The Black Family Weblog

Arwen is our cute and adorable cocker spaniel. Timid and yet very playful. She enjoys a bright orange stuffed pig we got for her recently, and I like to throw it and she goes and chases it. William has begun to pick up on the game, and was throwing it around the room on Tuesday night. He threw it one time and knocked over my cup of water. Now it was during the game of fetch-the-pig that I was telling William to “cool it down” and when my cup of water went flying across the room - that was enough for me to admonish William that he didn’t listen. Arwen, being the ultra-sensitive dog that she is, thought I was mad at her. Knowing that when she gets scared (or even loved upon) she wants to urinate, I immediately let her out the backdoor so that she could take care of business.

I then closed the door and locked it, found a towel to clean and mop up the spill. After this, I then went to fetch our carpet cleaner just to make sure the spill wasn’t going to leave any stains. This was about a 2 minute process. I went back to the door to retrieve Arwen and she wasn’t there. Not surprised. I closed the door again, found the carpet cleaner and started pretreating the carpet. Went back to the door. No Arwen. Ok, that was strange. I stuck my head out the door and let the chilly December air into the house (yet again…another annoyance of mine, but I can discuss that another time).

“Arwen! Come!!” I yelled - to no avail. I yelled it again. And again. No Arwen.

I then closed the door - went to the front door because sometimes she gets confused. She is Arwen afterall. No Arwen there either.

So off I went to put on my shoes and coat. I found a good Thomas the Tank Engine episode on the TV for William to keep him preoccupied. He did ask, “Where’s Arwen?” And I the ever loving dad said, “She’s lost…Daddy needs to find her.” William, just starting to watch Thomas said, “Oh.” And he left it at that.

Off I went into the yard. It was funny that I didn’t yell “Arwen!” or anything like that because I was sure she was in our yard. So it was a really muffled, “arwen? you there girl?” She wasn’t no where around. I went down the block, no flashlight mind you…nothing. I went back around the house, probably 2-3 times. Nothing. I went back inside and found William sitting on the couch deep into his Thomas.

Thinking that my mind was going crazy and that I totally forgot to let Arwen back in I yelled out (and this was inside mind you), “Arwen! You there??” No…I wasn’t crazy. I noticed that I had a missed message while I was outside. It was Jessica and she was on her way home. So I called her on her cell. Told her the bad news that our dog was missing!

I will be honest and admit that it was not too long into this whole thing that I thought maybe someone took her. I know that our dog just doesn’t wander off. She has obviously been around our neighborhood quite a few times and those times have all been on a leash. I had just become accustomed to her sticking around the house when I need to let her outside to take care of urgent matters.
I did find two gentlemen out near the main road exercising. I asked them both if they have seen any loose dogs running around. They said they didn’t. One was actually walking his dogs and said that they would very much let him know if they saw any animal loose or on a leash. That was a relief, but at the same time further made me think that someone took her from our property.

With sadness welling up inside - I got Will dressed for the cold air and both he and I took off in the car to go around and around the block to look for her.

To be continued…