Little dog lost.

As i previously posted, Rosie was our sweet, loyal furry companion, who was later joined by another sweet, loyal furry companion named Roxy. Whilst Rosie was happy to be wherever we were, Roxy was always looking for a new adventure, and if that meant going under the fence, then that is what she would do. When those holes were filled, and going under was no longer a possibility, she discovered a new skill, climbing the fence. Not jumping. Climbing. It became to the point that our lovely neighbor was putting her back over the fence time and time again. We added wire to the tops of the fence, she just climbed higher.

We decided to move this year, and chose a house with 6ft high wooden fences. Roxy-proof fences, we were sure of it, there just seemed no way she could climb them and we were right. She didn't climb them, she started going under again. Not long after we moved in, she dug out and took Rosie with her. (We always joked that Roxy was a bad influence on Rosie) .Roxy was found by some people in the neighborhood but Rosie had separated from her in fear. A little bit of driving around, i found my little girl and returned them both to our yard and filled in the hole. But, the holes kept coming. We ended up spending a bit of money and a weekend of time digging trenches under the fence and adding timber underneath to stop them digging out. It seemed to work. We didn't have to worry about them escaping and we were relieved. I came home one day to find that a scummy person in the area had deliberately opened the gate for them (it was happening in a lot of yards) and they had both wandered off again, but just as i was going out searching, they came running back home. So, we locked our gates and figured that our dogs were safe in our yard where they belonged.

We were wrong.

On 23rd May this year, i came home from a busy and exhausting morning helping out at my Daughter's school excursion. My feet and ankles were screaming at me and i was kid-free for the afternoon. I had my McDonalds ready to eat for lunch and was about throw my feet up on the recliner, that is, until i looked out the glass doors and noticed there was only one dog... Roxy. This was unusual as Rosie was usually always there waiting for me. I went outside and i called her. She didn't come. Roxy was whining. I checked the gates. Still locked. I searched the yard. There was no Rosie. Then i saw it. A great big hole. Right in the corner, underneath the wooden barrier under the fence and through to the other side, right next to a retaining hole, a spot we honestly thought was far to small for them to squeeze out of it. But Rosie had. She was the smaller of the two dogs and had managed to get out. Roxy had been left behind, although i imagine it was probably Roxy who had dug the hole.

The first few hours after a pet goes missing are critical. You hope that in that time, they are still nearby. I quickly posted photos to local Facebook sites and drove around the neighbourhood calling her name, hoping and praying i would spot her. But there was no sign of her. We have alot of bushland around her, so we knew that if she ran into it, it would be nearly impossible to find her. My parents came out to help me look. We searched and searched. It got dark and still our Rosie had not returned. I cried and i fretted for her. Not having her lying next to me in bed that night was horrible.

The next morning, we prepared posters and walked around our street putting up posters and handing them out to Neighbours. We did what we could, but we had to go out of town for the morning to my nephew's birthday party. I was concerned. We all were. We had heavy hearts and we wanted her home. Not long after we arrived at the party we got a call from a neighbour to say she had been found and they would hold her in their yard until we got home. I was so relieved. That heavy heart was gone and we could relax and enjoy ourselves. We arrived home and i walked happily to the neighbours house to collect her. My smile faded when the neighbour explained that Rosie had dug out of her yard, but they had found her again and put her into our own yard . But as i looked over at our yard, i could see just one dog sitting in the yard. My heavy heart was back. We checked the backyard, but only Roxy was there and that ugly hole she had dug out of, and we had refilled, well, she had dug out again. This was all in the space of about an hour and a half. I was angry and sad. I couldn't understand why she had escaped again. We searched again and we continued reposting to facebook . Another night passed and i continued to cry. Days passed. There were sightings but no matter how many times we scoured the neighbourhoods we just couldn't find her. We checked the pound listings multiple times a day. We put up extra posters. We did everything we possibly could, but we just couldn't find her.

Where are you Rosie?

It has now been one month and two weeks since Rosie went missing. The sightings stopped after the first week and our hope started to vanish. There were reports of dogs being killed by wild dogs around the time she went missing, and my heart breaks to think that she could have suffered such a brutal death and that  her body could be lying in the bush land. We try to tell ourselves that maybe someone found her and decided to keep her, rather than find her owner. We try and encourage ourselves with this thought, rather than facing the thought that she could be dead.

Hope has faded for me. I try to be positive. I have heard the stories of dogs who have gone missing for 10 years and finally return home. But i also know the stories of dogs who go missing and never, ever return. I still post her pictures on facebook sites, in the hope someone may have her, and her posters still hang on the telephone poles, but deep in my heart, i honestly don't believe she will ever return to us.

And it hurts. It hurts so bad.