This morning was one of the most terrifying experiences of my life. Within a short 30-minute timeframe, I was shaking, crying and freaking out.
Thank God, everything turned out okay.
This little lady gave me and Ryan quite a fright.
At 5 a.m., right after our alarm went off, Ryan let Sadie outside to go to the bathroom.
As you may remember, our new house is located on three acres. The land is unfenced, but we didn’t think this would be a problem because Sadie is very much a true vizsla in that she is a “velcro dog.” She never lets me or Ryan out of her sight and typically stays within 200 yards of us.
Well, this morning, in the pitch black, Sadie went out to pee and when Ryan called her in, she didn’t come.
I heard him call her a few times as I was changing in our bedroom, and when I came out, he said he couldn’t see Sadie and she wasn’t coming when he called her.
I looked around and called her as well. It was pitch black and the lights of our house only lit up the land close by. Ryan ran inside to get his phone for some light since all of our powerful flashlights are still in storage.
My heart started to race.
I ran around our backyard, close to the nearby woods and headed out to the front of our house to check the streets.
Nothing.
I called and called for Sadie.
I then pulled Ryan’s car out of the garage to use his headlights to light up more of our backyard.
Panic took over when I saw nothing.
I drove the car out of our neighborhood with the worst feeling in the world in my stomach. I prayed and prayed.
I drove along the street behind the trees that back up to our backyard praying I wouldn’t see anything.
I didn’t.
I made a u-turn and headed back home, keeping my high beams on for any sign of our little girl.
Again, nothing.
It was then that I started to worry that an animal got her. There are bears and coyotes in Ocala (seriously!) and my mind was going a mile a minute.
I turned down our street to head back home to continue to search with Ryan. I saw him walking around towards our driveway. When he saw me he started waving the light on his phone dramatically.
I rolled down the window.
“DID YOU FIND HER!?”
“YES!”
Relief rushed through my body and I broke down. I started crying and crying. Ryan hugged me and we and hurried inside where I tackled Sadie with all the love in the world.
The 25 minutes Sadie was missing felt like an eternity. I felt frantic and helpless. My heart was filled with the most intense longing to see Sadie’s smiling puppy face and feel her warm kisses on my face.
Seeing her wiggly little body inside our house – safe – was the best feeling in the entire world.
I don’t think I’ll be leaving her side for the rest of the day. And she will now be on a leash whenever we let her out to do her business at night.
Regular blogging will resume momentarily, but right now this is all I can think about.
I know this post may seem extremely dramatic to some, but to those of you who have an animal (or person!!!) in your life that you love more than anything, hug them a little tighter this morning. I got a very tiny taste of what it would feel like to lose Sadie and I am so grateful everything turned out okay.
![\"Quantcast\"/](\"//pixel.quantserve.com/pixel/p-1e3-7hOJ_U8Bg.gif\")
Oh gosh I can only imagine the scare you guys were in 🙁 I love my poopies and I’d be so hurt if one of them disappeared <3
Ugh, that is by far the worst feeling! I’m glad Sadie is ok 🙂
I swear, sometimes I wonder what I’ll do when I have children. I can’t imagine worrying like that every time I let them out of the house alone.
oh gosh, i know.
My cat got outside once and I seriously broke down as school infront of my kids and said that ‘my kitty is missing, please be nice to me…’ It was THE WORST! The husband took off work to search for him. No worries, found the cat
So, I hear you. My heart broke for you but I am SO glad she is okay!!!
I have “relief tears” in my eyes. Thank you Lord! I have been there and it is truly terrifying…we found our pup too!! So thankful she is back where she belongs!! Make it a great day!
I feel you! I live in PA. Hurricane Irene came through Saturday night and my little beagle got out. We searched the streets of our small city for hours and couldn’t find her. The only reason we came back was because the rain and wind were just too much for us. We kept searching the next day. Our neighbors would say that they say her but there are so many alleyways and spaces between houses that she could be anywhere. My husband decided to leave the gate open in our back yard just in case. Sunday evening we went to go take another walk to look for her. The hubby went to lock the back door and there she was in our back yard! I’ve never been so relieved! But trust me…A LOT of tears flowed in that 24 hour period.
wow. 24 hours!? i was dying for 30 min. you poor thing. i’m so glad she was okay.
I 1000% feel your pain. Our little April ran away the first night we had her. We chased her through traffic for about 15 minutes before we caught her. She’s gotten away a few more times since then, and luckily, each time we’ve some how gotten her back. Her corgi-ness causes her to run, and her german shepherd-ness helps to run FAST!! Thank goodness we’ve got caught her every time, but we cannot have open doors at our house.
I’m so happy that you got her back!! Just breathe and try not to think about all of the bad things that could have happened. (Easier said than done!)
