A bummer of a story with a happy ending…..kinda

So last Sunday the 4th, Jo and I were getting to bed a bit later than usual for a Sunday night. I don’t exactly remember the reason, nor is it important. It was about 11:45 at night, Jo was still awake and I was just coming upstairs after working all day on the house and then playing a little Wii at night. I took my dirty shirt off when all the sudden we both hear an animal fighting or something outside. Now keep in mind that our neighbor had recently told us that there was a marauding mean feral cat roaming around and they tend to kill other cats and small animals. So we hadn’t been letting our cats out lately. Unfortunately a door got left open that day and two of ours got out. We got one back in but the other one tends to stay out very late. Before going upstairs I had cracked the 3-season door to give our cat a nice place to come in and sleep. So, back to the story. I was pretty concerned that it might be our cat. So I ran downstairs, shirtless and out the front door. At this point the noise was still going on and I knew immediately it wasn’t a cat but rather a dog. Then almost the same time my neighbor is running down her driveway yelling the name of one of her Yorkies. I yelled to her to see what was wrong. She said something took one of her dogs. We could still hear it yelping. She and her husband ran across the street to where they thought the noise was and I quickly ran into the house and grabbed a sweatshirt and flashlight. I was still nervous about the cat but feeling really bad about the Yorky. So I ran back out to try and help. At this point though we have shifted directions to look and are headed up the drive toward the house at the end of the road which is surrounded by 55 acres of woods. Neither of us have very good flash lights with us so we only looked for about ten minutes. It became very apparent as we continue to hear something yelping but quite honestly it sounded like it was louder than the dog could make and a different pitch. So we jogged back to the houses. At this point the neighbor wife wants to get a car and try and drive thru the woods. They don’t have a great vehicle for that and so I was thinking about taking the mini cooper because it was small enough to be on the trails. I also was still fearful for our cat. So on the way back the neighbors are debating about what to do and to me it sounds almost like the husband has written the dog off and of course the wife is like ‘no way’. At this point we separate and they go back to their house and I am starting to call our cat. On a whim I look under the camper and there is our cat. She was looking a bit nervous and not very willing to come out. So I coax her out and she bolts to the door. So now I’m at least relieved our cat is safe, but we can still hear something yelping in the woods. So I go inside and get a better flashlight and talk to Jo about what is happening. I head back out somewhat nervously because well, it’s dark, it’s chilly, and now there is a light fog descending on the woods and of course it’s about ten after midnight. I’m thinking if I were a predator you know like a vampire or werewolf or something equally evil these woods, at this time, with this fog would be perfect!!! Kinda like when you are watching a movie and the dumb character knows that bad things are happening in the woods but goes in anyway and your watching going “what an idiot!!” But I ventured out anyway. I tell Jo if I’m not back in 20 call someone with weapons. I head out the door and hear the neighbor banging around one of his trucks and can’t figure out what he’s doing but think maybe he’s throwing his bow in his truck. So I head up the gravel drive….alone…..but thankfully it was only about 2 minutes later that I find out what the neighbor was banging around. He was getting his four wheeler out and the husband and wife were flying up the street. Keep in mind this is like 12:15am and I can only guess what the other neighbors were thinking with all the noise. So I was already in the woods and I think they were kind of surprised to see me out there. They went further into the woods which takes them right past the owner of these woods house. After they went by I was looking toward the house and sure enough the lights go on and 2 minutes later he comes flying out of his garage on his four wheeler. He drives up to me and then recognizes me and says “Do you know who they are?”, clearly thinking he has trespassers. I gave him a quick synopsis of the events and told him where I think the noise is coming from. So he heads out to look as well. So about 5 minutes or so later of walking in really spooky woods the noise stops. Also the dog owners head down the street to look more around their house. Keep in mind that we still are not convinced that the noise is their dog because it doesn’t sound right. Also, every time you think you are getting closer it stops not to mention it’s echoing all over. So you move to a different area and it starts again. Well, like I said, five or so minutes later it pretty much stopped. So I went back to our house to see if I could pick up a blood trail as I think whatever it was ran thru the back yard. As I was looking the noise started again. This time the woods owner had his 4 wheeler off and as soon as he heard the noise he took off on the 4 wheeler. He stopped, did something, I didn’t know what cause I was about 100 yards away thru the spooky woods and then he came flying out of the woods on the 4 wheeler. I went up onto the driveway and he saw me and yelled “I got ‘em!! I got ‘em!!” So now we can’t find the dogs owners but ran over to their house anyway. Luckily they were just on the other side looking in bushes, because apparently the dog is so small it gets stuck in bushes. So the wife grabbed the dog and ran inside. At this point the husband, the woods owner and I are all standing outside looking at each other in amazement when it dawns on us that the woods owner has no top on. He had wrapped the dog in his coat and is standing there without a shirt on at almost 12:30am 40 some degrees but all hopped up on adrenaline!! Pretty funny scene in hindsight. Well, 30 seconds later the wife is back outside yelling that the dog is in bad shape and has to get to the vet NOW!! So I bade goodbye and hoped for the best. As the days went by several people were visiting and I feared the worst. So Friday morning I was having breakfast and looked out the window to see the neighbor letting her remaining Yorky out and then to my surprise, gently set down the other one. HOLY CRAP!!!! I had totally written the dog off. I ran out the door and then jogged over. She was so happy to see me and I was so happy to see the dog alive. She thanked me profusely and I was like “All I did was look….” She said that the woods owner said that the dog was almost exactly where I told him to look. Regardless, it was great to see him alive. So when I came over he gave me a very feeble bark. So that prompted her to tell me his injuries. She said that the vet made it very clear that the dog was alive only because he wanted to live. The vet could not believe it. He had two puncture holes in his throat, thus the feeble bark. Two punctures in his lungs also causing the feeble bark. Two punctures into the spine causing nerve damage to it’s right rear leg. They may need to amputate that leg, however he was using it a bit when I saw him. This was all so unbelievable to me. It’s still not clear what it was that took the dog, but when she went out to get her dogs off the run that evening she saw something in the yard she mistook for a deer at first. She later knew it was too small for a deer so the thinking is that it is a coyote. So we are giving thought as to how to hunt it down or maybe trap and release. Both the neighbors and us have safety concerns and while our kids should be safe our pets are not and we are wanting it gone. Well, that’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

No further adoption update, still waiting on LOA. If not received by end of October then hope fades quickly to travel before Christmas and almost for sure to be home by Christmas.