Mischief lies behind those big brown eyes.
I often travel for business. My wife, KayEm, and I stay in touch with Skype, Twitter, and e-mail. I’m always excited when I pull out my Blackberry and see one of her messages. But sometimes, I receive a message that I’m afraid to open.
About a year ago, we adopted a beagle named Ginger. Although the adjustment was tough at first, she has become a beloved addition to our family. Ginger is an active dog who loves to play and explore. Her wanderlust is the reason why KayEm sent me an e-mail message with this subject line: Ginger ran away.
As you can imagine, this was not the type of message I wanted to receive while I was nearly 3,000 miles away from home. I open the e-mail message and read the following text:
I opened the the front door and Ginger darted out. I have to find her!
I called KayEm immediately to find out what happened. She explained that Ginger had snuck out of the house and ran around the cul-de-sac sniffing around our neighbors’ yards. KayEm gave chase, but Ginger escaped through the open gate that led to our neighborhood walking trail. KayEm couldn’t pursue any further because our 2-year-old son, X, was standing in the front door planning his own get-away.
Sensing that she was free to explore, Ginger bolted down the walking trail to start her adventure. KayEm loaded X into the minivan and pursued Ginger to the neighborhood park at the end of the trail. But once again, she had a dilemma – should she leave X in the van while she chased Ginger or should try to chase the dog while carrying a toddler. Neither option was acceptable. KayEm got back into the van and drove home. All the time she was worried about how she would tell our older kids, Nee and N that their pet had run away. She knew that the news would break their hearts.
In a last ditch effort to find our dog, KayEm decided to make some “Lost Dog” flyers and post them around the neighborhood. Just as she was about to press print, our phone rang. A thoughtful stranger had found Ginger and had her safely at his house. KayEm was ecstatic. Once again, she loaded X into the minivan and drove around the corner to retrieve the dog.
When KayEm arrived at the neighbor’s house, she saw Ginger resting peacefully in the back of the man’s pick-up truck.
“My brother raises beagles,” the man explained. “Whenever they catch a scent, they always try to follow it. That’s why I picked up your dog when I saw her. I knew she had a family who loved her when I saw the collar and tags.”
“Yes, we do love her. The kids would have been so sad if Ginger were gone,” KayEm said. “Thank you for finding our dog.” KayEm loaded Ginger into the minivan and drove home.
A little while later, I received another e-mail message that read: Ginger found! No worries.
Thank God for the kindness of neighbors.
Stay Strong,
Question: Has your pet ever run away? If so, how did you handle the situation?
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{ 28 comments }
When I was growing up, my family had a half beagle, half terrier. Any chance she’d get, she’d BOLT! She had to run and explore! I don’t miss the days of chasing her around the neighborhood, and across busy streets, but I sure do miss her! She lived to be 16! I’m glad you got ginger back!
Wow, thank God indeed, for putting that man there! That’s an interesting fact about Beagles catching scents and following them. Glad everything worked out okay. I know the panic of getting an email like that when you’re impossibly distant. I hate that helpless feeling.
I used to have a dog that would escape about once a month and go for a run around the neighborhhood. Us kids would chase him, begging and crying, but would always have to give up so we could catch the school bus. Every time, he would be waiting for us on the front porch when we got home.
I love those happy endings.
I always like hearing stories about good neighbors. It is a great lesson for the kids and nice for the parents too.
Glad to hear Ginger was found. That would have been very hard for everyone.
Funny, I was just listening to Pearl Jam’s ‘Lost Dogs’ disc as I read this.
And if may I add, the pink collar looks great on her.
Aw, Ginger is a cutie!
Don’t feel bad. I used to have a dog who ran away MULTIPLE times. She always came back, but each time it was nerve-wracking to worry about where she was or if she was OK. Glad your story had a happy ending.
That’s cool. Glad Ginger is back, safe and unharmed.
I’m glad you sent me a tweet about this because I’m several days behind on my reader and wouldn’t have seen it until the weekend, probably!
YES, my beagle has run away. Reading this gives me anxiety, because it’s such an awful feeling. In fact, I think I will blog about it in the next day or two because it’s a funny story (well, since she’s okay, it is!)
I hope that the knot that no doubt developed in KayEm’s stomach is gone, and I hope she’s not shaky anymore. It’s terrifying when a dog runs away!
Beagles will do that, we have one now and I had one as a kid. Their noses carry them off. Because of this though, they usually don’t get far because they check out every scent. Ours has left before and if I didn’t catch her right away, we usually got her within a few houses or blocks.
Twice neighbors got her and called, which is a good thing about beagles. They are so friendly, they will be found by someone.