Definitely keep her on a leash if you can. I know it is a pain, but when you have coyotes, it is better to be safe! There are coyotes in my parents’ town and they ate our cat (this was awhile ago-when I was growing up but there is still a coyote problem). Anyway, whenever I take out my parents’ dog now, I ALWAYS put him on a leash. They have a big yard and he likes to take off after squirrels, other dogs, pretty much anything and after the cat incident, I am always afraid he won’t come back. My family always makes fun of me for putting him on a leash just to go out but I am paranoid about it! Not telling you this to scare you, but just to let you know those coyotes are no joke! I’m glad Sadie is okay.
scary! i remember reading about jessica simpson’s dog being taken by a coyote. so freaky!
I would be flipping out! My pets are my world and I desperately worry when I can’t find one of them even for a few minutes. I am so glad you got her back safe and sound!
I would have FREAKED OUT. Stay close to her today!
So glad you found her! Totally scary!!!
Poor Sadie and poor you & Ryan! That is really about the scariest thing ever. I don’t even know what I would have done. So glad it all worked out!
The same thing happened to us one day. We let our dog out to do her business in the backyard, and the gardener must have left the fence door open because she escaped to the front yard and beyond. Luckily, she is a VERY well-behaved dog and actually only meandered over to the neighbour’s house BUT she was covered by the tall hedges and so we couldn’t see her. An hour of driving around the block in TEARS ensued until our neighbour kindly returned the pup. Very terrifying indeed.
girl my heart was beating so fast reading this post! so glad you found her!
Oh my gosh, that is SO scary. I guess you were definitely awake after that, yikes! Maybe if you just work with her to get her trained to never leave a certain portion of the yard, she will be okay without a leash after awhile. Gahhhh Sadie!
been there quite a few times actually.
when we first got princess I was walking her in the backyard when she saw a squirrel. she took off leaving me on the ground crying. when she saw how upset I was, she came back 🙂
then there was the time she got out of the backyard and my grandma and the mail lady went chasing her down the street. I didn’t find out about it until she was safe and sound, but I felt really bad for my grandma.
she took off after a deer in the poconos one morning. she was gone for about an hour. she must have gotten hungry because she found her way back on her own.
buffy got out once and went in my neighbor’s backyard. she’s not as adventurous, but we had just got her, so I didn’t know that. I was kinda a crying mess begging her to come back with me. She thought I was playing 😛
one time they both got out and ran down to the elementary school as it was letting out. by the time my dad got there, they had created a big traffic jam and were absolutely terrified. they hopped right into my dad’s car, lol.
Princess passed away over a year ago and I don’t live with Buffy anymore, but I still have nightmares where they get out and run around on the busy street.
Oh my goodness, yes, thinking that you have lost a pet is the WORST feeling! So glad she is home safe!
Oh …. WORST FEELING IN THE WORLD! That has happened to me before (both with my lil kitty and our family dog). The relief afterwards is literally the biggest rush of “OMG” that you will ever feel. It’s like physically living through the saying “hindsight is 20/20” which is such a strange place to be! But it seriously is ….. you could see what your life would be like without her and yet now you have her back. The appreciation felt is like NO OTHER! Hang in there …. times like those will help you to create new standards/rules ie; leash her up at night, etc … which you are doing 🙂 Oh I feel for you Julie! Just love Sadie SO much today … and you will start to feel less freaked … promise! 🙂
Similar thing happened with Clifford, he was just gone. No where to be found, I was freaking out. We find him an hour later laying on a neighbors couch. He got in their house somehow and just made himself at home.
Oh my gosh 🙁 My heart would drop too!!! It’s so scary when that happens. I use to live with four other people during one of my years in college and some of them weren’t very responsible or thoughtful. Well, they had some friends over from out of town and they had left the front door open and Matilda (my little pup) went out! We lived in a city right on a busy road so she couldn’t just gotten hit! I screamed her name like a cave man lol–Mommy instincts came out. Another time I came home and Matilda was nowhere in sight. I mean nowhere. I was gone for a couple hours so I was like… oh my gosh. Who knows where she could be!! I called one of my roommates crying that Matilda wasn’t there, and she was like “OHHHH my gosh! She’s with me! I went to our friends’ house and I’m so sorry I forgot to tell you.” I was not mad or upset at all after she told me that. In fact, I was so relieved!!!!
I’m so glad you found your Sadie <3
XOXO!
Oh my goodness! I had tears in my eyes reading that! I am so glad she’s ok! I am the same way about my boys. They are everything to me so I can totally relate to your panic. Phew, so glad she’s ok!!
So glad you found her! We have this http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.jsp?productId=11024028&lmdn=Dog+Collars%2C+Tags+%26amp%3B+Leashes
Our black lab loves playing in our front yard when we are outside with our daughter but he will run away the first second we are not watching, so we bought one of these. 🙂
So glad to see that I was not the only one who was almost in tears reading this! I can’t imagine Joby going missing, it would be awful! (luckily he is right here wiggling and showing my his fave toy as I type this). Doggies are just the best.
