It all started about 2 1/2 weeks ago. We headed down to the lake for what we thought would be a nice, relaxing weekend with Michael & Shelley. Matilda obviously had other plans for us. We got down there late Friday night, went to dinner, watched a little TV, and went off to bed. Saturday morning Matilda & Lucy (Reed's parents dog) woke up at about 6 AM. Reed got up and let them out, our first mistake. About 8 o'clock when we all finally woke up we realized the dogs weren't around. 9 o'clock... still no dogs. This is when we began to wonder if we should be concerned. We normally let them run wherever they want at the lake. They swim, they run, they never go far. Well, we decided we better take the car and go to find them.
Reed & Michael got in one car, Shelley & I in the other. Driving through the backroads of Coosa County yelling Matilda out the window. 45 minutes later, Reed talks to the mail lady and she said she saw both dogs in the back of a red pick up truck. PANIC. About 5 minutes later, we saw Lucy running down the middle of the road. Still no sign of Matilda. About 5 minutes after Shelley & I found Lucy, Reed & Michael stumbled upon Matilda. We were all relieved to have them back. We headed for home, thinking our adventure was over.
Fast forward 15 hours to the 4th quarter of the Auburn/West Virginia game. Reed got excited about some play and ran outside to celebrate with Matilda. Or so he thought. No Matilda. No Lucy. 12:00AM, back in the car, driving through Coosa County, yelling Matilda. We found Lucy walking down the middle of the road again, but couldn't find Matilda. We eventually decided we may have to go home & pray that she comes home. When we pulled in the driveway, there was Matilda, standing on the porch waiting for us. Early Sunday morning we left the lake and came home.
This past weekend Reed's parents went down to the lake and took both dogs with them. They made the same mistake we did and let them out early Friday morning. Once again, they ran off. Matilda was found within 30 minutes or so, but no sign of Lucy. As soon as Reed and I got off work Friday we headed for the lake to help with the search party. Nighttime rolled around and we had to stop searching. Reed's dad had been searching for 13 hours at this point. Poor Lucy. She spent the night who-knows-where Friday night, but Saturday morning around 9:30 Lucy was found. We decided their days of running free at the lake were over. We kept them on leashes the rest of the weekend. No more incidents.
Then we got home.
Tuesday night, Reed dropped me off at Bible study, then he and Matilda headed to his parent's house to fix their TiVo. Somehow (we're still not sure how) they did it again. They got out. In an area that is very large. It was wierd, but neither of us wanted to even look for her, but we did. We were frustrated. We had no idea where to even start to look for them. At least in Coosa County their options were limited because of the lake.
It was a Tuesday night when this happened and I had to be up for school on Wednesday. At about 10:30PM we had to call it quits. We headed for home without our sweet Matilda. Her first night outside, or so I thought. Reed woke up early Wednesday morning and headed back over to try and look for her. After a few hours of wandering in the woods looking for her, the vet called to say the dogs had been found. Found at 9:00PM sitting in the middle of the road. Typical. Filthy. Even more typical. A sweet couple took them home, bathed them, fed them and gave them each a bed to sleep on. Our sweet Matilda still didn't have to sleep outside. Reed went to pick her up Wednesday around 9:00AM and all was well. We are very grateful to the couple that took them in. We prayed that God would put someone in their path that would take care of them and He did! Maybe one day I will learn not to doubt Him. He cares about us in the smallest ways. I know she is only a dog, but until we have kids, she's our world.
Needless to say, Matilda is grounded. Grounded to her backyard and grounded from seeing Lucy.
The sweet couple that took them in own a landscape design business. I thought I would do a little free advertising for them and pass along their website. http://www.natureoneinc.com/ If you're looking to have some landscaping work done, check them out!
Reed has put some serious thought & contemplation into getting this:
a dog GPS. We haven't bought it yet, but you never know!! I can only imagine how many miles she has run in the last 2 1/2 weeks.
We love you Matilda, but you are still grounded.
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