Topic: Our little girl is missing

[belairebel]

I'm not going to even try and read all the replies to this sad message, but as a life long and dedicated dog owner, could I mention the leads we have for both our dogs, which incorporate a clip to go into the safety belt base in the car? It folds into the lead when you want to use them just as leads and gives me peace of mind when I have the car windows partly open, to allow fresh air into the car.

I hope, with all my heart, that you have now found your girl.

[star]

Than you Belairebel, that sounds like a great gadget. Trouble is our dogs are in the back of a Landrover. There are no seat belts in there. There was no dog guard up either, we took it out to bring wood home from the DIY shop, and hadn't got round to putting it back.

It was totally my fault, I am completely guilty and responsible for her getting out. I have to live with these dreadful emotions. Its too late now to rectify a wrong, I just hope we get her back.

[Jeannine]

Star, you listen to me now, this was an accident, sad, scary and awful for you but nevertheless it was an accident, you are not reponsible, you must not hang this one on you, it will eat you up . Accidents happen , we always look for someone to blame but most times there is no one so we blame ourselves.. you stop it now, it was not your fault, it was a no blame accident.

She is out there somewhere, if she had been hit the shelters ect would know as they would have to retrieve the body,and they would be able to tell you that, so she is alive.

She can't be walking around lost either as someone would have seen her and with all your publicity you would have heard something.

So, someone has her. Maybe they think she is lost and have accepted here as their own, not what you want to hear but she is safe.They may get tired of babysitting her and then contact the shelters, this has happened many times, dogs show up later.

Watch the for sale ads too, it is isn't a nice thing to think about but hat also happens.

Many years ago when I bred and showed OES, the breeders around in my area had a rescue kennel for unwanted ones,if  there was an ad in the paper for one somebody  always went to see if they wanted us to rehome the dog rather than sell it on to just get rid. I went to see one, it was a lovely dog but the man was shifty and it was clearly not his, the man got it from someone who got it from someone etc. I broke the rule and bought it, with a cheque I cancelled the next day,then we started searching old ads, sure enough this one had been stolen from a garden 4 months before.It was returned to it's owner, a policeman,I learned later that he had visited the man I got it from!! I doubt he will do it again !!!

I  tell you this because it does happen and if you are persistant you may well find her long after she escaped.

So keep an eye on the for sale ads and the stud/breeding ads.

Too much info in here but I repeat, please stop blaming yourself,

XX Jeannine

[star]

Jeanine, all my friends have said the same about blaming myself. So I do know you are right, I feel its the same as grieving and certain processes need to be gone through.

We did have another sighting from a lady....last Friday. Which was a week and a half from the day she went missing. Everyone we see knows her by name and are looking out for her.

The one thing I hadn't thought of was the for sale ads, thank you. I will keep my eye on those from now on. We go every few days to the dog pound as I am not happy that they always scan for chips.

A lady rang this morning to say her lost dog was returned to her after 18 months, now that gives me hope too. We think she's making her way home as the sightings seem to be heading in our direction.

Thank you for your concern and your 'telling off'. I think I needed a reminder after being told before...... :-*

[Jeannine]

Star, I was hesitant to tell you this but feel I must...I know from experience when looking for a lost dog with a neighbour that if a body is found, it is not the RSPCA that get it..it used to be years ago, but it is a council department, I forget which but you could find out,the info that they have removed one doesn't always get to the shelters etc so you must phone them directly..horrible thought but do it and get that bit behind you. I feel she is still out there.

I am good at telling off when someone nice needs it.

Where is the picture.

XX Jeannine

[Jeannine]

T is Star's picture of Maggie..click ti to make it bigger XX Jeannine

[star]

That's great Jeannine thanks.

Yes re the councils, we have been in touch with four of them. They have all our and Maggies details, we go every couple of days to the dog pound. That's very difficult as it's a pts policy after 7 days.

And I appreciate your telling off, we all need it sometimes  :)

[lorna]

Star, I thought of you again today. In our local free paper today there is a lovely ending to a missing dog story. A family from Watford were visiting friends locally and their 18 month old King Charles was taken from the garden. The local couples autistic 13 year old daughter was very upset, although it wasn't their dog she had a special bond with it. The Police informed them that the dog had been found after they received a tip off from a member of the public, the dog was found at a travellers (house or site?). I just hope you have the same happy ending and your Maggie is soon found.

[Jeannine]

Star how far from home was she when she jumped out?