Ahh I’m so sorry you had to go through that. Our dog has ran off chasing a rabbit before and we searched the streets for a good 20 minutes looking for him. It’s the worst feeling when your dog is your life. We had an invisible fence at our previous house and it was great! Our dog only needed to be shocked twice and he knew exactly where the line was and not to cross it. To make it more affordable you can buy it and install it yourself. The line and system were about $200 at Lowe’s and then we rented a wire digger thing..not sure what it’s called, but it puts the wire in the ground for you and covers the wire back up. Definitely worth the time and effort though!
I know just how you feel!! My cat was missing for 3 weeks this summer and we looked everywhere for him. I had written him off when an elderly woman in the other end of town (about 5 km away) called us and said that Teddi (the cat) had spent the night on her sofa. I have never been so relieved in my entire life and I wouldn’t let him out of my sight the entire day.
So glad she came home safe!
I know how you feel my animals are pretty much my babies. I get so upset when they are sick too not knowing what the cause could be.
We have a boxer and took him camping for the first time deep in the woods this summer, with lots of bears and other creatures I was totally freaked out the whole time, worried everytime he ran into the forest that something would get him, but really he thought he was protecting our site by checking the perimeter and following me everywhere i went. I guess we look out for each other 🙂
I’m so sorry you had to go through that. Your response most definitely does not seem overdramatic, not in the slightest. It breaks my heart every time I hear a story about a pet going missing, be thankful that it was only a half hour you couldn’t find her and not more. I’m so happy for you that Sadie is okay, it’s so horrible to think that something could happen to such a valued member of a family.
Gosh, what a story!
I’m happy you found her ok, maybe she wanted to explore her new environment and got lost because of the darkness. Maybe she didn’t realize she went far from you.
OH MY GOSH! My heart hurts for what you went through this morning! I have been there!!! When our dog Ernie was a puppy (about 8 months), my husband was visiting his parents in Illinois and his mom went outside and didn’t realize Ernie followed her out. So a few minutes later they were all looking for Ernie and couldn’t find him ANYWHERE. They looked for hours and couldn’t find him. They drove all over the neighborhood and the surrounding neighborhood and Ernie was no where to be found. My husband eventually called and told me and I was devastated. I was far away and couldn’t do anything but cry and pray. After several hours of looking, my father in law saw the neighbor’s dog (a lab named SADIE!!) running up the street and he yelled for her to come home. And when Sadie came back up the street, guess who was following her?! Ernie!! They realized that Ernie had gone into the neighbor’s garage when he got out and the neighbors didn’t realize it and they left and shut the garage door and Ernie was locked in the garage the WHOLE TIME! So when the neighbors came home and opened the garage door, Sadie and Ernie both ran out and were up the street! Normally Sadie wouldn’t have run off but of course she was following her little boyfriend Ernie!!! It was the most relief I have EVER felt.
oh my gosh!!! so crazy! what a cute little duo.
I can totally relate to this fear. I am always freaking out that one of my dogs is going to get loose. Each time the front door is opened by anyone in my family, I make sure it is completely shut so that niether of them can escape!
Yikes! How scary! So glad you found her!
So glad Sadie is okay! I had a similar situation that ended in disaster with my dog being hit by a car and dying. It was one of the most painful moments of my life. I still burst into tears thinking about it. I’m glad we still have Sadie pics to look forward to!
30 minutes is a LONG time to have your adrenaline pumping! I think crying was a good relief for you!
My dog loves being chased. To her, it’s a game. However, it’s no longer a game for us when she runs into the street! (Gah!) It was the absolute worst, gut-wrenching experience. And then when we caught her, she had a look like, “What’d I do wrong?”
OMG I would be freaking out, I totally understand your panic. They are family!!!
I have two cats right now (hoping for a dog soon), they are indoors only but if they somehow got out I would have a panic attack.
So glad Sadie is home safe.
Julie, that is so terrifying, I’m glad Sadie is fine! Yesterday I let Dexter out into our backyard, which is fenced, but came down 20 minutes later to find the gate open and no sign of Dexter. It’s crazy how scary those situations really can be! Luckily our neighbors had lured him to them with some chicken, but every thought about what could have happened to him went through my head in those few minutes!
Julie! This gave me goosebumps! I am SO SO glad Sadie is ok! Take your time recovering–that’s a serious jolt! XO
I don’t think you are overreacting at all! Sadie is like your child! So glad you found her! 🙂
Ahhh dont apologize for being dramatic at all. Losing a pet for any period of time is simply heartbreaking. One time we couldn’t find my precious Liberty, a black Lab and when we saw the front door and been blown open by the wind we feared the worst. We spent an hour yelling at each other, running and driving around our neighborhood and planning how to explain this to our other dog, Remy. All of sudden we heard a yelp. In the house. Liberty had been locked in my mom’s walk-in-closet the whole time. We all shed a tear of happiness, even my father!
i absolutely love the name “remy.” so adorable! and i’m so glad liberty was okay!
