Aliens took my dog

Aliens have abducted my dog. It better be aliens, cause if I find out a person took him, I’m gonna kick their arse from here to kingdom-come.

Last Sunday, Mark went to the land to de-bark and sand some huge logs, columns needed to support his loft office, which overlooks a huge great room with 25-foot ceilings (very cool). He took the kids with him so I could attend to some pressing homework. Kent works with him now, turning the logs and learning a bit about woodwork, and Neva likes to play with the animals, so they love joining him out at our house site. Our family dog, Sammy, went with them too.

They couldn’t take Maxine, our new puppy, because she threw up what looked like spaghetti, but it turned out to be worms. We worm all the animals regularly, but she joined our family mid cycle, so somehow we missed this. After grossing us out big time, she was home, sleeping off the medicine we gave her to rectify the problem. Our big, boisterous 6-month-old Shepard puppy stayed home too because he just takes too much room up in the car and he is still a bit wild to pt in the back of the pickup. So, just Sammy joined the family for a day in the fresh outdoors. Sammy  adores the land. Thinks he’s a rough and tough mountain dog now. He barks at the horses, chases squirrels, stomps through the creek, looks for possums and skunks, and best of all, he pigs out on horse maneuver. He likes it best steaming from the oven, if you get my drift.

 At about two Mark called and asked if I would like to meet them at Subway for a lunch break, and I did. We were only out about 30 minutes. Mark put Sammy in the enclosed horse pasture – a fenced area he shouldn’t be able to get out of. The horses and the donkey (who like to stomp little dogs) were grazing outside, so Mark figured Sammy  was safer in than out . When they returned, he was missing. I guess the dog could have gotten out, yet we also thought it might be possible some kids that were four wheeling on our land let him out. They like to come down and pet our animals, so who knows.

Discovering him gone didn’t concern anyone at first. They called and called, but Sammy was nowhere to be found. When they called me, I joined them for the search, but had no luck either. It was getting dark, so we finally had to leave. We assumed Sammy would be there in the morning. He’s been to the area dozens of times and knows it fairly well. He wasn’t.

We talked to all the neighbors, then put up two dozen signs with a sad little picture of Sammy looking lost. We put notices up at the two-area vet’s offices, called animal rescue and the animal search and rescue lady that announces on the local radio. No luck. We got a lead from the neighbor Tuesday. She said she saw a small black dog like the one in the picture running across her field. So we went out there and called and called, but in the end, we only saw crows. I have serious doubts he was ever there.

Now, each day, we drive all around the area, calling up and down the streets and talking to people we see. No one has seen a small black dog. Actually, most dogs up here are big, so a schnauzer would stand out. They say people steal pedigreed dogs around here, and I guess that is a possibility, but our land is tucked away, far removed from others, so I find it hard to believe a dog thief would happen to ramble by at the very moment we were gone. And Sammy is neutered and nine. Who really would want him? He is actually a very badly behaved little bratty dog, and if someone did take him, I wouldn’t be surprised if they threw him back over the fence a week or so later. Only the original family would love this dog. We do, and we want him home where he belongs.

This week on the news, they featured a story about a found dog. A couple lost a small Sitsu – it wandered away from their backyard- and they went through all the motions to find him, but he never turned up. Sadly, life went on. Now, suddenly the dog shows up. They got a call from Animal rescue informing them their dog is in their possession.

The couple said, “We don’t have a dog.”

Animal rescue said, “Don’t you have a sitsu named Mimi? We have it here. It is wearing a collar with your name and address.”

The woman on the phone said, “We lost that dog 5 years ago!!!”

Well. Now, they’ve found it. And it made the news.  No one knows where the dog has been. It’s wearing the same collar it had on five years ago when it wandered off. The dog is healthy. It isn’t dirty or behaving differently. How odd is that? If it found another home, certainly the new owners would change the collar after 5 years. The original owners said the dog doesn’t even look older. Hummm………….

So, I’m thinking aliens took that dog. They are done studying it, and have now returned it to Georgia (where aliens would naturally go to find signs of intelligent life.) Upon returning to earth, the dog naturally sought out his family.

So, perhaps Sammy is in outer space, pooping in a big ole spaceship instead of on my bedroom floor for a change. He is barking at space mailmen and making a general nuisance of himself, pawing to be petted when ET just wants to read.

I miss him.  I can’t sleep at night thinking about where he is and what he is doing. Mark says he might be curled up on someone’s couch, but I have visions of him hungry and dirty, alone and lonely. I can’t stand it.

I will keep looking – praying coyotes and cruel people haven’t encountered him and that he will wander home soon. Even if he comes home with antennas and beeping. I want him back.

I love my dog. Flaws and all. In fact, I love him because of his flaws.

Sammy, wherever you are, I’m with you.