cross your paws and hope really hard that Finn goes into the trap tonight!!
I couldn’t go out to help search again today because I had to sign some paperwork at my new job – well, my *second* job, at another animal shelter. Soon I shall work at all the shelters in the Lower Mainland! (*insert* maniacal laughter here). It was smack in the middle of the day, so not enough time to go to Mission either before or afterward. To distract myself, I practiced some agility.
Dexter thought this was fabulous!
Tweed was delighted!
TWooie was terrified.
And I asked Wootie to go in the tunnel, and he ran across the paddock, ripped up a plant and started shaking it like crazy. And now you know why Wootie was not my next agility dog!
Good thing I have Dexter.
Keep your paws crossed for a successful Finn trap this evening folks … we need our little friend to come home safe and sound.
Also, if you need some good karma yourself, probably you need to come on down to the District of North Vancouver shelter and rub our friend “Muppet” for luck! If you want extra good karma, you’ll have to adopt him yourself ;-)
We’ve got him listed as a Chow X Rottie. What do you see?
Paula says
I keep hoping for good news. :(