Lot 10 Linden Grove: Lost and Found

How time flies! It's been another week, but whew, the weekend was shot because we all (except for Wren) came down with the 24 hour stomach bug (except Otto, who's was more like three days). I had gone to happy hour Friday, came home and within hours was saying I didn't feel well. Joe thought I'd really outdone myself at the bar, but stopped doubting the cause of my illness once he was struck by it a day later.

But here I am, so let me share a few details on IPA's miraculous journey. It truly was a miracle that we found her when we did.

In very late January, IPA got out of our backyard. I was gone with Wren and got a text from Joe saying he and the boys were going in search of IPA because Joe had forgot he let her out back to go to the bathroom, and after an hour he went to let her in and she was gone. Likely just walked right up the huge pile of snow, stepped over the retaining wall and mosey'd her way down the alley.

She's done this before. A few times. We definitely should have learned our lesson. The lesson to watch her if the gate is open or snow is piled up making for an easy exist. The lesson to always keep her collar on her, or at least put it back on her if we're going to let her be in the backyard for awhile unattended.

The thing is, we've been very lucky historically. When she would get out, we'd walk down the alley and find her sniffing for food in dumpsters or open garages. If we couldn't find her on foot, we'd jump in the car and find her within a couple blocks or she would be in our front yard as soon as we returned home. One time, we couldn't find her immediately and reported her to the Humane Society. Within hours we received a call that someone had turned her in to them. I know! We've been very lucky always finding our lost dog.

But this time we weren't so lucky for the first three weeks. She got out and when we couldn't find her we reported her to the Humane Society. Joe searched Craig's List and other lost dog web sites. We called the local vet. We truly believed that "Of course she'll 'turn up'." We're in such a dog friendly residential area we really had no doubt.

My sister Jamie is really the hero in all of this. She scoured for even more lost dog websites and agencies (holy man - I had no idea how many there are!). She perused images of dogs reported missing, sending me pictures asking "This looks a lot like IPA." But I'd look at the pictures and know it wasn't her. Ultimately one of the organizations she found, Lost Dogs - MN, would prove to be the golden ticket.

After filling out a missing dog form on their website, and hearing nothing, no tips, etc., I suddenly got a call, over three from the time IPA went missing. It was from a volunteer who tries to find matches for the dogs listed as missing on the Lost Dogs website. She directed me to the Humane Society webpage to take a peek at a yellow lab that was reported missing. I didn't feel hopeful, because we had reported IPA to the HS right away and assumed they'd call if they found her. I saw the picture of the dog on the HS website and told the volunteer it was definitely not IPA. That dog was deep yellow with a much broader head than IPA. I told her what we had done and where we had searched to find IPA, and asked if she had additional suggestions to try and locate her. She said, well, there is one other website I know of that you haven't tried. It's called AdoptAPet.com. I thanked her, hung up and was searching for IPA on this new website.

It's a national website, but you can search by ZIP and type of dog. So I did just that and nearly had a heart attack when a picture popped up that was undoubtedly IPA. The dog was a pale yellow lab, slim, nob on the top of her head, just barely holding onto the bone in her mouth like IPA does.

As soon as Joe got out from putting Wren to bed, I pulled up the website again, and Joe instantly spotted IPA's picture among the 15 other lost dog photos. I clicked through the image which brought me to another lost dog organization here in the midwest - one we had not heard of until now. We called and emailed them with details and links to our other missing dog reports we had filed previously.

Early the next morning we got a return phone call. After some back and forth, and being passed from several people and organizations, we were in touch with the gentleman who knew of IPA and where she was at the time. He thought, basis my description, that the dog was IPA. He said they were going to call her by her name IPA and see if she responded. Sure enough, she did.

Next Joe had to go visit IPA at the Hopkins Pet Hospital, where she was being held, to confirm the dog was IPA and that we were IPA's owners. In fact, she had been at this pet hospital since the day after she went missing! The thing is, apparently they didn't report her missing on any of the lost dog websites until mid February (2 weeks after she went missing). Technically she was in impound (at the Vet) for the first 2 weeks. So while we were spending most of our time searching the lost dog websites the first 2 weeks, she wasn't posted on them. But, after her "impound" time, then they posted her up for adoption.

The thing was, as confident as Joe and I were the first week that we would find her, we started to face reality after two weeks had passed. We shed our tears, we talked about how we hoped for nothing more than a family finding her and taking her in and keeping her warm and fed. For the first couple weeks, when the kids asked asked when IPA was coming home, we would say something vague, like "Soon. We're still looking for her and will find her soon." After two weeks they saw me and Joe crying when we saw dogs out on walks. We started to explain that maybe IPA wasn't coming home, but we had to believe she was with another family taking good care of her.

So Joe had visited IPA and everyone confirmed we belonged to each other. It was a Saturday, and IPA had to stay at the vet until Monday because the manager of the vet was out until that time, and IPA was technically property of the vet now.

On Monday when I went to pick IPA up from the vet and bring her home, I had a chance to talk with the vet manager and the veterinarian that took care of IPA. I've learned that, contrary to mine and Joe's beliefs, vets do not call the Humane Society if a lost dog is brought to them. In fact, they told me I was probably lucky IPA didn't make it to the HS (although, wouldn't we have been reunited sooner given that's one place we were concentrating our searching?). Apparently this vet believes the HS euthanizes many, many dogs - particularly "older" labs.

She also told me that every city has different rules and practices for what they do when they find lost dogs. Everything from not being required to call the owner (even if the dog has a collar on!?!), to how long they're held to when they go up for adoption, etc. And she confirmed my hunch that there are A LOT of different people, organizations, businesses, etc that assist when lost dogs are found, but that most of them are not connected. Basically, she said it was a miracle that we found IPA when we did.

And I know we've been given a very, very lucky second chance. We don't always get one, and it's our chance to re-embrace IPA into our lives. To treat her again like the puppy she once was, who got hours of love and attention every day. Sadly, I don't know that I have hours every day, but we're making a much bigger effort to play with her (again, saving it for another story, but IPA so doesn't know how to play fetch anymore. I've had more luck training Wren to fetch the past two weeks than I have IPA!).

In fact, we really did have a made-for-movies type homecoming when I brought IPA home a couple weeks ago. Joe was home with all the kids and I was picking IPA up and bringing her home. IPA sat well-behaved in the passenger seat of the car while we drove from Hopkins to our house. About three blocks from home IPA, who very rarely barks, just started barking. She was excitedly whimpering, bumping her nose against the car window, tail wagging like mad. I pulled over to park right outside our house and she was crouched in position ready to bolt. I opened her car door and she made a dash for our front door. I opened it up and she went running into the house. The kids had blocked off the archway from the living room to the kitchen with chairs and ottomans and IPA literally leapt over them and went bounding for where they all were.

The boys kept saying "IPA's Home!!" and for weeks now Wren hasn't stopped saying "IPA!" They've all been having more fun with her. Wren adores curling up in her dog bed with her. The boys have been trying to get her to play fetch, as well as practice walking her around the house. Otto is usually in charge of holding her leash when we walk her to the field to play fetch. IPA's also getting a lot more treats these days! I'm looking forward to slightly more spring-like weather and will be sure to bring her on runs with me more than I did the last couple years.