Escape Artists!

Last monday was one helluva day in the Chafin household. The previous evening we were on a wind advisory and had storms all evening. At some points I thought our siding was coming off. But it wasn't anything we hadn't seen before.

Well monday morning I was so looking forward to sleeping in a bit, I had worked all weekend and I had clinicals on Tuesday so I was looking forward to sleeping past 6 am. Well little did I know that's about as long as I got to sleep in because at 6:30 my husband comes rushing upstairs telling me he needs my help, the dogs were missing.

In my sleepy mind I thought he meant my Aunts 2 goldendoodles that we were watching while they were in Cancun. I immediately sprung out of bed, put on his sweatpants and walked down the stairs. When I got their I looked at him and pointed at the 2 dogs in their cage and said "THEY ARE RIGHT THERE!!!" He was like 'NOOOO our dogs!" For some reason this didn't bother me so much. My girls have never run away from home and when given the opportunity to run they usually stay close.

He said he'd looked everywhere, called their names and said he couldn't find them, so I needed to get in the car to help him look. Mind you it's POURING DOWN RAIN! As we were backing out of the driveway I spotted Luke our 13 year old deaf, blind and only dog with a collar on, English setter. Adam quickly and fairly easily got him in the house. He was the one I was worried about, because I was certain my girls wouldn't go far.

I started driving the path I usually take them on for a walk. No sign of them. We headed down the busy road of 141st street. No sign of them. We searched for about 15 minutes until deciding to split up. Adam went on foot while I continued to drive. I went everywhere I could think of. About 30 min into this ordeal I called my mom in tears telling her I couldn't find my girls. She asked if she needed to help come find them, and I said no just pray. Literally 5 seconds after hanging up the phone I saw a brown dog running from house to house. I screamed for my Kacie and she confusingly looked at me. She was scared of the car and I actually had to get out to show her it was me before she would come to the car.

I was so relieved to find my baby girl. I called Adam and he wanted me to come pick him up because the girls are attached at the hip and Sadie couldn't be too far. I did and then dropped him off. Kacie and I continue to search the neighborhood asking everyone we saw if they had found or seen a stray German Shepherd. Of course everyone's initial reaction was "is she nice" I said yes and then told them where we lived. They all said they'd keep an eye out for her.

about 1 hour and 15 minutes into this escaped I called Adam to tell him I needed gas, I was way on E and wasn't sure I could even make it to the gas station. He said he was now in his truck scouring other neighborhoods. I called some friends to pray on my way to the gas station. Then after filling up I called my mom only this time I was hysterical. I was bawling, because I was freaking out that I would never find my buggie again. I searched other neighborhoods for about another 10 minutes before calling Adam crying that we wouldn't find her ::Darn pregnancy hormones::. While on the phone with him, I pulled up next to these construction workers to a house a couple of houses down from ours. I too asked them if they'd seen a German Shepherd.

SURPRISINGLY the guy said YES! He said about 20 minutes ago on their way in they saw a lady trying to get a German Shepherd in her car at 146th street (Thats a MAJOR intersection!) He said it was right across from the new hospital. MIND you this is almost 2 miles from our house! I said thank you and turned back to the phone where I asked Adam if he'd heard that. He said, "I'm already on my way"

by the time I got to the end of neighborhood Adam passed me and I was 2 cars behind him. I saw him pull in the middle of the road and put his blinkers on. I pulled off to the side of the road and saw a German Shepherd come walking behind the truck. I immediately LOST IT! I started CRYING my eyes out!!!! (in fact I'm tearing up just writing this!) I called Adam to make sure it was her and he said yes! When we finally got home. I looked into those beautiful brown eyes and said "I should be mad at you but I'm just so happy you're home" 2 hours and a half a tank of Gas and my Sadie was FINALLY home!!!

The worst part of the whole thing was that Sadie and Kacie didn't have collars or ID tags. And when the guy said he saw a lady trying to get her in his car, I thought for sure she was going to have been taken. She may look mean, but she honestly is the sweetest dog!!! We dropped the dogs off and went to get Shampoo, collars and tags. $100, 4 hours, and countless tears later my dogs are clean, ID'd and happy to be home!!! THANK HEAVENS!

My babies, Kacie, Sadie and Luke