By Alison Taylor
Mozart is missing.
The flyers are everywhere, the reward for his safe return is sizable.
My heart goes out to his owner.
Mozart is a dark brown Pointer with white and grey spots Ñ a beautiful dog, just turn to page 19 if you don't believe me.
You can just tell he is well loved and sorely missed.
I hope he comes back soon.
There was a time when I never would have really paid attention to a missing dog flyer. Sure, I'd read it. I'd commiserate. But I wouldnÕt really think twice about it.
And then six months ago I got my own dog and well, things have changed.
My dog was just three months old when we were hanging out having fun on the Meadow Park fields (a.k.a. doggie heaven) one lazy morning. I ran into a fellow dog owner with his brood of four dogs and got to talking, as you do, about doggie things. The dogs were happily sniffing and playing together.
And then, out of nowhere, my little puppy got spooked and bolted.
At first I wasn't too worried. I thought she was just trying to get the other dogs to play with her. But it turns out she wasn't turning back.
I was almost too stunned to move. I called her name. She kept running. I yelled her name. She didn't flinch. I cried out her name. In vain. Everything unravelled in a matter of seconds. It was that easy.
Unfortunately I don't have the most commanding of all whistles. It comes out as a soft wheeze. I couldn't blame her. I wouldn't stop running for that whistle either.
And so, at one point my three-month old puppy was on one side of the Meadow Park fields, running like the wind, and I was clear across on the other side, staring agog at how my wonderful morning playing with my puppy in the park was turning into a nightmare.
Remember it was winter at this point. The fields were wet and slippery and muddy. It wasn't a pretty sight as I stumbled across, leash dragging in my hand.
Panic, bordering on hysteria, was creeping through my body.
My puppy had no dog tags on her. It was on my list of Things To Do for that very day, I swear. We were going to the park and then going straight to WAG, I swear.
I tried not to think about what could happen to this quirky little puppy, whom I had come to love in just a few short weeks.
We live just up the road from the park and so, not knowing what else to do, I ran home. I tried not to think about all the directions that she could have gone once she got out of the park.
I had left the front door to my house open, which was the least of my worries at this point and perhaps summed up just how my day was going.
I called my boyfriend, steeling myself for the reaction when I told him I had lost our dog.
Just as I was saying those very words, I heard a little noise from upstairs. Within seconds she was standing in front of me, wagging her tail.
ÒShe's here! She's here!Ó I screamed into the phone. ÒShe's safe!Ó
I showered her with kisses, hugged her squirming body tight. It was over-the-top, even by my standards.
Hard to believe she'd been missing for only six minutes with this emotional reunion.
We went straight to WAG.
I really wasn't prepared to feel this way about an animal in a matter of weeks. But they have an uncanny way of sucking you in, making you love them unconditionally.
At first, I must admit, I thought she was an awful lot of hard work.
She needed to pee (a lot). She needed to eat. She needed to play. She needed to be trained (still working on that).
She took over our lives. I haven't slept in almost six months.
Mornings now begin with bartering.
ÒI took her yesterday. It's your turn today.Ó
ÒIf you take her this morning, I'll take her for the next three mornings in a row.Ó
It's so much easier walking her at night, except those nights when you're exhausted and want to just chill out on the couch.
But despite the trouble and the time, there is a special unknown place in your heart reserved just for your pet.
Now when I see those missing dog flyers my heart goes out to the owners. I hope desperately for their safe return. I won't pretend to know what it feels like to lose a dog.
Still, there is reason to believe Mozart will come home too, especially in this town which loves our dogs. Keep your eyes peeled.
