Now there are some things you should never do to your people: poop on them, pee on them, chew up their stuff, bite them (that was an accident), and run away. I have done all these things, actually, and my family (thankfully) still loves me, despite of myself.
As dogs, we know the very worst thing you can do to your people is wander off. As whippet mixes, my brother and I have a tendency to do this at what some could consider terminal velocity. I however A) know where I live and B) usually have a family member in sight even if it is from several hundred yards away. My brother, now that is another story. He does not know where he lives and, since he is a puppy, he does things with wild abandon, like running away from home.
It all started last Friday night when my family was getting ready to go to a movie. Mom said, "let the dogs out, kennel up the puppy and lets go". What happened was let the dogs out, (cue skateboarder) freak out the puppy and spend the next 10 hours searching for him. You see, my brothers and sister really didn't see where he went. Mom was inside getting stuff together and I, well, I was watching in horror as my canine brother vanished without a trace. My mom got in the car in hot pursuit of air and my brothers were in hot pursuit of dust. Everyone was going in different directions and no sign of ROAM I mean Rome. Remember when I said I would teach him to play in traffic? I didn't really mean like this. I was at the house in case he came back.
Mom tried to call Dad. No luck! I tried to help, by racing around franticly-not helpful. Mom was in tears, the boys were yelling at each other about who's fault it was and my sister sat down and said "Rome is bad dog right, Mom". Mom left and then came back because the car was out of gas. On foot, she went sending all of the kids back to the house to wait for my dad. Mom came down the hill when Dad arrived and told him what happened. Dad grabbed me and out we went to search the whole neighborhood. Now I like long walks as much as the next dog but this was insane. Rome had been gone 2.5 hours. We went back to the house, heads hung low. It was dark and a full moon. What could we do? We set out again and our neighbors got involved. I saw my friend Angel and her mom joined the search. My friend Rocco and his parent came out to help. I ran into my friend Ginny and then my friend Olive but no one had seen him. We drove up to the Hospital searching the highway in fear he may be there. We listened to the messages, no Rome. By 10:00 PM, I was over the walk thing and Mom was so sad. She sent out a ROME alert on Facebook and people were reposting it like wildfire-everyone keeping an eye out for my little brother.
We went out one last time and ran into Olive again. Her dad said he thought he heard him in the field by the house. We went hiking in the dark by the light of the moon. I know he is there, I thought, but Mom called for him and still no Rome. My family was resigned to wait until morning. We went to bed at midnight. At 4:00 in the morning, I woke up and listened- I thought I heard his tags....No guess not. At 4:30, I definitely heard them. MOM, MOM wake up, listen! I jingled my own collar so she would wake up. I race to the top of the stairs.... wait, where is my mom? Come on woman! I jingled some more and went into my sister's room- Mom will come now for sure. She's up, "Is the baby ok, PIke?" "Yes," I thought, "but we need to go right now!" I raced down the stairs and Mom followed. I turned around like I do when I really need to pee. Mom said, "ok, Pike geez". "COME ON LADY! OPEN THE DOOR!" She opened the door and I bolted. I ran around the side of the house and, Mom in pajamas, started after me. Poor Mom, now she had 2 dogs on the lamb. She called to me quietly, I couldn't answer. "Pike, please come here," Mom whispered. I had one shot at this and I knew it. I ran around with Rome hot on my heels and ran right in the house. Mom seemed to know he was freaked out and that she had to shut the door quick, but the puppy wouldn't come in. Out and in I went, over and over, until he relented and came in. Mom slid the door closed and we all relaxed. The house was still asleep so I went upstairs and back to bed. The puppy came up and Mom woke up Dad. They checked him over. He was dirty and scraped up but he would be fine. I was exhausted. These late night puppy shenanigans have to stop. I am glad to have my new brother. However, soon we are going to have to revisit the rules of conduct.
When morning came, Rome greeted surprised and happy kids. Mom had the forces stand down in Kona as the search had ended and Rome was home. Mom said "good dog Pike" and gave me hugs and I knew deep down that they couldn't have done it with out me. I have to admit, for once, it was not all about me, but about my family and I am ok with that. RUFF!!!
