My neighbor lost her dog today and I can still hear her out there crying and calling for it.

[moobu2]

She's completely hysterical. She said she was walking the little Chihuahua around her couple of wooded acres, got distracted for a second, and never saw Tricksy again. Another neighbor said he thought he saw someone stop on the road and pick Tricksy up. Poor thing.

[bigwillq]

1. Oh no!

:(

I have a Chihuahua. Such awesome dogs. :(

Anyone in the neighborhood doing anything to help? Any witnesses get any type of info? A car? Description of the person who picked the dog up?

[kimi]

2. Aw, that's sad

I think most pet owners know the pain of losing a beloved pet, either through death or physically losing them by their being lost or stolen. If she goes through the ordeal - and it IS an ordeal, but well worth it, IMO - of doing the shelter/flyer/searching thing, she may well find Tricksy, or at least give herself the comfort of knowing she did all she could.

One of my cats got out of my house several years ago. The kids and I searched for over a month, did all of the above for over a month, and she was eventually turned in to the shelter and we were immediately notified, cause we'd haunted the place for so long. She was half her size, and we barely recognized her, but she was FOUND.

Best wishes to your neighbor and Tricksy, my heart goes out to both of them.

[Biker13]

3. Please, Tell Your Neighbor..

that there are total strangers on the internet whose hearts are breaking for her tonight!

I hope you post tomorrow with some good news!

Biker's Old Lady

[Name removed]

4. Deleted message

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[TorchTheWitch]

5. this is what a leash is for

No dog should ever be walking off leash if it isn't trained to stay with you. I don't really ever understand how anyone manages to lose a dog. Seems to me if you really love the dog you'd make sure it was always safe.

I can't work up sympathy for people who won't do the bare ass minimum to keep their dog under their control and safe. Frankly, as an owner that's the prime responsibility.

I feel terrible for the poor dog. The owner - no.

[Bunny]

7. Wow. Your compassion is stunning.

You are a true humanitarian. :patriot:

[TorchTheWitch]

16. I care about the poor dog not the jackass that "lost" it

by being so fucking uncaring and irresponsible to not have even BOTHERED keeping their dog under control and safe which is their PRIME responsibility as a dog owner.

Fuck such shitheaded humans. Humans are the most evil rotten selfish greedy mammals there are and I save my compassion for the precious few humans that are deserving of any. Maybe the idea that humans are always worthy of compassion just because they're humans no matter how shitty they are is how humans got to be the worst of the worst to begin with.

[MiddleFingerMom]

20. I hope you find a way to love yourself simply for being a human...

.
.
.
...then maybe you will have some left over for others.
.
.
.
A human being so lost and afraid is even sadder than a little dog being so.
.
.
.

[redwitch]

26. My thought too.

Jeez.

[Bunny]

23. You seem to be living a miserable and sad life.

I hope it's just temporary, and you soon regain your equilibrium and rejoin the rest of us mere mortals. :hug:

[RebelOne]

11. How do you know the dog was not on a leash?

i have a Chihuahua that is always on a leash. But a few times I dropped it by accident. It can happen. Fortunately, my dog won't run away.

[TorchTheWitch]

17. how the hell do you drop a leash by accident???

Why the hell are you not always wrapping it around your hand or at the bare ass minimum sticking your hand through the loop at your end???

The whole POINT to a leash is to ALWAYS keep the dog attached to you when using the leash. You've even gone through the "accident" of dropping the leash more than once and STILL haven't figured out not only the purpose of the leash but how easy it is to not be ABLE to drop it by "accident"???

WTF???

[RebelOne]

21. It's a retractable leash. Can't wrap it around my hand.

If you don't believe, me go to PetsMart and test one.

[RebelOne]

27. Also, wanted to add that you are an ass!!

[Kali]

12. wtf?

ever hear the phrase "shit happens?"

[TorchTheWitch]

15. yeah, and unfortunately shit happens a LOT

And it does because of grossly irresponsible dog owners who care so little about their dog that they won't even BOTHER keeping it under control and safe. No, I have no compassion whatsoever for a stupid dog owner that cares so little about their dog that they can so easily "lose" it by not having it leashed when out walking or at least having it trained to stay with them at all times when you are and paying attention at all times to what the dog is doing when not physically tied to them. My compassion is for the poor dogs with such stupid uncaring irresponsible owners that care so little about them that it doesn't even occur to them to be responsible enough to keep the obvious from happening.

[demforall1]

14. flawless

[alphafemale]

18. wow welcome to DU. And where did you get that shirt?

must.

have.

[TorchTheWitch]

19. and your point is? n/t

[laylah]

6. How sad!

:cry:

[jme0318]

8. A bratty neighbor boy let my dog go...

My dog is deaf - so as I was hysterically calling for him - I realized he wasn't going to hear me! I went over to that kids house and told his father that he had been at my house earlier petting Swifty (my dog) and now he was gone! It was on the 4th of July. I did find Swifty - he was in my neighbors yard with a look on his face like "I've never been this far by myself before - there's so many other trees!"... I yell at that kid every time I see him!

I did some heavy drinking that evening for the fireworks...

[Pool Hall Ace]

29. As someone who is crazy about dogs --

and not so crazy about kids -- particulary bratty ones -- I am so happy for you that you were able to find Swifty! :D

And for the OP -- please take the suggestions that others have posted. I am hoping that Tricksy is located soon, safe and sound! :hug:

[warrior1]

9. has she put up any signs?

Maybe the person who picked up the dog will see them.

[KurtNYC]

24. or others will recognize the dog if they see it with this other person

good luck to her

how agonizing

[InvisibleTouch]

10. There's a huge network out there to help find lost dogs.

There are lots of lost pet sites, as well as mailing lists that get sent out all over the country.

Have your neighbor go online and look for sites where she can post a notice. Don't overlook your local CraigsList (but beware of scammers who may call and say they have the dog and demand a ransom payment). Go to YahooGroups.com and look for the K9AmberAlert group, which sends notices nationwide. There is also a "missing small dogs" group or list, though I'm sorry I don't have a direct link to it. A Google search will surely turn it up, though.

Again beware of people contacting her to say "I'll track down your dog for a fee." These are either straight-out scammers or parasites.

Definitely post flyers with the dog's picture and contact info around the neighborhood, and in stores or any pet-related businesses (vets, shelters, pet stores, etc.)

It's a horrible situation to be in, but I hear about lots of happy endings too.

[Kali]

13. agree

I posted a happy ending story a couple weeks ago - I'll hunt for it.

edit: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=105&topic_id=9641325
OMG I forgot one of the dogs I found was named Trixie too!

[lukasahero]

25. Don't forget Twitter and Facebook, too

We've been looking for 2 puppies that were dumped after 9 were stolen from a shelter and the Racebook response has been astounding (leading, in part, to the recovery of the other 7 stolen puppies). Very little investment, often huge rewards.

[old mark]

22. A neighbor of ours opened her front door to get her mail, and one of her dogs ran out and was killed

by a car...We never let our dog alone, and never walk him without a leash...there were dogs stolen around here from their owner's yards, and I am afraid they were used for dog fighting.


mark

[peacefreak]

28. So sad for your neighbor.

Something similar happened to a friend of mine. Has she contacted the animal control in your area?

[Skittles]

30. go talk to her, offer to help