Way Back and Wordful Wednesday - The Time We Lost Lucky

First off, I mentioned on Monday that I was going to share the conversation I had with Katie about what the butcher does, but that's going to have to wait until tomorrow. Today, I'm guest posting over at Who Says 8 is Enough? for my sister-in-law Debi while she takes some time to pack up for her big move to PA. In my guest post, I mention the fact that both Debi and I have way too many pets. I'm sure she's probably mentioned hers before and I wrote about all of my pets here. But what I have never shared is the story about the day we lost poor Lucky.

On a Saturday back in November 0f 2005 we were at my mom's for dinner and got home sometime around 5pm. Back then, Lucky was our only dog and when we got home Chris let him out into the backyard. Katie was 4 months old at the time and, as is typical, we were probably at least a little sleep deprived at the time. When it came time for us to turn in at about 11pm I asked Chris if he had let the dog in and he said, yeah, I think so. I thought, well that's weird - he's usually in here (in the office) hanging out with us. So, doubting my husband (as any normal wife would do), I went to the backyard to call him in anyway. He definately was not out back. I called Chris and said he didn't come in, but I didn't see him in the house. We walked through the entire house calling him, just in case. Then we went to the back yard and front yard and called him. We finally came to the conclusion that he must have run out the front door while we were bringing stuff in from the car earlier that evening.

The weirdest part about the entire situation was that Lucky is an awesome dog. He did run out the front door sometimes, but usually just to be with us or to try to hop into our cars. Even if he did take the occasional joyrun around a few houses, he was always back soon and waited on the front porch to be let back in. We felt terrible because we hadn't even realized he was gone. We didn't know if he had tried to come back and then left because the door was closed or whether he wasn't himself due to growing pains with the new baby in the house.

With Katie asleep, we had to take turns looking for Lucky. In the pitch black, we took turns driving around our neighborhood and around about 6 surrounding neighborhoods with a flood light and calling his name. We got out of the car around the wooded areas and called for him. We probably kept this up until about 2-3am. I actually had to be out of the house early the next day because I was going up to NYC with my sister and niece to see the Christmas Spectacular Show at Radio City Music Hall. It was my first "day away" since having Katie. I got up around 7am and went out looking for him for about a half hour before I absolutely had to get home to start getting ready. I quickly made up some "Lost Dog" posters with the picture up above. Chris called his sister and his friend to come down so one person could help him look for Lucky while the other stayed home with Katie. They put up signs at the Shoprite, the McDonald's, and on telephone poles. We called the police, the ASPCA, and local animal shelters.

In the late afternoon, maybe around 3pm, my BFF's husband stopped over to borrow a folding table we had stored in our basement. Our basement is open to the rest of our house. Sort of like a bilevel house, our staircase comes from upstairs, meets at the first floor landing, and continues to the basement - except that the first floor isn't just a landing and is our main floor. Well, like this actually - the bannister on the left is the staircase down.

The basement is a big open living space with a back storage area. Do you see where I'm going with this? So, Eric, my BFF's hubby opens the door to the back storage area, comes up the stairs with the table and Lucky, and oblivious to what we had gone through for almost 15 hours asks Chris, "Why was Lucky locked in the back room of the basement?"

Fifteen freaking hours...no accidents, no barking, and happy as can be when he was let out. We have no idea how he got closed in there. It is a regular wall with a regular door. How does a dog close a door behind itself...and not bark for FIFTEEN HOURS?!?! Fifteen hours of calling his name, first throughout the house and then in the yard, but with someone always in the house. This is the same dog who barks the second he is closed in the bedroom if we're going out of the house. I guess he was fine because he knew he wasn't alone or didn't realize he was a moron who closed himself in there and somehow thought he was in trouble. I don't really know how he would react if he was in trouble because he never gets in trouble - well, except me yelling at him all the time to STOP barking. I guess he found his voice after that experience.

So, that's the story of the time we lost Lucky. Stop by Twinfatuation to see who else is playing along for Way-Back Wednesday and 7 Clown Circus to find out who is playing along for Wordful Wednesday.