Panic

Today is technically my first day of vacation. I have a lot to accomplish this week before I go back to work on Friday. But I thought I would take one day to just hang out, relax, read, and watch one of my favorite tv shows that is only on during the daytime.

The tv show, Crossing Jordan, airs at 1 and 2 pm central on A&E. Around 1:30, the dogs and I were chasing each other around the couch with Crossing Jordan in the background. Suddenly, Maggie had to go outside. There was no time to wait, and I turned to grab my jacket and shoes. It was already too late; there was a little gift on the floor next to the back door. I opened the back door to let her out, and Maia raced out with her too. I thought I could quickly clean up and then go out back with the dogs. I was gravely mistaken. It took less than sixty seconds for me to clean up and run outside. My dogs were gone.

My parents built their fence high off the ground to avoid termites. I've never understood the logic, because the posts are wooden and are stuck in the ground and attached to the fence. They're what holds it up. Surely if a termite can get into the post, it can travel from the post to the fence. But whatever, it wasn't my fence. It's just been a matter of inconvenience for me, as Maia occasionally slips under the gate. Maggie sometimes follows. They've never gone farther than a block away, and usually "go home" when they are told. I usually stand next to the gate to prevent the escape attempts, and the dogs have been behaving lately. Maia would still escape, but not leave the driveway.

But this time, I was lax in my supervision. I wasn't there to warn them. I wasn't there to call them home. I ran out the back gate, expecting to see them in the alley. They weren't there.

I ran down the block, to the farthest place they'd run before. They weren't there either.

I ran between houses, calling frantically to my dogs. I didn't see so much as a slip of a tail in a bush. In utter panic, I ran back to the house. After all, I had taught them the command, "Go home". They knew where home was. Maybe they'd gone back. They hadn't.

I raced inside the house, grabbed my purse and keys, and jumped in my car. I remembered that Princess knew the sounds of our cars, and would know who was home by the sound of the engine. Maggie loves car rides, and I know she also recognizes the sound of my car. She knows it by sight too. I hoped she'd hear or see the car and want to go for a car ride. It was a trick my mom used sometimes when Princess ran away.

My imagination is far too vivid, and my panic was only rising as I drove all through the neighborhood, to every place we had walked, through alleys and streets they hadn't ever seen. We live so close to three very busy streets. I prayed they wouldn't make it to one of them, especially not 3040. There's no way they could possibly survive trying to cross 3040.

I drove through the next neighborhood. There's a park I've taken them to, near a woody creek. Princess would run there, but my dogs don't like water. I didn't think they'd be there, but it was worth a shot. They weren't there.

I came out of that neighborhood onto 3040. I looked left. I looked right. No sign of the dogs. At least I hadn't seen any bodies in the streets. I took 3040 to Morris to reenter my neighborhood from the back. I know how fast and far dogs can run. I was about to start weaving through my neighborhood again, when I saw the mailman. I stopped my car, practically in the middle of the street, two blocks from my house. I ran to the mailman.

"Excuse me, sir, but have you seen two little beagles?"

"Two little puppies?"

"Yeah," it was all I could do not to cry and impair my vision.

"Yeah, they're over on Larkspur, two streets back," he said. Larkspur!! That's my street!!

"Thank you!" I shouted and ran back to my car, hoping they hadn't moved on before I got back.

They hadn't. They weren't at my house, but across the street, tails wagging, and sniffing around. I stopped my car in front of my house, so grateful to see them alive. I had been driving around for an hour. My hour of sheer panic was nearly over. I just had to get them to come to me. I got out of my car and knelt in the street with my arms wide open. "Maia, Maggie," I called. They ran right to me, tails wagging. Maia was full of kisses and jumped into my arms. But Maggie knew she had been bad, and wouldn't come close enough for me to grab her. So, I used my original plan. I threw Maia into the car through the open window and said, "Maggie, do you want to go for a car ride?"

It worked. She jumped right in. I drove through the neighborhood one more time. I'd promised Maggie a car ride, and I wasn't going to let her think she'd been tricked. I knew I ought to punish her somehow, but I didn't know how to do it so she'd understand what she was being punished for. I was so grateful to have her back, I didn't have it in my heart to be angry. I waved my thanks at the mailman as we passed. When we got back to the house, I had a dilemma. I could carry Maia in, but not Maggie. Not at the same time, anyway. So I shut Maggie in the car and let Maia into the house. I gave her a treat and grabbed one for Maggie so I could distract her as I tried to pick her up. I didn't need to. As soon as she saw the treat, she was mine. Maggie jumped out of the car, and ran straight for the front door of my house. I let her in and gave her her treat.

I'd missed the better part of both episodes of Crossing Jordan, but I didn't care. My dogs were home, safe.

Maggie's punishment turned out to be lots of hugs and kisses from her mommy. She doesn't like to cuddle on someone else's terms. Maia, on the other hand, ate it up. Now, exhausted from their adventure, the two rascals are sleeping behind my chair as I type this. And I am so incredibly relieved and grateful.