I left our Frenchie outside!

CutieFrenchie

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OMG, I feel so terrible. Hard to sleep after a major adrenaline dump.

It all started at about 9:15pm. She was giving me the stare that she needed to go outside. I ignored her for a few minutes since I was in a middle of a game. She starts doing a tiny whine and soft bark to let me know hurry up. Finished up and we went for our normal night walk. Out for about 15-20 mins walking around and got her business done. She saw a couple rabbits out and got really amped up wanting to chase them. Head back home.

As I'm walking in the front door, I unclip her leash. I turn and drop leash onto side and close the door. I grab her poop treat that's a few feet away. Whistle for her to give her the treat. Whenever we comeback from our night walks, she'll always run towards the bedroom to greet my wife in bed and be proud of herself I guess. It's been like this for almost 2 years. I took a peak at the hallway and saw the bedroom door was cracked open. I'm thinking this is weird she doesn't want her treat. I guess she's tired and ready to cuddle with momma. I left her treat by her food bowl and went back to the office to continue playing my game with headphones on.

It's about 11:15pm. Cleaning up and ready for bed. I walked by Charlie's food bowl and notice treat was still there. Wow, she's really tired. I go into the bedroom and see my wife sleeping. Couldn't quite tell where Charlie was but she does like to go underneath the cover sometimes. I felt around to give her pets and I can't find her. I go back into the living to see if she's on the couch. Look in the office and nothing. I go back into the bedroom and look underneath the bed and closet. My wife wakes up to see what I'm doing. I tell her I can't find Charlie. She's like uh what? We live in a small 2 bedroom apartment, so not a lot of places to hide. She turns the lights on in the bedroom we double check underneath the bed. I checked the closet again. I was dreading this bc I started thinking she hid to pass away. The clothes hang low to the ground so I pushed it all up to confirm nothing was hiding underneath. I told her I took her out a while ago and I'm 99% sure she was next to me when we walked in but now not sure since she isn't responding. We rechecked everywhere. She is NOT inside.

Wife looks out the front door and calls her name. I'm grabbing my jacket and big *** flashlight heading outside. She turns 1 way, I go the opposite falling her name. Looks like it's been drizzling for the past hour or so. I've been out there for a min or 2 when a lady asks if I'm looking for a dog. I say YES. A little French bulldog? YES!!!! She tells me they spotted the dog by the leasing office about 45 mins ago and have been trying to grab her but she keeps running away. She points me where she saw her and I run towards that direction. When I get to that around, I saw a couple of guys nearby. One was the lady's husband. They spotted the dog near these thick brush, near the perimeter of the property. I scan the area calling her name. I walked along the edge and left the property looking for her. Got to the main intersection and no signs. I circle back and went along the area I was told last scene. My wife was with the other lady near the office looking around. I talked to the husband again and this time, he pointed an area just slightly above where I walked through earlier. This is a path where we take Charlie all the time. The husband tells me they think Charlie was just spotted by the office again by his wife. Since I know my wife is already there, I'll follow this path leads to a fenced off wetland that she likes and loop around the back of the complex just in case. I get to the fence barrier and still nothing. There are apartments line up in this area. I know I've waken a bunch of people with my Charlie calling and whistling throughout the neighborhood. As I'm at the barrier, a couple pop out of their deck and ask if everything is ok. I tell them I'm looking for my dog. Gave a description and my apartment number. Their building is higher up but Charlie does like to climb this hill too. I start walking up this slippery grass and somewhat muddy Slope to continue along another path. I hear the couple on the patio yell out, is that her???!!!!

I turned around to look back down this hill. There she was! I yell, "Charlie, come here!" She bolts up the hill and runs up to me all wagging! Gave her lots of pets. She is soaked! Forgot to grab her leash on way out door. I thanked the couple above and start heading towards the office. Charlie stayed next to me. She's pretty good off leash unless there is a bunny in her sight. We got to the office area, yelled for my wife, Found her! We encountered the other lady first. I could hear her excitement when she saw Charlie next to me. Then I saw my wife coming around from the other side of the building. Charlie saw her and ran up to greet her. We walked back towards the lovely family and thanked them for all they have done. Since we were there, Charlie was brave enough to give one of them a sniff before running back to use. My wife picks her up and carry her back home.

Once back inside, we dried her off. Spoiled her with a bunch of treats. She's now snoring away. For those 3 hours or so. She was a free dog. Chased all the bunnies she could I'm sure. Maybe even ate some fresh rabbit poop that she keeps trying to go after on our walks. :facepalm: She knows where we live. When we get out of the car, I tell her to go home and she'll go right to our apartment.

I'm glad she stayed in our complex. I'm thankful for the couple that spotted her originally and tried to get her. Her dog tag does have our number on it. I'm thankful for the couple on the patio. It could have turned out so much worse. I would have never forgiven myself. Not sure if the wife would either. It's almost 6 am as I'm finishing this up. I am starting to get a little sleepy now. I can feel my legs getting sore and stiffening. My voice is probably shot from all the yelling I did. A million things were rushing through my kind. How the hell did I let this happen. All the scenarios of finding her or not finding her.

Thanks



TLDR, accidently left dog outside. Found safe and sound.

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Wow- yes could have ended so much worse. Glad she didn't go far and you found her.
 
My heart was racing reading this post! They are fast little buggers! Thank goodness for the happy ending [emoji3590][emoji3590][emoji3590]

Side not.. rabbit and cat poop is like crack for dogs, some just can not resist it. Our female bulldog was zoned in and we had to watch her whenever out. They can get giardia from eating it [emoji2961][emoji2961][emoji2961]


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Oh my goodness…what a scary ordeal! That could have ended so bad…so happy to read there was a happy ending! And I bet you’ll never make that mistake again!


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So happy you found her and someone didn't steal her. You got lucky.
 
So happy you found her and someone didn't steal her. You got lucky.
We are. There are coyotes in the area. We've seen plenty of rabbit carnage left behind. The wife saw a pair recently with dinner in one of their mouth. This was near that fenced off wetland where I found Charlie.

Wouldnt stand a chance.
 
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