X Jeannine

[star]

Lorna.......there are a lot of happy endings, I'm still hoping ours will be one of them. I am very pleased for the family who found their King Charles Spaniel. Specially for the autistic child, these children form incredible bonds even outside their own families. It was lovely to hear. Thank you for posting xxx


Jeannine....Maggie got out about 12 miles from home, its not the mileage. I know thats no distance for a dog, it's the dual carriageways and very busy roads that concern me. Our dogs are not very street wise. We only ever walk in the woods or big green spaces.

A lady did follow me into Tesco's today and told me a dog (she thinks, because it could have been a badger or fox) was run over several times on a slip road. I still feel she's alive, so does my husband. I can't say I wasn't upset though. I left the shop with nothing in a flood of tears.

 I sound so melodramatic, but I will tell you what....its so nice to be able to pour it all out.

[betula]

The roads are a worry but when my dog ran out the park and returned home she had to cross a seriously busy main road so please do not give up hope.

Also we had only lived in this place a very short time and I still can not believe she come home  :)

[star]

I'm so pleased your dog found they way home Betula ;), they are quite amazing animals. I don't think we will ever give up hope, even if we have to believe someone has adopted her. We need to believe she is safe. Having said that, I think those thoughts are for the future. We still wait for phonecalls.........

[betula]

Hmmm this thread is bringing back memories,a few years back Jill collie was down the river on a walk with OH.............frantic mobile call from him saying she was not responding to his calls.............she was sitting at the gate to our decking waiting to be let in.

Ages ago a little dog just trotted into my living room and lay down....................wearing a tag so was able to reunite the happy owners with their dog.Thank goodness my patio door was open.He had covered a good distance in inner city Brum.Thing is he was a cutie and if I was that way inclined it would have been easy to keep him so yes someone may have adopted.

Keep up the publicity and good luck.

[betula]

Hope you do not mind but I have tried to make Maggies pic a bit bigger,hope it works.I am going to post it on a few other forums I belong to as well.

[star]

Oh Betula, I don't mind at all. The more people that know the better, thank you  ;) :)

[Jeannine]

Thank you betula, I am usless with  pooter, that is much better.

Star it is early days, so hang in there.

The reason I asked about the distance is because the smaller it is the more you can flood it..thank goodness you were not 100 miles from home XX Jeannine

[macmac]

Star I have nothing to add other than we kept retrievers (2) who we adored and I can feel your pain from here ,trust your instincts ,she's ok .I hope you find her  soon xx :)

[Jeannine]

I just remembered a story from  mnay years ago that might help.

We lived just adjacent to a slip road then  and saw a dog looking lost up the road ,after a while it was still wandering and was  quite close to our dog run. I went out, she had a tag on with a name and address, several miles from me.  It was a few days before Christmas. We popped a lead on and took her home but no-one was in, we left a note with phone number, but no one phoned, we went back the next day.In Canada many letter boxes are external to the house and I noticed mail in there, anyway we left two  notes,one in the  mail box and one pushed under the door. This time we went very early in the morning thinking we could catch them before they went to work, still no reply so we went back in the evening and still no one home. I noticed the mail was still there and the pile was bigger, so we figured the occupant was away.

I noticed one letter was from the phone company, and thinking it was Christmas and they may have gone to relatives leaving the dog with someone,.. I opened the letter, sure enough there were several phone calls to a number well out of town, so we called it. yep, you guessed it, the owners were there visiting relatives, then we got the story.

The dog had been loose in the back of a pick up, crazy eh, at the slip road entrance to the freeway the dog had jumped out, by the time they missed her they  were almost in Kamloops, they  looked around thinking she jumped out as the pick up stopped, they searched but realised she could have jumped out anywhere, they had kids in the car and no option but to go on.

We kept the dog for them till they came back after after New Year as the children were expecting along visit, no probs for us. It was great to see the reunion.

Star, things like that happen all the time, I was cheeky enough to open that letter but someone else might have just kept her.

XX Jeannine

[sunloving]

Dear Star, read your posts and just wanted to say good luck with finding your lovely dog , its so hard to have something bad happen. Dont give up hope, youve done everything right and hopefully all will be well soon.

My dog jake would go off with anyone who threw a ball for him and be delighted and start a new life and though i would be beside myself he really wouldnt care much so long as someone played with him and fed him so it would be much harder for me than for him. fingers crossed that today is the day that you get your freind back.
thinking of you
x sunloving

[star]

You guys are absolutely fantastic.....thank you so much for all this positive input. It really does help ;).

We went to kennels outside our area this morning, one of them is doing a show this weekend and are putting our posters up while they're there.

The other one is doing the same at their kennels.