Abby's Night Out

Even though Wednesday was Abby's birthday, we didn't plan any sort of celebration because.. well, she's a dog right? She doesn't know what day it is... However, what I did do is leave the garage door open (while she was out in the yard), then forget to close it when I let her in, then continue to be absorbed in a very complicated homework assignment. When August came home, maybe an hour or so later, he says "Where's Abby?" and from my desk I go "uh I don't know..." "The door's open"... AAAGH. "Was she wearing her collar?" "uh.... no?"

(We've gotten in a bad habit of taking it off her because she makes a lot of noise jingling the rabies tag as she scratches her neck at 2:30 in the morning...)

So, the hours from 5:30 - 6:30 were spent making laps around the neighboring blocks, whistling, calling, etc.. - all the while knowing that Abby never really goes anywhere when she's out alone. She's a pack animal. Unless of course if someone were to walk by, and especially if they had a dog of their own. In that case I have no doubt that she'd follow {harass} them all the way home and never think twice about her old pack.

Around 6:30 I went in to make some flyers. Of course the printer is out of ink. By #4 they are completely illegible. I put up those 3 on nearby stop signs, and then drove to Kinko's where I bought 100 more copies. At this point August is convinced that she's been kidnapped by a bad person to be turned into a cage fighter. Or at least picked up by someone who loves her so much they just keep her.. (ha ha.. yeah right..)

By 7:30 I'm taping up the 1st of the new 100 flyers and my phone rings. Its a neighbor from 3 houses down, and I happened to put one of the original flyers on the stop sign right in his yard. Coincidence?? :) Turns out he was in his yard when Abby made her escape. No doubt she headed right for him to say hello. He promptly loaded her up and took her to the Humane Society, which I did not think to call because we were absorbed with whistling and calling until well after they closed... They did post her on their "Lost&Found" website later in the evening..


So August retrieved her at 9:00 am the next morning. They did not lecture him on responsible dog ownership as I assumed they would, but she did have to be registered as a canine resident of Longmont (cost: $25/yr). This I find hilarious, since I'm not sure what city services she uses. I suppose she used the humane society, but we had to pay an additional $55 for her overnight stay.

Regardless of the fees and wasted paper (what can I do with 100 "Lost Dog" posters?), we were very relieved to find out that she was safe and very thankful that God had answered our many fervent prayers! Other morals of the story:

1. Dog collar is now a permanent fixture, even though it now makes twice the amount of noise as she has to wear an additional "City of Longmont" tag.
2. We should probably get to know more of our neighbors.
3. Is it safe for me to have children? Will I get absorbed in something and not realize they've wandered out the front door? Maybe we should have them implanted with some sort of LoJack tracking device, just in case...