Franklin & Antare's great adventure
Yesterday, my husband was helping a neighbor just down the road. At about 3pm he comes running up our driveway and asks me why Franklin and Antare are loose. Franklin and Antare are never allowed loose. You'll never see them in my off-leash pictures. They have no recall and are both so timid that the slightest scary thing could send them running for Alaska. So I grab leashes, treats, and their best buddy and start walking. No sign of them. Not five minutes before they had been seen in my neighbor's horse corral. After that they vanished into thin air.
According to my pedometre, I walked close to 10km. I drove many more in the truck. I went around on my ATV. I put up posters everywhere I could think of, I called every neighbor who might be in their path. I called my vet in case someone brought them in hurt. I called the shelter, city by-law and the vet clinic that I don't use. I must have called their names 1000 times. I fed the other dogs early and fed them good smelling moose meat. I had the other dogs howling and carrying on--hoping that the noise would lure the wayward boys home. Never heard them, never saw any sign of them.
At 10:30 last night, just as I was typing a note to ask for some "come home" prayers, I heard the familiar sound of dogs running across my deck. I practically flew to the front door and there were two very wet, tired and hungry dogs! In one piece, no porcupine quills, no worse for wear. They ate enough for two days. Franklin didn't even ask to go outside until 10 this morning. Antare spent the night curled up by my bed.
It took us some time to find where they had breached the fence. Turns out that right where the wire meets the gate post, they popped ONE fencing staple. One lousy little staple gave them just enough room to squeeze through! I am eternally grateful and slightly stunned that the other five dogs who live in that pen didn't follow them! I am also very glad that I have a good colorist, cuz under this lovely new shade of copper there has got to be some new grey!!
