
As the mom to a four legged “child”, July 30, 2014 was one of the worst days of my life and the day the worst nightmare of all dog owners came true. Let me start from the beginning. Before I describe the agonizing search from the moment we found out our sweet Georgia was missing, to the overwhelming joy and relief we felt when we had her back safe and sound, let me describe the year that led up to this moment with Georgia, a very special rescue dog from City Dogs Rescue.



The Dreaded Call




We were elated to know she was safe and seemingly unhurt, but as we drove up the driveway, she bolted at the sight of the headlights and scurried under a fence. As we canvassed the monastery grounds, we learned that the whole area was fenced in, which was a good thing for Georgia to be contained and safe, and also for us in hopes that we could catch her while inside the fence. Being almost midnight at that point, the monastery was quiet so we left more flyers and I wrote a note to the inhabitants asking if they had seen our dog. The very next morning I got a call from Brother Michael saying sure enough, he had seen Georgia on and off for the past two weeks. This was now three weeks since she had gone missing and this was the best news we had heard yet!

I will never forget the moment when she worked her way through the brush in the woods on the monastery grounds, tail wagging and jumping up on us… as she howled her excited coonhound howl. We had come for her and she knew it. She was the same old Georgia, although a little skinnier and dirtier but she was overall healthy and was such a survivor through the three weeks of her DC adventure. There were many moments where we were beat down and exhausted, but we didn’t give up. Something inside me told me she would be back, especially once we got word the monks were taking care of her and she was close. With a lot of luck, help from the monastery, and a lot of work and support from the volunteers, we are happy to say that we have our crazy little Coonhound back…and love her more than ever! |
To those of you who may have been or are in a similar situation, it’s easy for everyone else to tell you to stay strong and keep at it. Most of them don’t know what you’re going through, or if they have been through it, they have their dogs back so they got lucky and you want to resent them for it. And there are times you want them all to just go away, but powering through and keeping that hope alive will definitely help, as hard as it is. I am a firm believer in everything happening for a reason, and Georgia wasn’t ready to officially go out on the lam. I think she realizes how much she’s loved and how good she’s got it! She told me she’ll never put us through this again… and she better not! |