Today’s post is of a completely different nature to my usual blog instalments.  No books in sight at all.  Instead I’m giving a little bit of an update on various issues which have kept me absent from the blog just recently.

This year has had its share of ups and downs for everyone.  Apart from the dreaded Covid having a negative impact on everyone earlier this year my 16 year old dog passed away.  I can’t deny that this hit me very badly and in fact I would say for the first time in my life I experienced depression and I seriously hope that I never go into that particular headspace again.  Anyway, a few months down the line and we decided to start walking the dogs from the local dog shelter on a regular basis.  Everyone said ‘oh, it won’t be long before you adopt one’ but we were both adamant that no such thing would happen.  A few months down the line again and as sure as ‘eggs are eggs’ we fostered and then adopted one of the dogs that we’d become attached to.  Okay, you can all smile and say ‘I told you so’.

His name is Bones (he was named for the condition he was found in!).  When he was rescued he had been living wild for a few months and was very cautious about everything.  We walked him fairly often and I just fell for his nature.  He’s gentle, he loves other dogs (in fact I think he could be a therapy dog because he has a calming influence), he’s very shy around strangers but is gradually gaining confidence and he’s very intelligent.  All was happiness and light.  We started getting him into a routine, slowly gaining his trust and with little steps every day he was really beginning to fit in more and more.  Then, the unspeakable happened.

On Christmas Day our daughter took him out for a walk around lunchtime.  It was a lovely day, I was home preparing the dinner and then we got a phone call.  Bones had bolted.  Long story short, they were approached by another dog off the lead, it’s owner was unable to recall it and in a panic she threw her lead at her dog to try and scare it off (I’m assuming she thought it was about to attack Bones).  Unfortunately the whole ‘lead throwing’ episode scared Bones even more and he bolted.  He’s a large dog and quite powerful.  My daughter was pulled over and lost hold of his lead and he ran.  Everyone was out searching but after a few initial sightings everything went quiet.  You may imagine that Christmas Day was not the most enjoyable time for any of us.

The good news is that we now have him back.  After four very long days and three excruciatingly worrying nights he returned home this morning.  We’ve been out searching for him every day but were basically beginning to think he’d ran too far and was hopelessly lost.

Anyway, we were given lots of advice by other people who have suffered similar experiences.  We left the gates continually open, his bed, food and water placed out at the front of the house.  We went into the undergrowth searching hard for any sign, gradually covering different areas and posting missing leaflets.  Our friends have all been amazing as have the community we live in, we posted to Facebook about our missing Bones and this was shared continuously.  A couple of people advised us to try scenting the area and willing to try anything we gave it a shot.  Basically, and stop reading now if you’re squeamish, this involves placing certain ‘smelly’ items around the area.  Using your house as the central point you create a wagon wheel of spokes going out from the centre.  We used socks, a shredded pillow case and also (as ‘eugh’ as this may seem) a kind of revolting soup made from soaking other unmentionables and putting the water into a squirtie bottle to spray on posts.  It sounds awful, I know, the idea is that it might calm your animal down if he smells your scent, snap him out of his fear or feral state and lead him home.  Anyhow, I didn’t hold out much hope, I thought our best chance would be that he found his way back to the shelter he’d been living in for the past few months.

In the early hours of the morning I got up and went to the kitchen for some water, as per the norm I looked out the front window and there was Bones, curled up asleep on his blanket, his food all eaten, I confess at first I thought I was imagining it.  We laid a trail of goodies into the front door and after only five minutes he was back in his bed in the front room.  I think I can genuinely say that today is the ‘best day ever’.

The reason I was writing this was really to explain my absence for the past few days.  I certainly wasn’t myself and I can’t deny that I was starting to let despair take a hold.  My final message is that if you find yourself in a similar situation, ask for help and don’t give up hope.

As I write this I’m sat outside.  Bones is lying asleep on his blanket and I’m almost afraid to let him out of my sight.  I think we’ve learnt a few invaluable lessons over the past few days but the real ‘take away’ from this is how much Bones already means to us and what a fantastic set of friends, family and the general community at large we are lucky enough to be surrounded by.  We’ve also ordered a GPS tracker to put on his collar because I seriously couldn’t handle it if he was to go missing again.

Final note, I hope you’re all well, safe and happy.  I hope the holidays have been kind to you all and I hope that 2022 will be a lovely year for everyone.  Lets just say that our dog returning home in such an unexpected way has given me renewed faith in everything and at this moment I just want to hug everyone.

The Dude. My constant companion of 16 years. Never forgotten.