I arrived back from the park to find our neighbor pacing up and down the street looking for Jack. Chris and Sam were out combing the neighborhood, so I put a cranky Lanie in the stroller and set out with her and Vivian. Of course by that time Jack was long gone. We checked various areas he might explore, including the park where dogs go to play.
Lanie whimpered occasionally, "I want my Jack. I want to see him."
Vivian plodded along calling for him and asked sporadic questions and made observations.
"So maybe he'll come back today. Maybe tomorrow."
"Or maybe we should just get a different dog. What do you think?"
She did point several times across a busy street and said, "we should check over there."
One side of the street is the town we live in, the other side of the street is the neighboring town.
We continued on our way and I explained that we were not getting a different dog.
Eventually everyone returned home and Chris made dinner while the children made Lost Dog signs. I contacted a few people in the neighborhood to see if they had seen him or knew of anyone who had. I posted on a town Facebook page. No success. After dinner I called our town police department, but they had no reports of a found dog. After a moment, I called the police department of the neighboring town. They had a report of a dog that had been found who matched Jack's description. The people who had found him brought him in and Chris and two of the kids went to pick him up. I did have a few thoughts that perhaps this was not the same dog, but they came home with Jack. Who was not perturbed by being out with another family for hours. Nor had he been particularly impressed to be picked up by Chris and the kids. They were relieved to have him home.
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| Vivian's sign. |
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| A rock in the garden Vivian drew for Jack. |
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| Our paving stone that is now decorated for Jack. |
Since then he has made every possible attempt to leave the house again.
