This Dog Has Nine Lives

Yesterday my day was supposed to go as follows:

Get big girls to school. Get little girls to school (for their short 2-hour day). Do some last minute shopping. Pick up little girls. Come home and get everything ready for big girl's school party since I am the room mom. Babysitter arrive for little girls and head to the big girls' school.

Instead it went something like this:

Ready to leave to take big girls to school. Realize the dog (who does not wear a collar) is not in our house (UPS guy came the night before at 9pm - must be when the dog got out and no one noticed). Panic. Take big girls to school. On the way home drive around and call for dog, who most likely froze to death in the night. Get little girls ready and off to school. Come back home in attempt to find the dog.

Put signs on mailboxes. Drive and call for the dog some more. (Notice there are no hawks and buzzards in the sky and think that might be a good sign. No one has posted anything that they have found a dog. The dog is old and black and feeble and didn't get out til 9pm. Doubtful anyone found her.) Leave again to do last minute shopping - now have hardly any time at all. Pick up little girls. Go home and get makeup someone texted and needed asap. Drive back near girls school just to drop off makeup. Pick up lunch and drive home. Notice about 30 buzzards on someone's rooftop. Panic and pull over the car.

Look around houses for dead dog, find nothing. Ask neighbor who knows nothing. See another man jogging by the buzzard house and ask him. Oddly, the man asks if I'm the one looking for the dog because HIS neighbor found a dog last night. I follow him way down to the house (which is not far from my own at this point). I am feeling like this has to be our dog.

We knock on neighbor's door. Jogging man tells me they found a black terrier (she's a schnauzer really but would easily be mistaken for a terrier). Many dogs inside barking but no one comes to the door. I leave her a note and get back in my car. Cell rings - it is our vet, where our dog was groomed yesterday. They ask "are you looking for Maxie?" Now I'm confused. "Yes, but I think I know where she is. How do YOU know?" (Remember the dog has no collar.)

Apparently the lady who found her took her to the closest vet, who recognized our dog because she was just there the day before being groomed. Lady shows up at our house with our dog. A Christmas miracle!

She was 21 and found the dog walking in the street at 2:30am. I told her the dog would have surely frozen to death and that she saved her life. I'm so glad our poor Maxie didn't freeze to death. She is not doing so great today but on the up and up I think.

Side note (to finish my day): Then the painter is in the area and shows up at our house. Then babysitter shows up. Dog I think is traumatized. I go to school. There is not one other parent to help with party. Do the whole thing on my own. Come home. Mom friend from school comes over to give me a gift card I was buying from her and had forgotten. Mom friend stays and visits. I feel like I'm getting a migraine. Hubs comes home as mom friend is leaving. Thank goodness I took home 2 whole pizzas from the school party. Then take kids to see Christmas lights. Come home, put them to bed, and pass out til past 8 this morning!

But back to the dog. So the dog got out this summer when we went to a swim meet and it was 100 degrees. Another day that I think she would have died if she stayed out. Some wonderful neighbor (whose dog ironically has ended up at our house twice) picked up our dog off the street and posted signs. We couldn't believe it was the same person whose dog kept coming to us.

So I think our dog is using up her nine lives (the first being when she started having seizures and nearly died almost two years ago). How many lives does a dog have anyway?