nipperknits

On her second day in Red Hook, she somehow slipped her leash, got spooked by a stranger trying to help get her back (Dear Dude, don't yell at dogs you don't know), and bolted. Cassie ran for the house to get me, and we spent the day in pyjamas, parkas and snowboots searching the neighborhood both in cars and on foot. We had 10 people there, friends and family, helping us both to search and for emotional support. Over the next 2 days, we spoke to everyone on the street, put up over 300 flyers, alerted every vet, shelter, pet store, and neighborhood dog association in our and surrounding neighborhoods, posted on craigslist and about 10 other lost dog/pet websites. We walked through the projects and along the waterfront at night and alone shaking bowls full of food and calling her name. She has tags and is microchipped. I had to leave for Florida for a few days on Tuesday, but Cassie kept looking. She checked out every phone call, every lead. She drove around Red Hook, Cobble Hill and Carroll Gardens every time we got a call.

All with no luck. That was over a week ago. The dog has disappeared. We've stopped looking now. We still check the shelter if there's a tip on a black lab, and we still answer every call. But the calls are fewer now, less like tips and more like, "Have you found your dog yet? We'll keep looking."

Had she been with us even just a few days more, she would have been more comfortable with us and known where her new home was. She would have been able to make her way back home. As it is, I'm afraid she's lost and didn't know how to make her way back to us. And maybe she wouldn't have been so afraid to come back to us.

We've come to the conclusion that she wasn't our dog. If/when she is found, we won't be keeping her. She'll be going back to live with her foster family. They have dogs, a bigger family and a less-stressful, less-urban environment. She needs those things. There were too many upheavals in her new life with us: new people, new house, new stressful environment. We needed a dog who could handle those things and understand that we've got great love to give. Sadly, she couldn't.

In a few weeks we'll start looking for a new dog. We're not ready for one yet, but perhaps soon we will be. And you know that as soon as we find another, she'll be found. Because that's the way the world works.