Two nights ago we had William’s end of baseball party at his coach’s house about 5 minutes from us. The evening started out fine and I didn’t know there were storms coming. The kids were in the pool and having a good time and the coach came out and told them they had about 30 minutes in the pool before the storms would be over us.
He kept a close watch on the radar and pulled the kids out just as the thunder started to rumble. My kids were out of the pool before the first signs of the storm. The food had been put out and they were very interested in that. So my thoughts turned to our dog, Bailey, at home, alone, during this storm. We left the air conditioners running and I thought maybe that would drown out some of the noise from the storm and he would be ok.
The whole time we were there Ed and I told past stories of what the dog had done during storms and fireworks, when we were home and when we were not home. We fooled ourselves into thinking this time was going to be different and enjoyed the party.
We left the party about 9:30 pm, and Ed had every intention of dropping the kids and me off and going back to hang out a little longer. Our dog took care of those plans! Ed and the kids made it into the house before me; I was maybe 15 steps behind them and found utter chaos when I walked in.
Natalie was hysterically crying, Ed was mad, and William stated very matter of factly “well, I guess we have to get another dog”. I looked past where Ed was standing to the air conditioner that I could hear was no longer running. There was now a big hole (letting all the bug into the house) where the insulation that was in the window next to air conditioner had been. The insulation was shredded and all over the floor. Then I looked at the actual air conditioner the front was ripped off, there were bite marks on one piece and scratch marks on the metal. Oh and there was water leaking from the air conditioner like it had been tipped forward instead of back wards for the water to run out the back of the machine to the outside.
The kids went to look for the dog, who Ed and I knew was not in the house. Ed took the air conditioner out of the window so we could close it and stop the bugs from coming into the house. We cleaned up the water as best we could and Ed headed outside to check with our back yard neighbors who informed us he had been out before the storm. They had no idea we weren’t home. They often open the gate between our yards and let Bailey come into their yard and hang out with them. They went inside before the storm came so they put Bailey back into our yard and didn’t see him again. We believe he came back into the house through the hole then went back out it when the storm started and got out of the yard.
I went to our bedroom to see if he was in there hiding from us knowing that we would be a little mad at what he did. I flipped the light switch and there were no lights, and no fan???? Now I started to worry, had he electrocuted himself (Ed would not have been to upset about that at the time). I looked around and the dog was not in the house and there were no wires exposed. So we headed out front. (we figured out later he tripped the breakers)
Ed jumped on his bike and started to our neighbor’s houses to ask if they had seen the dog. I was out front yelling for him hoping he was close by and would just come back as he had done a few times (but not during storms). No luck the dog was not coming home. One of our neighbors was driving by and stopped to see what was wrong, I told him the story and he offered to help.
I told the kids to get in the car and we started driving. We saw Ed coming up another street as we were driving around, then he met up with our neighbor and hopped into his car so they could go look. I drove around with the windows down, yelling the dogs name; I kept thinking he was just so scared he kept running. Ed and Joe took another approach; Ed figured the dog was so scared he would find people, so they were asking everyone they saw outside or in cars if they had seen a black lab.
Someone was watching out for us and our dog because the timing worked out perfectly. The chances of Ed finding the car with our dog in it were slim to none, but he did it! They asked a few (about 25 or 30) people with no luck, then pulled up to a car down a dark short cut and there was bailey inside. The people found him kind of by the school my kids go to, which is a few streets over from us. He made his way past the school a little. The people were at a party and were leaving, they walked out of the house and the dog ran up to them. They checked him out, then went to get in their car and the dog jumped in (they were not leaving without him). They had a 3 or 4 year old little girl and he sat in the back with her (frankly I’m surprised he didn’t jump in the front seat to drive).
They knew some people a section over from us who had Labs so they drove the dog to that house thinking he lived their. They also made a phone call to the police to tell them they found a missing dog. If we had called the police they would have let us know who had him.
So Ed and Joe pull up and see the dog and Ed said the little girl’s eyes filled with tears and she started crying because she had to give him back. She had fallen in love with Bailey and had named him in the hour that they had him. Ed saw her tear up, and he was still so mad at the dog, he started to say to the dad “hey do you” and the dad shook his head and whispered under his breath “DON’T SAY IT”. So Ed stopped. I’m pretty sure he would have been very content telling us that he could not find the dog, as long as he knew he was with a nice family!
So our Bailey boy is home with us again. We now know to put a few chair and the love seat in front of the air conditioner if we are going out. We will also barricade a few other “hot spots” that he may try to get out of and we will pay better attention to the weather when we are not going to be home.
Amazingly, Ed got the air conditioner fixed and it is running right now (hoping it will drown out the storms that are supposed to be on their way). Natalie informed us (after the dog was home) that if he was not found that night she was going to make posters with his picture on it and put them up, even if we told her she wasn’t allowed! The children are soooooo happy to have him home. And the next morning I walked into my bedroom to find Ed in bed and Bailey curled up next to him! (No I wasn’t able to get a picture) But took this one of the 4 of them later in the day.
I hope tonight’s storms aren’t that bad!
(I had the suggestion of a Bailey cam and will be looking into that in the near future)
Ed thinks that at one point the dog was actually on top of the air conditioner and that is how it tipped forward. I guess some questions will never be answered. What was going through the dogs mind to make him think the best way out of the house was through the big metal box in the window? Why couldn’t he just be a normal dog and have an accident on the rug? No we get the dog who tries to eat his way out of the house through an air conditioner. Next time he goes through the trash I think I will be grateful!
