Lost and Found

I have had a VERY stressful last couple of days. It all started when I got a call from Spencer who was dog sitting Tackle for the weekend and he said: "There's a little problem. I can't find Tackle."

While I was gone to North Carolina over the weekend, Tackle stayed at Spencer's house. On Sunday morning (the day I was traveling home) Spencer let Tackle out in the morning and when he came back outside Tackle had broken his collar off and he was no where to be seen. Spencer called mom and dad and together they looked for him for over three hours. By the time I got back to Fayetteville it was 10 pm and I went straight over to Spencer's house to look. I don't know how I thought I would be able to find him in the dark since he is a BLACK lab but by golly I was sure going to try. After calling out his name for an hour, I gave up and broke down. Yes, I did start crying because I couldn't find my dog. It was part exhaustion from the weekend and part terrible sadness that I couldn't find him. Yall don't understand...we have created a bond!

The next day, Monday, Spencer called the Animal Shelter and they said they had a couple of black labs that were turned in so I went down there ASAP to see if Tackle was one of them...sadly,he wasn't. I filled out a "Missing Dog" report at the Shelter and they said if they got any calls or if he came in, they would give me a call. During the day Spencer hung up "Lost" posters around his neighborhood and I went straight over there after work. I spent another hour looking and came up empty. Monday night when I got home, my house was so lonely without him. I cried again. Yes I know I am pathetic. What can I say?

Tuesday morning I made more "Lost" posters that I was going to hang up and called the Animal Shelter again. This time they said that a lady called in and told them a young Black Lab wondered into her yard and they were keeping him until somebody claimed him. They gave me her number and I called right away. The lady, Nicky, said they had a young black lab (check-same breed and color) who wondered over to her house on Sunday night (check-the night he went missing) and he looked like he had been wearing a collar before (check-he left his broken collar in the yard)! He was staying in their back yard and playing with their dog. I asked where she lived and come to find out it was ONE STREET over from Spencer's house. I thought this had to be him but I wasn't going to get my hopes up.

After work I picked Spencer up and we went straight there. As soon as she opened the door TACKLE bounded out straight for me!!!!!! I was soooooo relieved!!! I had my buddy back.

Now Tackle and I are reunited, he has a brand new collar with a metal buckle and he is super excited to be home. This stressful story had a happy ending :) Thanks to Mom and Dad and Spencer for helping me look. They were all as worried as I was!