We Lost Our Puppy Yesterday… and Craigslist Came to the Rescue!

My keyboard is still broken (I have to mash the space bar REALLYREALLYREALLY hard or it won’t give me a space..) so this story is going to be short and sweet..

Almost losing a pet is no fun. In fact, it kind of ranks up there in the realm of “Top 100 Things In Life That Are Not Fun”. Especially when you are a crazy animal lover that gives your furry babies an honored place in the family… like me.

Yesterday Jonathan and I came home after spending the night at my parents. Our car is still in the shop waiting on a new engine (making this week 2 since we had a vehicle.. why is everything broken?!?!) so when some friends invited us over for a late night BBQ in Hanford, we figured it would be best if my parents picked us up for the weekend.

Since we knew we’d be gone for the night, we let our golden retriever, Thor, outside with plenty of water and food. Jonathan double checked the gates to make sure they were locked, and made sure Thor had access to the garage, and on our merry way we went.

The deep pit BBQ was a blast, fun was had by all, la la la. But when we come home.. no Thor. He wasn’t in the garage, he wasn’t in the back yard, he was just GONE. And the side gate was open.

We circled the block, we talked to all the neighbors.. no trace of him.

Thor the day we brought him home.

Thor and Jonathan in 2012 and again in 2013, exactly one year apart.

Now, Thor is an unfixed, purebred golden retriever. He is overly friendly and REALLY dumb for being one of the world’s smartest dog breeds. We always knew if we lost Thor, it would be REALLY BAD, because he’d just be stolen, and would gladly and haplessly follow his dognappers. I automatically feared the worst and spiraled into a “Oh Thor, I pine for you!” depression.

I was convinced our dog was gone forever. I started thinking of all we’d gone through, all that dog PUT me through. This is the dog that ate my laptop. And my couch. He can’t just be gone. Forever. And ever and ever. *sobs*!!!

So I jumped onto Craigslist to start my first “Lost Dog, Please Don’t Steal Him, Please Please Please” post. It was Labor Day, so all the animal control and rescue shelters were closed. Craigslist was my only option.

Before I could begin typing out my post… I see a FOUND Golden Retriever post!

Thor has traveled cross country with us… twice. Best road trip puppy EVAR.

Thor being the perfect car buddy. Except for that time he jumped out of the car window into traffic when we were going 45 miles and hour. Okay, so he is far from perfect…

This was right after he almost drowned in the Rio Grande in New Mexico. *sigh* Okay, so this dog is REALLY far from perfect…

Long story short, some guys found our puppy wandering around the Walmart about a mile and a half from our house. Apparently he was following people around, and trying relentlessly to walk into the Walmart, but the employees kept tossing him out. The guys realized he was alone and decided to take him home in Tulare (about a 20 minute drive from our place) to keep him safe till they could find his owners.

THERE ARE GOOD PEOPLE OUT THERE!!!!!!! We have our dumb dog back. I was so relieved I was literally shaking and crying and torn between hugging Thor and / or beating him with a stick..

Now here’s the thing.. I wonder what the odds are that Thor followed our scent to Walmart? That was the last place we walked right before taking off for the weekend. I mean, out of all the places he could go in the 1.5 miles he walked, all the directions he could go, and all the stores he could try to get into.. we walked past Toys R Us, Joanns Fabrics, Sears, Hobby Lobby, Marshalls, etc etc..

I know golden retrievers – especially red coated ones like Thor – are known for their tracking and hunting abilities. I wonder if he was on our scent?? What’s the probability?

He’s really good with Tessa though.. that is one area where he is really good.

I mean, REALLY good with Tessa. Tessa OWNS him.

So anyhoo.. our puppy is back home, safe and sound! WHAT AN ADVENTURE!!! Hopefully the last of that nature, heh. Our puppy is simply irreplaceable.. all his flaws included.