We kind of talked about getting a dog… one day. With three kids and one about to be potty trained, I didn’t need another kid who needed potty training. But that one day came anyway and it came just a few days ago, and now we have a dog.
Thankfully this dog doesn’t need to be potty trained. She’s an older rescue. She kind of found us, really. We weren’t looking for her, but she entered into our lives and we immediately fell in love. Which is why I felt so bad when I thought I lost her.
My husband has always had a thing for black dogs. He says the second he saw this beautiful dog, he knew he wanted her. We waited to see if she could find her home, but as soon as it was determined she had no home, we knew she could come live with us. My husband loves her so much. She sleeps beside our bed. She goes with him to work.
So when I texted my husband, “I’m so sorry, but the dog has run away,” only eight and a half days after having her, I felt awful. I hesitated to text him for quite some time. I dreaded it.
I knew she wasn’t familiar with the area, but I also knew she had been cooped up inside. We live on eleven acres… what dog wouldn’t want to be able to run and enjoy that? So, since we were all in the yard playing outside, I let her off the leash.
She immediately took off. It was like she sensed FREEDOM. Or a deer. I choose to believe it was the deer, in order to not get my feelings too, terribly hurt. So, there I was with three crying kids and my trying to remain calm. Do I go after the dog and leave the kids? Do I leave the dog? I was also concerned that she headed to the neighbor’s chickens and we would have a problem. The neighbor already isn’t a fan of ours. My own chickens have a fence she cannot get into, but the neighbors do not.
So, I was yelling at the kids to be quiet – which, if you are a parent, you would know that’s highly ineffective. Telling kids to be quiet only makes them louder. I wanted to listen to see if I could hear the dog running in the leaves. Maybe that would point me in the direction she went. While she bounded faster than I’d ever seen a dog “bound” before, I had the distinct impression that, although she was heading south (or north or east, I cannot tell you), she could’ve turned up the tree line out of sight.
I was trying to listen and comfort kids and listen some more and decide what to do. There was a good chance she did smell a deer and headed deep into the national forest behind our house. As a pet new to the area, I wasn’t entirely sure she would know how to return “home” if she got too far away. So, I herded the two big kids down into the woods in the general direction she bounded, calling every few steps, “SALLLY. SAAAALLLLYYYYYY.” The only problem is, the dog didn’t know her name. She HAD only had it for a few days. The kids were also hollering for her between their cries. So, again, I couldn’t hear a thing. I made the kids stop to be silent for a few seconds. The entire forest between Dahlonega and Dawsonville was eerily silent. Not an animal anywhere to be heard. How was that even possible?
So, down, down, down the mountain I go, with two crying kids and a toddler that I’m carrying over sticks and branches and through the trees. The only problem with going down, down, down is that you have to go back UP, UP, UP.
The area I live in has steep, man-made canyons created by water blasts from miners who tried to carve away at the mountainside to find the gold. I just wanted to find the dog and, at that moment, I was highly unimpressed with ingenuity of the 1800’s that required me to take extreme steps to prove my love to a dog I just met. Perhaps, somewhere subconsciously, it was to prove my love to a husband who loves the dog he just met. Perhaps not so subconsciously it was to lessen the tears of my distraught children who have never before even had a pet. Besides the cat no one claimed (but me and that’s another long story).
After searching for over an hour, I gave up. I told the kids to pray God would bring the dog home. I was out of breath, had no energy for carrying a two-year-old any further up and down the mountains of Dahlonega, and now it was up to God. My sweet kids prayed. It was then I decided I should preemptively prepare my husband. I breathed a deep sigh and I texted the man with whom God gave me to do life. I’ve known the man almost two decades. Which is exactly why I was nervous.
As we walked toward the front door of home, I hit “send.” And miraculously, there the dog came running! From where, I do not know, but good heavens that was the longest hour of my life. I IMMEDIATELY was able to send the text, “Nevermind! Dog is home. All is good.” My husband later told me he was quite glad he had not seen either text til hours later. Whew. Crisis avoided!
The kids acted as though they had never seen a unicorn before and were proclaiming their undying love to this dog that peed on the carpet of their room a few hours earlier.
I didn’t know whether to be mad or relieved. Should I reprimand the dog or hug her? I hugged her. My sweet Sally Louise. I’m secretly a cat person, but at that moment, I was so glad she was really HOME.
And next time, I won’t end my search with prayer. That’s how I will begin it.
