Today has been more than exciting for us at the rescue ranch. In fact, it was almost too much excitement than my old ticker could bear and I had to knock for Angels more than once. I will try to condense what happened, but it will be difficult, because so much has happened.
This morning the nicest woman called me and she left a message, on Carlton, about seeing Miss Dee's picture on utopia rescue.com and instantly falling in love with her and wanting to adopt her. In fact, last night she also left a comment on my last post, which I didn't post, because I wanted to talk to Tony about it, before returning her call this morning.
After Tony did his morning chores outside I talked to him about the nice woman and her family wanting to adopt Miss Dee, while cooking him breakfast—two eggs over-medium and a toasted English muffin.
"Tony, I know that we promised Roger and Mary that we would not adopt them out separately, but this is Miss Dee's chance for a great home and it would make Mr. Rogers more adoptable, too...." He understood my logic, but suggested we ask them about doing a trial separation to see how they reacted, before officially adopting out Miss Dee.
So, after our long discussion, I called Mrs. C. (all names to remain annonymous). I explained the situation and asked if they would consider adopting both of our dogs, but she declined, because they have a sweet, elderly, blind, deaf dog to care for. And that made perfectly good sense to me, because Mr. Rogers is way too protective of Miss Dee in which case he might wind up hurting their family pet or worse.
We continued to talk some more and she understood the situation and agreed that if either Miss Dee or Mr. Rogers was unhappy about being separated—her family would happily return Miss Dee, so the dogs could be reunited. Then we decided on what time she and her family should come out to meet Miss Dee this afternoon.
Around 12:30, our dear friend, Maribeth, came over to eat lunch with us, because she was over at the Lodge baby-sitting The Friedmans for Kinky. I cooked us meatloaf, spinach, beans with cornbread and it was good enough and all of us did a lot of laughing while catching up on each others news.
Now for the excitement part. It was a little past 1:00 when Mrs. C, Mr. J and their beautiful daughter, arrived. I told Tony and Maribeth that I could handle it and that I would return shortly. But that was a lie.
The minute that I met this fabulous family I was more than impressed with them, because they were so nice, friendly and big time animal lovers and they were both probably in their mid-thirties.
After greetings, I suggested we take Miss Dee for a long walk, so she could get to know this impressive dog-loving family. And to say the least—they couldn't wait to take her walking.
When we reached Mr. Rogers' & Miss Dee's pen, I went inside and leashed up Miss Dee and took her out, even though Mr. Rogers wanted to go, too. I handed the leash to Mrs. C and then all of us took off.
When we walked past the gate entrance, a dog ran past us and then abruptly stopped, turned around and came running towards Miss Dee and tried to bite her. "No Whiskey!" I said. "Get back! Omg, she must have jumped over the fence! I am really sorry about this. I think I had better take the leash and y'all better stay back..."
As this super nice family stood back, Whiskey kept trying to get into it with Miss Dee, but Miss Dee was acting submissive while I demanded that Whiskey back-off.
Whiskey ignored my demands until our three donkeys and my horse Maya appeared—then she took off chasing Roy and Gabby, our two donkeys, while Maya and Little Jewford, our miniature donkey raced off. Roy and Gabby kicked several times at Whiskey and they even charged her, but Whiskey continued to chase them. "Y'all, let's get back inside the rescue ranch and close the gate, so Whiskey can't get back in here and hurt Miss Dee."
Mr. J immediately grabbed the gate and quickly swung it closed and held it tight. Then I climbed between the gate and the post, that had a narrow opening, so I could block Whiskey from getting back inside the rescue ranch. "We need for Tony to get out here," I said. "This is a real rodeo and somebody could get hurt. Then I asked Mrs. C if she would go up to the trailer to get Tone.
A few minutes later, she returned. "Mrs. C why don't you and your daughter and Miss Dee follow me to a dog pen, so all of y'all will be safe from Whiskey." A minute later, the three of them were inside the small, escape proof dog pen we have. As I heard Kermit crank up, I said, "Tony's coming! The lock for this pen is gone, so please keep pressure on the gate, so Whiskey can't open the gate and get to Miss Dee. Don't worry everything is going to be alright."
When Tony and Kermit pulled up, Mr. J swung the gate open for Tony. "You need to catch Whiskey! She tried to attack Miss Dee and now she's chasing the donkeys and they could kill her!" Tony floored Kermit and took off chasing Whiskey, who the donkeys were now chasing. "I hope Whiskey doesn't get hurt...." I said, to Mr. J, as we watched Tony chasing Whiskey who was now chasing the donkeys. "Whiskey came with that name and I hate it," I said. "A horse trainer brought her to us, because the woman thought the horses might kill Whiskey."
Then we saw Kermit and Tony chasing Whiskey back towards the rescue ranch. Mr. J opened the gate, so she would run inside, so we could finally catch her.