My uncle has two beagles, and they’ve gotten out several times. Thankfully he’s a cop and the neighbors are always looking out for him and his family. Glad this story had a happy ending!
Oh, I’m so glad this ended happily! We have a pup that is part of the family, and I know how crushed we’d all be if he ran away. Thank goodness for kind people!
Wow! Just saw “Mocha Dad is available on Kindle.” How the heck to you do that with your blog? I’m way impressed!
Those are some good neighbors! I have an older Beagle named Buddy. He was a neglected stray who wandered into our yard last summer in the most pitiful shape. I couldn’t possibly let him go, so I put him on a run in our back yard, bought him a dogloo, and put him near the deck where he had plenty of shade. He’s not that active anymore (vet says he’s about 11-12 years old), but he will definitely still follow a scent!
Well, my son was mowing the lawn one day and accidentally ran over the cable. Buddy was around for a while, but eventually took off. We (luckily) found him in the woods the next day, hung on some underbrush. You can bet my son knows to move Buddy to the basketball goal now when mowing the yard. That was a close call!
I love hearing other people’s Beagle stories, though. He’s the first one I’ve ever had.
Just visiting via MelisaLW
It’s great to have good neighbours like that.
I have only done two trips (same client, separated by maybe a month) for work and it nearly killed me. I don’t know how you do it.
So glad there was a happy ending! We had an escape artist dog when we lived in a townhouse – Princess Nagger was an infant at the time, and I had to load her up in the vehicle to search while hubby pursued on foot. We finally cornered the dog in a Subway parking lot – must have been attracted to the smell!
When I was in France about 3 years ago both of our dogs got out under the fence and ran away. One of them was hit by a car and died. Someone found them both and called my wife a day later. I can feel your pain totally on that one. It is a helpless situation to be in. Thankfully you had a great neighbor to help out.
I don’t have any animals of my own – yet – but I was watching my neighbors dogs while they were away and one of their pugs got out the front door. I chased that little dog around 3 cars, lost my flip flops, nearly had a stroke from being inactive to essentially running a marathon within 3 minutes, AND it started to rain on top of that! After I finally retrieved the thing, 15 minutes later, I was walking the dog back to their house and realized that our other neighbors had actually pulled up chairs and were drinking their coffee and watching the whole show in the window, laughing, at my own expense! Good thing I have a sense of humor as well, and so I just laughed right along with them.
My best, Lynn
Glad Ginger was found and returned home safely, I’m sure the family is happy to have her back.
Tears of joy in my eyes that you found her!! We have 2 dogs and I would just cry and cry and cry if one of them went missing. Death is bad enough, but when you don’ t know what happened to a dog it must a a real heartbreak.
All’s well that ends well in this, yay!
Indeed! strangers can be kind or they can be not so kind. Glad you had a happy ending. When I was little we had a german shepard who kept running away. One time a guy in Venice Beach called us to say he had the dang dog sitting in front of him begging for pancakes (it was a beach side pancake restaurant). We had to drive 20 miles to go fetch him
That really warms my heart. Glad that Ginger is safe and sound.
I ‘m glad that Ginger is safely home. What’s up with bloggers and beagles? NukeDad, Melisa and you too. My Mastiff will take off, but only to the front door of our neighbors behind us. She knocks on the door to play with her best friend St. Bernard who lives their.
We have two miniature pinschers and currently (and usually) have an additional foster minpin. They are notorious bolters, and can never be trusted off leash. Both of my dogs have slipped their collars and gotten away once. I thought I’d have a heart attack. They will run and run with no regard for cars, danger, or an owner’s voice. *sigh*
So glad your doggie made it home.
Glad to hear your dog made it back home safe and sound. Yet another reason why we should get to know our neighbors.
It’s nice to hear that the kindness of strangers still exists. Good thing that KayEm made flyers!
For some bizarre reason, I want to start this next sentence with “Unfortunately”. I have never had a pet run away. Isn’t that mean of me?
But in fact, I realize I did have a cat escape. I was sad, very sad, about it. She was found a few hours later. In retrospect, my life might have been easier had she stayed with her “new” owners from that escape night. If not easier, at least cheaper. She peed on my carpets and caused me fees when I left that apartment.
I’ve come to realize I’m a baby/kid person and less of a pet person. That might be sad for my kids as they grow up, but I can always use their allergies as my excuse for not having anything around. We tried a dog for a month, my mom’s, but it went for a visit with her and we haven’t had it back. Can’t say I’m broken up about it. He chewed toys.
Dog’s sense of smell never ceases to amaze me. Happy to hear you found her. At least Ginger will have some friends to play with!
Bryan
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