Part III
Day 8 – Peekaboo, I See You
Seven days had passed, filled with hope, followed by frustration that soon turned into nagging disappointment. Day number eight of Dobbie’s disappearance began exactly the way the previous day ended … people were running in circles searching for the little scamp, following the leads on sightings. It was like hide and seek. If chihuahuas are somewhat intelligent, then this one belongs in a chihuahua Mensa group.
Multiple sightings were reported early that morning around Windsor, from where he flew the coop. “I saw him, and he was looking right at me,” said a patroller from Candler Hills. More traps with food were set, totaling five.
What’s next in the playbook? Dobbie on a milk carton? Little Fifi the poodle in a bikini to lure him back? Two more hours of driving around by Heather, calling out his name, but no luck. There was only one more sighting alert at 8 p.m., with his location being near a retention area. Head on over to that area! Sorry. Gone. Time to call it a day, well, night.
Day 9 – Running Out of Steam
Since Dobbie was last spotted in Candler Hills, Heather and Team Dobbie patrollers from On Top of the World decided to start the morning of day nine back there. Wondering who would run out of steam sooner, Dobbie or the team, was a shared thought among the group. They waited patiently, eyes darting, calling for that crafty canine. A couple of calls were relayed to the team from Donna Smalley back at Camp Smalley.
Ay, chihuahua! Someone saw Dobbie crossing SW 80th Street, just two blocks away from them! More calls came in from the general area. Guess the dog wasn’t running out of steam after all. Surely, he must be. Another hour driving around by the patrollers before calling it quits, knowing that the longer Dobbie is on the loose, less than positive things could happen.
Day 10 – Git Along Little Dobbie
In Windsor, Chris Spillane’s neighbor, Don Wright, called Heather to report that he had just seen Dobbie. This was great news since the dog was closing back in on his launch site. Running out of steam, little doggie?
Dobbie immediately froze when Don called his name, but then he wandered off while the team continued to search. Heather decided to use Dobbie’s original crate with some of his cloth toys as a lure and brought it to Don.
Chris was cooking hot dogs at her home also as a lure to get him back to her house from where he originally split.
As the crate was being placed, Heather’s phone rang. It was a woman offering prayer to bring Dobbie home. As they were praying on the phone, Heather felt a bump on her leg. Dobbie immediately jumped into her arms.
Imagine. Ten days running throughout our neighborhoods, most likely scared, tired, and hungry rather than taunting his pursuers as it sometimes seemed. How did he elude things that go bump in the night? Four-legged? Four-wheeled? Feathered? What did he eat? Confused, he did not realize that the two-legged pursuers were trying to save him. What was he feeling?
Ultimately, what he felt could have been measured by his jump into Heather’s arms, and all the people on Team Dobbie who contributed to the search and rescue mission could finally share the feelings of joy, relief, and accomplishment. Together, our neighbors here in On Top of the World and other neighborhoods relentlessly spread a dragnet. A woman living in Indiana contributing. Flyers posted everywhere. The alert being spread by so many people over ten days. A coordinated team of caring, giving and determined people produced a very happy ending to ten nerve wracking days. So much effort.
In the end, Chris decided that Dobbie was too much for her to handle, and Heather reclaimed ownership of the escape artist. Endless thanks and kudos to all of you from Heather, who reports that Dobbie has regained the few pounds a chihuahua could possibly lose and is taking it quite easy. Welcome back, Dobbie. But no more of this Ferris Bueller stuff, okay?
