At some time in our lives we may be faced with placing a dog.  Whether it is by choice or circumstances, decisions important to the well being of the dog must be made.  I was recently in such a situation.  Due to a job change I was required to attend a military school for six months in Biloxi, MS the summer of 2000.  Because all of my dependants are four legged, I am not eligible for On-Base Housing that would allow the dogs.  My only options were living in the barracks or Off-Base at my expense. 

This is Liberty's story.  She is a pet I kept from my second litter.  She is my "Heart Dog" and the best bed warmer I've ever had.  About a month before I was to leave for my training, I received a call from a couple; I will call the J's.  They had one of Liberty's littermates.

Mrs. J was helping her Aunt and Uncle in their 80's find a dog.  I expressed my concern with placing an animal with someone that age, as "You never know how long his or her health will hold out."  Mrs. J agreed and said that they planned to keep the dog themselves, should the older couple not be able to care for it.  The J's would also keep the dog if the older couple should ever travel.

Liberty was 6 years old.  I did not really want to give her up, but knew as she got older, placement would be harder.  With my training situation, the timing was good for the inquiry.  It seemed like a good situation, as both couples lived in nice neighborhoods and had fenced yards.  I was not concerned about money, only a good home.

Mr. and Mrs. J came and got Liberty after work on Wednesday.  Mrs. J signed a contract that they both read.  I thought it covered most everything needed. They were going to take her home on a trial basis, to insure that she would get along with their dog Armus, Liberty's littermate.  I gave them a crate for transport and to help her feel more secure while she got settled.  I stressed on several occasions that if things didn't work out for ANY reason, Liberty was to come back to me.  I had a dogshow that weekend about 90 minutes from Nashville.  I told them if it didn't work out, to just put her in my yard.  She would be fine until I got home on Sunday.  They left just before dark.

I didn't sleep well at all the first night.  It was the first time in years Liberty had not slept with me.  The bed seemed very cold and lonely. Friday around noon, I called Mr. J as a routine follow-up to see how things were going with the two dogs.  Mr. J told me, "Well there's a problem."  I said"There's no problem, just bring her back".  He then told me "That's the problem, she's taken off."  I asked when.  He told me "the other night".  I asked what happened.  Mr. J said he took her out front to use the bathroom.  When he brought her into the garage and pushed the button to close the garage door, she bolted.  He said they had searched the neighborhood, put up flyers and notified the Humane Association and Metro Animal Control.  I found out later that they had not called the Metro Animal Control until Monday AFTER I had called to check on whether they might have seen her over the weekend.  Then the information was reported incorrectly.  She was listed as a Sable not a Red and White with no Breed given, only her name.

I asked if they had put an Ad in the newspaper.  He told me they had wanted to talk to me first.  I asked why he didn't call me?  He hesitated for a moment then said, "We thought you were at a dog show."  I told him that it didn't start until today (Friday).  I reminded him that he knew I had an answering machine and check my messages frequently.  I asked to put an ad in the paper as soon as possible.  Then to pull her picture off of my website and put flyers at all the businesses in the area.  I specified the 2 gas stations and grocery store I knew to be in the area. 

I got directions to their house and went to look for her. When I got there, I only found a flyer on each side of their mailbox.  In bold letters it read: "Lost Corgi, Red and White Female, Liberty."  I drove the entire neighborhood giving my name and number to everyone I passed.  There were a lot of new houses being built.  I stopped at each construction site, asking the crews if they had seen her and showed them a photo.  No one had seen her.  Only one person told me they remembered someone looking for a dog earlier in the week. I searched the area for 2 ½ hours.  With the drive to and from the show site, put 250 miles on my Jeep that day.

At that point I had to go back to feed and turn out the dogs at the show site.  I went back to the show and tried to concentrate on the business at hand there.  To make matters worst, a storm front had moved in and the temperature dropped to the 20's with heavy thunderstorms and flash flooding. 

Sunday after the show, I searched the neighborhood again.  I stopped by the J's home to see if they had found her yet. That was when Mrs. J let it slip that Liberty had taken off the same night they brought her home.  Mr. J. told me that the neighbors had last seen her in the area on Friday.

They had only put up a flyer at the lower bottom corner of the grocery store bulletin board.  It had no photo or description, only Red and White Corgi.  A friend and I put up flyers at all the gas stations, businesses, churches and schools in the area, working our way towards my house.  I was pretty upset that I had to TELL him to put and ad in the paper.  Then they waited to do it, so it missed the Sunday paper, which everyone reads.

The J's are a 45-60 minutes drive from me.  I drove there everyday after work to search.  I would stop by their house to see if they had gotten any leads.  It seemed every time I would go by their house or call, they would be eating or watching TV.  Mr. J, would stand at the door, wiping his hands on a napkin and smacking his lips, making it clear I had "interrupted" their life.  Not a single time did they ask me in, offer me water or offer to help search for her.  I would get home about 10 PM each night.  I took flyers to the local post office for each of the mail carriers.  I had gone to or called the pound so many times I was on a first name basis there.  The J's lived on the border of 3 counties.  I placed an ad in each of those papers, as I didn't know which way she would have gone.

I got a call on Wednesday from someone that had seen a flyer.  She told me that she had almost hit her on Friday in front of a school 8 miles from where the J's lived.  The caller said she tried to catch her but she ran away.  I started putting flyers at that location and worked my way towards home.