Seconds later, Whiskey flew past us, into the rescue ranch with Tony and Kermit hot on her trail. Then Mr. J quickly closed the gate behind us, so Whiskey would not be able to escape. Five minutes later, Whiskey walked up to Mr. J and he held her in place, while Tony slipped a leash around her neck and took her to a nearby pen, before returning back to The Cabin, to visit some more with Maribeth.
"Mr. J, you're a real dog whisperer. Thanks for helping catch her. I'm real sorry about the rodeo that just happened. And I'm so glad that no one got hurt. Now let's go on that walk with Miss Dee."
This great family walked and jogged with Miss Dee for over an hour. She sat down with them and rested and shook hands with them, too. So, I felt absolutely great about them trying Miss Dee out for a few days, to see how Mr. Rogers and Miss Dee handled their separation and if their family dog and her would get along.
Late this afternoon, Mr. J called to tell me some sad, very scary news and his family felt absolutely horrible about it. Miss Dee had been fine, before she slipped out of her leash, bolted out the gate and ran off. I told him that both of us should call the Pound immediately to alert them and then I suggested that they post pictures all over their neighborhood.
It was two minutes past 5:00, when I called Mrs. C, "Tony and I are fixin' to come to Kerrville to help look for Miss Dee. If she hears our truck she might come running to us..." Then we took off in Trigger.
While Tony drove us, as fast as the law would allow, I was knocking for Angels and saying several silent prayers, in hopes that we might somehow find Miss Dee. We kept our eyes peeled on Highway 16, because Tony was convinced that Miss Dee would try to find her way back to the rescue ranch to be back with Mr. Rogers.
I suggested that we go back to the Methodist Encampment neighborhood, where she had escaped from, but Tony had his own idea—take 16 to Main Street and turn left, heading towards the neighborhood.
As we were driving down Junction Highway, in the right hand lane, past Walmart, then Wendys I saw Miss Dee run past us on the same side of the road. "There's Miss Dee! Tony stop, so I can try to go get her!" Then a black SUV, in front of us pulled off the side of the road, just as Tony pulled off the road with our emergency flasher lights blinking.
I then jumped out of Trigger with a leash and hollered for her, but Miss Dee kept on running like she didn't know me. When Tony saw me following after her, he made a U-turn and headed back towards Walmart. Then this woman, in the black SUV hollered, "Is that your dog!"
I hollered as loud as I could, "Yes, please help us!"
"I'm trying to!" Then she spun off to catch up with Trigger.
While I'm walking as fast as I can, back towards Walmart, I see Miss Dee keep trying to cross the busy highway and then stepping back and taking off again and my heart kept sinking and sinking, because I was scared that we would witness Miss Dee getting hit by a car in the oncoming traffic.
Then I see Tony, park Trigger, in the middle turn lane, with the black SUV right behind him, get out and then run towards Miss Dee, but she ran off, again. Then I watch Tony run back to Trigger and take off again, with the black SUV right behind him.
I felt like crying, because I thought something bad must have just happened, behind the buildings that were blocking my view. Then I see Tony take a left, either into the Walmart entrance or the tire store's parking lot, followed closely by that black SUV.
My heart was racing and breaking at the exact same time when I started crossing the Walmart entrance, when I saw Tony pull Trigger out into the traffic heading slowly towards me to pick me up. And then my heart sank, because Miss Dee was not sitting in the passenger seat.
When Tony pulled off the road, I shot him a sad look, as he lowered the window, "What happened?"
Tony smiled. "She's in the backseat. Get in." And that's when I really began to cry. I turned around and petted Miss Dee on the head, because she looked exhausted. Then I asked Tony how he had caught her, because I had the leash with me. "This super nice woman, in a black SUV helped me. We sort of boxed Miss Dee in with the vehicles and then she started to take off again, but I got down on my knees and half-hollered, "Miss Dee. It's me. Tony. Come here girl." Then she stopped, because she must have recognized me and then she walked right over to me. Then I picked her up in my arms and put her into the backseat. I wish I knew who that nice woman was, in that black SUV, so we could thank her for helping us rescue Miss Dee."
"Me, too." I said. "You nearly scared me to death when I saw you park Trigger, in the turn lane and take off after her and then run back across the highway."
"Yeah, some jerk, in a big pickup honked at me and shot me the bird as he drove past me...."
We got back home around 6:35. With the high-beams on bright, I watched Tony take Miss Dee back to her pen to be reunited with Mr. Rogers. Both of their tails were wagging so fast when they were reunited, which by the way, will be the very last time that they will have to do that again. Then like always, I started to cry with joy again.
Photo take by Roger and Mary 2009, Miss Dee on the left.
Then Tony put the chickens up and then we returned to The Cabin. Fifteen minutes later, after composing myself, I called the sweet family back to give them the great news. Mrs. C started crying with joy and kept apologizing to me, as I told her about Miss Dee's rescue and before we adios-ed each other, we both agreed that it was best that Miss Dee and Mr. Rogers always stay together. So once again, life is good and thank goodness for Angels.
Y'all have a great evening, because Mr. Rogers and Miss Dee are!
