Last night I went out the basement back door with Darwin but came in the front door. In an astonishing feat of ADDedness I forgot all about the back door still wide open. Darwin either smelled the air or remembered, headed downstairs and and ran off into he forest. I thought he was sleeping on our bed! I didn't even realize he'd gone till Rob got home and didn't get his usual ecstatic greeting. By that time he'd had about an hours head start. .
This all was doubly compounded by the fact that the night before we found out that Darwin's tags had been pulled off--we found the jump ring which had been pulled into a wide C shape and the tags on the floor. We didn't have a replacement ring, so put off putting them back on his collar. So, although he had a microchip, Darwin was without tags! I imagined people finding him and taking him home with them to keep. I imagined EVIL people finding him and taking him home to keep. I imagined Animal control people finding him and not scanning him. I imagined car hits and coyotes--I did a lot of imagining. PLUS, It was all MY FAULT.
We ran out into the woods (Rob much faster than me) we tracked him by sound but night was quickly falling. It was becoming deep twilight and I was having a hard time seeing where I was going. Realizing that unlike Rob I had no idea where I was, I turned back early enough that I could still see the path. I jumped (okay, panted and limped) into the car and took off for the Farm Park. Rob saw him and almost caught him but by this time Darwin was in his crazy zone--maniacally sniffing, snuffling, whining and baying--all while running away from Rob. We regrouped at the house and discovered we didn't have the faintest clue where our flashlights were.
I drove around the farm park turning off the engine and calling for him with no luck. Rob called the microchip people, Listed him on Craigs list and then ran to CVS and got a flashlight.
I stayed home compulsively cleaning and Rob--who knows the forest--went out to try and find him again. He almost caught up with him at the bridge but this time was so far ahead for most of it he was out of reach. He called me and said "He's at the bridge" and I headed off only realizing half way I didn't know which bridge he was talking about! There's a street bridge and a forrest bridge. I went to both and didn't see/hear them either time. I turned back to the street bridge and picked up Rob walking home. He had seen Darwin just enough so know that he was off chasing deer and had gone under the street via the bridge. Knowing he was across the street and nearing other streets scared us even more.
The area around us still has large tracts of land--the farm park, farms and some mansions. We drove around and could hear him baying sometimes far off in the distance but never found him and weren't sure we could get to him even if we knew where he was (although mentally I was prepared to drive across people's yards if I had to). We saw some people who had seen him but no luck. Around 11, I took Rob--who had to work the next day--home and drove around a little looking and listening. Eventually I gave up and came home. Neither of us could sleep and about 2 am we heard him begin to bay outside the house. He was wet and cold--shivering--and dirty. Sooooo tired. I had wondered if he'd end up sleeping outside--it's still chilly at night--the answer was no. Smelt a bit like sewage (creek water) and was falling asleep as he laid down. We got him dryer and wrapped him in blankets and towels.
Today, he's so tired and sore--I think his feet are sore as well as his muscles--I was outside cleaning off the carport and when I came inside he jumped off the couch and did his greeting thing sort of slow motion and not very loud on tender feet. I am going to give him a bath today. Do I think he learnt his lesson? No. This is instinct.
Today I'm looking into wireless fences and obedience training.
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