By the next Sunday, Liberty had been missing for 11 days, I got a call from the J's that they had received 2 calls on the Ad.  She gave me the addresses, but hadn't got the names or phone numbers of the people that called.  Mrs. J told me that Mr. J had a migraine and didn't feel up to going over there.  All the three sightings were heading toward my house following the interstate.

I had been working some Comp Time and was in uniform when I got the call.  I went straight to the address where she had been seen within the hour. I found the house and talked to the family.  It started raining soon after I got there.  I walked the neighborhood until dark, calling her name, knocking on doors and checking in backyards for areas that she might have gone to get out of the weather.  After dark, I drove to the other caller's address and was told by the lady there, that she had seen Liberty on 2 different occasions.  She fed the strays in the neighborhood and thought maybe Liberty had figured out there was food there and would come back.

The direct route to my house was 27 miles.  Liberty was traveling a roundabout way to avoid traffic still following I-40.  So far she had traveled a total of 20.3 miles.  It was another 15 miles to my house on a direct route dealing with the intersections of 4 interstates.  My only hope was she would zone in on my boyfriend's house that was about a mile in the general direction that she was already going.  His dogs lived with me for over a year and I hoped she would smell them and head that way.

The next day, I wore the same T-shirt that I had worn the day before.  At lunch, I took the shirt and tied it to the fence where she was last spotted.  After work, I picked up Raquel, a dog that had been raised with Liberty.  We went back to the neighborhood.  I took her to pee in the yard, in hopes that Raquel's scent with the combination of my scent on the T-shirt would keep her in the area.

IT WORKED!!  Two days later, I received a call at 6:00AM from Becky, a lady where I had left the shirt.  Becky called me to say she had heard a combination howling-cry at the front door.  She had thought it was kids playing with her daughter who was getting ready for school.  When Becky opened the door, she saw Liberty sitting on the porch.  She called her name and Liberty took off.

I dropped what I was doing, called my boss to tell him I would be in when I could and drove like a maniac to her house.  It was a 30-minute drive; I made it in 20.  I searched the area, covering the local woods and along the interstate. 

About an hour later I started into an apartment complex in the area.  On my way up a small hill, I prayed to God to "just let me find her".  At that moment I saw a large patch of clover, right in the middle was a huge four-leafed clover.  I picked it and kissed it, as is my custom and looked up to see Liberty standing 10 feet away at the top of the hill.  I couldn't breath.  I found my voice, and called her name.  It was the first time in 14 days she had seen me.  She had been so traumatized by the whole thing she ran from ME.

About 1 1/2 hours later, I got a page from a woman saying she was in her back yard.  Luckily I was still in the area.  I drove to her house, 4 miles away.  There was a huge open hill behind her house.  When I called to Liberty, she ran again.  This time we could see and hear each other for a long way.  I quickly shouted, "No, Liberty, THIS WAY!"  She stopped and turned to look at me.  I used key phrases she was use to, like, "Cookie", "Let's' go" and "No, This Way".  It allowed her some time and space to figure out that THIS person might be okay. 

I kept calling her name, saying, "Good Girl, Let's go, Cookies."  She took about ten steps DOWN the hill and stopped.  At this point I was able to get a better control and not have such a tone of panic to my voice.  After a few more false starts down the hill, she finally realized who I was and came running to me.  I was crying and she was giving me big wet sloppy kisses all over my face.  I picked her up and held her as close as I could.

I thanked the woman and tried to giver her the reward.  She told me that she was an animal lover and was just glad that I had found my dog.  I went by Becky's to let her know I had found her and thanked her for calling me.  She told me how glad she was that I had found Liberty and that she could imagine what it would be like if she had lost her dogs.  She too refused the reward.

I figured out, based on the sightings she had travels at least 50 miles.  Liberty and I went straight to the Veterinarian's office.  She was checked over and found to be in excellent health.  She had a little diarrhea but considering she had been living on a diet of Road-Kill and who knows what else for 2 weeks, that it would correct itself with a proper diet.  Later, I did find 2 ticks, but no fleas.  I use Frontline and it had been 3 months since her last dose, so it worked well.

I had not charged the J's anything for her because I had THOUGHT it was an excellent situation.  Because they had not paid for her she had no value to them.  The lessons I have learned have been the hard way and Liberty suffered because if it. 

1. Be sure that you have a contract.  Cover EVERYTHING!!!
2. Be sure that you charge for the dog, no matter how good the placement situation
3. Have detailed instruction as to how the new home must handle the dog, i.e. leashed
    or fenced at all times.  Have these in DETAIL and bold print. (Just because the
    dog minds  you at your home very well, doesn't mean she will do the same in a new
    place  with strangers)
4. Have DETAILED instructions as to what to do if the dog gets lost. Include an
    alternate  number (I did not know Liberty was missing until the 3rd day. Their 
    excuse was they thought I was going to a dog show.  I have an answering machine
    with my a pager number given  When asked if they had run an ad in the paper,
    the reply was "We wanted to talk to you first".)
5. Finally, have some sort of damages clause to cover the expenses of recovering the
    dog.    Hopefully you will never have to use it

The ending of my story is, after 150 flyers, Ads in 3 newspapers, 4 tanks of gas, over 40 hours of searching, not to mention lack of sleep and unknown miles.  I FOUND Liberty 14 days from her disappearance We were lucky.  We reunited and other than her losing about 7 pounds and wearing her toe nails to the quick, she was fine.  Dirty, but fine.  She got a bath and a good meal and we both had a restful night sleep for the first time in 2 weeks.  I learned how much we loved each other and how much we would be will go through to be reunited.  Liberty adjusted to our new schedule in Bilox, MS quickly,