Looking for Shadow

Here is a bad thing about living in the country. People dump their unwanted pets in our neighborhood. We are fortunate that we live at the end of a 1.5 mile dirt road, so it is a hassle for someone to be coming up all this way to get rid of their dog or cat. But a number of our neighbors have taken in some of these animals.

The day before yesterday I saw a dog being sniffed out by Shawna in the front yard, and I hoped it was one of the neighbor dogs as it ran off in that direction. In the afternoon I saw it again close by and tried to call it, but it ran off again. During a ride out with my friend Carol I mentioned that I had seen a heeler-type dog around and asked whether it might have been Rio, her dog, who, bless his canine heart, is a follower of this blog. But Rio spends his time at home, and not roaming the neighborhood. However, Carol had been told about a missing dog by another friend. And, this is how word travels out here, I got a call from someone who knew the owners of the missing dog, with a phone number.

Apparently Shadow, the wanderer, had taken off when his owner took a spill on a walk near the Stronghold almost 2 weeks ago, and naturally her owners are distraught. The chances of survival out here are slim as we have several coyote packs that would have no trouble with a 40 pound dog. The coyotes seem very well fed this year though, and our rabbit population appears to have dwindled considerably. Hopefully, Shadow would have been able to stay out of their path. As for water, it is available in our front yard day and night for all manners of animals and birds.

This morning on the daily walk I called for Shadow a couple of times, but the only answer I got was howling from the coyotes. It made my hair stand on end. After breakfast we took Bueno and Cody out and went looking for Shadow some more, but found no sign.



Right now her owners are out there hiking around; I do so hope they find her.