Very scary!! I’m so glad she is ok…and not silly at all!!! Our dogs are our children and they mean the world to us!!!
This gave me goosebumps! I can’t even imagine what you were feeling. We love our puppies like they are our children and if anything were to happen to them I don’t know what I would do.
I am so, so happy your little Sadie is alright. 🙂
Not dramatic at all! I would have acted in the same way! I am so glad you found Sadie!
I got chills and teared up for you and Ryan as I read this. I remember the one time the two dogs I grew up with got out of our fenced in backyard. I was frantically calling for them up and down the streets. Finally they heard and/or saw me and came tearing down the street to me and tackled me. It was so scary so I can definitely imagine what y’all went through. Glad she’s ok!
What a naughty girl! You’ll have to put some fences up 🙂
And it isn’t silly at all to get upset over pets- they’re part of the family too.
Not dramatic at all! What a terrifying feeling to think your dog is gone!
I wish I had a “velcro dog,” but my dog Thea is the exact opposite. She has gotten away from us just a few times, and it’s been by sheer dumb luck that we’ve been able to get her back immediately. She’s a runner, and she just takes off. The worst was when her leash released and she took off running…right across Main Street, aka a busy highway that is the main road through our town. She almost got clipped by a car. I don’t think I’ve ever run that fast in my life as a chased her down. Luckily, about a block and a half away, there was a young girl walking her dog, and Thea was just too curious not to stop. The girl tried to shoo Thea away, but I screamed like a maniac to keep her there. I’ve never been so shaken up in my life. That was probably about four years ago, and I’m still super tense walking her.
Sadie is your baby, and clearly you and Ryan love her more than anything. If you weren’t so scared, I’d worry about your fitness as a doggie parent 😉 I’m so glad that everything was alright, and I hope you never have a scare like that again. I’ll be sure to give my pups a little extra love tonight 🙂
So glad Sadie is safe and unharmed!
With my two fur-babies definitely being part of our family, I totally understand!!
I don’t think this is dramatic at all! Sadie is a family member and any rational person would react that same way that you did if a member of their family went missing!!
I can imagine how your heart must have been in your throat during the time that Sadie was gone. We’ve had our dogs “escape” our fenced in yard – or out the front door – but we’ve usually had an eye on them and it would turn into a game of cat and mouse.
So glad Sadie is safe and sound!
Oh my! Very scary morning indeed! Where did Ryan end up finding her?
I have had a few of those moments in my life and it’s not something I would like to go through again. Like Sadie my family’s dogs have been hunting breeds and they’re supposed to use their nose since my dad does hunt with them. Since we live in the country and our dogs have always been outside dogs they sometimes follow their nose off into a field and aren’t visible so when you go to check on them they’re MIA and you have no clue where to look. Thankfully they come back when they decide that no one is coming to see what they’ve found with their nose.
he found her right at our back porch door when he came around to the back of the house after searching the front. thank goodness!
Sooo happy you found her Julie and that she’s ok!!! If my cat or dog was missing for any period of time I would be hysterical as well!! So glad everything turned out ok!
Totally not overdramatic. My cat once wanted to go outside so badly that she jumped off our second floor balcony! We live on a busy street and I was in tears frantically running around the neighbour like a crazy person calling her like a crazy lady and shaking her bag of treats. I called like everyone I knew to come help me look for hours!
There was no way she could come back by herself since we live on a second floor apartment and I was sure she was gone forever. Luckily, by the time I got back to the apartment, I found her in the little yard of the apartment below us playing with the golden retreiver that lives there. She couldn’t resist jumping down to make a friend! Now she has a USB drive w/ all of her info attached to her collar and a super bright collar with a loud bell, although I don’t think I’ll ever make the mistake of letting her escape again. 😉
I’m so glad Sadie was okay and that she came back on her own. <3
I don’t usually comment (I’m a faithful lurker!), but I can totally relate to this post. I’m so so so glad you found Sadie!!!! Our pups are our family!
We actually had a similar situation 2 weeks ago. Our 6 month old chihuahua was lost for 3 days. It was the worst, most stressful 3 days of my life. And somehow, someway he found his way back! I’m still in disbelief – it’s really amazing how smart our animals are. 🙂
Hug Sadie extra tight today.
wow! three days!? you poor thing. so happy to hear your dog was safe!
Aww glad to hearBthat she made it back! My dog ran away a couple times and we ended up getting her back from the pound :-/luckily she wasn’t missing for long though