the scariest thing

[Martina]

Last week I put Lola and Tigger (neither do stairs) upstairs while I was out for a bit. When I came home, I went upstairs and there they were, but no Gigi. "Hmmm, that's odd," I thought. Usually when I come home, if Gigi's downstairs, she comes to greet me. If she's upstairs, well, I obviously find her there. So I started to call, "Gigi ... Gigi ... hey girl." Nothing. Gigi and Lola still have their Christmas jingle bell collars on so I can hear them running around. Needless to say, I was a bit disconcerted. Then I started going through every room calling her -- still no Gigi. By now, I was starting to get panicked ... Did she follow me out the door earlier? Wouldn't I have seen her? Or at least heard her? Could it have happened? OMG - Where could she be? I'd been gone for an hour ... Was she still alive?!?!?

Yes, I was beginning to freak out :eek:! The only place I hadn't checked was the kitchen ... as I rounded the corner, the level of hysteria in my "Gigi!" must have been extreme -- and there she came!! You can imagine that I fell to my knees and covered her with kisses, "You scared me ... don't do that again!!" We'd had a busy, busy day and she must have been totally zonked not to have heard me before. Clearly these little doggies have a very big place in my heart! I had to laugh at myself for not checking the kitchen (where their bed is) FIRST :rolleyes: - but all's well that ends well.

[gilazno]

appicon whew! glad you found them!!! this has happened to me as well, with both the cats and the dog and they always seem to appear from the most obvious places i have to laugh that i did not check there first!!

[EmD, MD]

On Saturday night I was at a small party in my building, and the host asked me to bring Penny. She was busy being adored and playing with the host's kitty. One moment she was playing under my chair and the next minute she wasn't. We hunted all over for her (the apartment is only 3 rooms). Someone had propped the door open, but she wasn't in the hallway. I didn't know what to do. I was checking under the bed when the across-the-hall neighbor came and asked if we were missing a dog...her door had been slightly ajar also and Penny had barged right in!

Lucky me...

[franp]

Dari and I went to visit friends that live outside the city.We came into the hcuse thru the garage and I did not pull the door closed behind me.

All of a sudden Theresa said that it was TOO QUIET in the house;Dari and Cabo(her frenchie) had gotten out of the door that I had left open.Theresa lives right near a pond and a highway.I was terrified.

She and I ran outside ; I was screaming Dari, Dari. She was looking for them and her husband got into the car to drive around.I froze with fear.

A while later ( I have NO idea, but about 5 minutes) Marty came back with the 2 dogs;they were around the block on someones' front lawn.

Terrified and freaking out do not even start to describe how I felt..To this day, the memory still makes my heart race.

[Carolyn]

Fran...your story STILL upsets me! I cannot even begin to imagine what you went through....even just thinking about the "what if's" could drive one crazy.

You know my horror story. Yes...Jim left the gate open, it was dark, and something told me to bring Abby in from the yard even tho she had only been out there 5 minutes or so. The first thing that I saw was the open gate. At the same time I heard a car coming down the street. I screamed her name.....and within a couple of seconds she came running BACK into the yard. The question is....did Jim have to sleep on the couch that night???
Yep....we can NEVER be too careful, paranoid, etc. They are a gift that we must watch over 24/7. Carolyn

[evangelie]

I am glad to see that she was ok asleep in the kitchen. i admit to having been terrified before about bolting dogs. :eek:

[Martina]

A year ago at this time, I didn't even have dogs - what a difference they've made in my life ... especially in how much I care for them :D.

I hear you Fran about your experience ... I think I too would have gone dumb from shock. Thank goodness someone else was there to quickly move into action.

I currently live in a house at a major cross section of streets (I'm the second house from the corner). My backyard doesn't have a closed in fence (it's where my driveway is). The front of my house is on a small but busy neighborhood street. Yesterday, a friend of mine came over and we decided to take all three dogs for a walk (our first triple walking venture :p). I leashed up Tigger, gave him to her and was getting the leashes for Gigi and Lola when she opened the door wide, walked out and let everyone out -- I nearly had a heartattack from shock! I won't go into what I yelled at her, but you can imagine that strong words were spoken. [A little info: she lives on a very, very quiet closed street with a big park and always lets her dog out off leash]. Her response was "Don't you let them out off leash in the front yard?"

Aaaagh! I could have throttled her! She KNOWS that I never let them out off leash - I'm terrified of that busy intersection, not to mention my own busy-for-a-neighborhood street (with lots of teenagers, I might add, who do not drive slowly). Gigi and Lola immediately came to me (phew!!), but I felt really disrespected by my friend. As I said, she KNOWS that they never leave my house off leash - even if it's to walk the 20ft to the car or the neighbor's yard (which is fenced and where we play every day). It might be 'okay' for her dog to walk around in her neighborhood unleashed (though that's debatable), but it is definitely NOT okay for my dogs. I can't even bear to think about what 'might' happen.

So, that was a little rant on my part - thanks for listening!