Venting my stress and anxiety - Page 1

Ok, long post, I'm just upset and it's early in the morning and I don't have anything else that I can do at this moment. 

My dad woke me up at 4am this morning(night)  because Benjamin was missing from the house.  Dad had left the door open to the 2-season room (which he does often when the temps are cool) and apparently Benjamin broke through the one of the screens and got out.  
We believe he broke out because he had diarrhea yesterday and he is so very proper about not going to the bathroom in the house, he must've been desperate to go outside to potty. 
Because of my dad's condition he was in no shape to go walking around at night looking for Ben, so I was the only one who went....I walked and called for nearly 90 minutes before coming home.  Bloodied my foot up good because it's recovering from a cellulitis infection I got from a scratch. 
Then I called our local police dispatch (soooo should've done this first!!!) and the dispatcher told me that one of their officers did pick up a German Shepherd, right on our street and took it to their local station where the county ACO came and picked him up from there to take to the shelter...this was at 1:30 this morning!   Our street is a dead-end and only 7 house on either side, so very short street!  Dad firmly believes that Ben had stayed in our own yard and the officer just saw an unrestrained dog in the yard and took him (Ben has a temperament like a golden retriever)  so dad is boiling mad right now, all the daytime police here know him and know Ben (because many of them actually contributed to giving Ben to dad when he was a pup) but the nighttime police don't us and don't live in this community like the daytime police do. 
Ben did not have a collar on him because we always leave those off when the dogs are in the house, so no accident happens when they're playing.  He doesn't have a microchip either, if I have enough money to do so, I'll have him chipped when I pick him up from the shelter. 

Thank God we at least know Ben is safe, he's NEVER been missing before, Never been away from the house or dad (if he's away from the house then he is with dad.)   I was so worried that Ben had been hit by a car and worried that dad was going to have a heart attack.   Aaron is really upset too, he's very bonded to Ben.  Thankfully Urman and his son Aaron did not follow Ben out the broken screen.  

It's 6:45 am right now, dad had a surgery scheduled this morning to remove a broken tooth and his friend just picked him up to take him there.   Hope dad will manage because he was so upset that the dog warden wouldn't bring Ben back and that the shelter opens so late (11am)
Poor Ben, he's never been in a kennel a day in his life, he is a very trusting and naive dog...I hope this experience doesn't hurt him. 

He'll be fine!  You can let go of the worry. Stuff happens, but your story is ending well. Be grateful for that!  

When your dad gets home and his dog is also home, things will be much better, I'm thinking, and you all can destress the anxiety with a big ol' sloppy dog kiss.

Aww Euro, I can definately understand. Thank goodness tho he is safe and not hit by a car or anything. I bet you and Ben will definately have a happy reunion and exchange plenty of sloppy kisses. Glad he is OK. You try to have a good day.............

Ben is not safe until you get him out of the pound. Dog pounds frequently kill dogs even after the owners have called them, identified their dogs, and told the pound they will be picking the dog up. A dog pound is one of the most dangerous places a dog can be.

Also, skip lunch for a while if you have to in order to get the money, but get Ben microchipped. Microchips are not foolproof (nothing in life is), but they have saved a lot of dogs' lives.

Collar accidents are typically caused by single-layer nylon collars that can easily twist and strangle the dog. Get a thick leather or stiff double-layer nylon collar that is 1 inch wide. Attach the tags using a 3/4 inch brass S-hook, which will release the tags when the dog struggles if the tags get snagged on something. Also make sure that the collar fits snugly. As you just found out, "lost dog" accidents can happen in the best of homes.

I remember Ben from his puppy posts here. I would love to see some current adult pics of him.

Ok, Ben is home safe and happy now, they did feed him their kibble so he has even more watery runs now.   When I got him home I just conked out on the couch and slept the rest of the day, I had such a major headache.  Dad is home now too after his small outpatient surgery, he's fine now too (though still feeling shock over Benjamin going missing.) 

Thankfully our county has a much better system for dogs than most counties do.  Although I don't like that they don't open til 11am , I got there 2 hours early just in case they'd let me in early, but no go...so I sat in my vehicle reading a book.    It was actually quite busy while I was waiting for them to open.  The workers and volunteers were all over the place, cleaning, taking out trash and taking dogs out on walks.  It's a state-of-the-art shelter facility, very huge with acres of fenced in outdoor play/exercize yards and paths for walking dogs.  
Two other people showed up to look for their lost dogs, a shelter worker guided us through the lost/found dog areas...it seems to me like we walked through 10 different rooms of kennels, there must've been 100 dogs in that area who'd been lost (these rooms were specifically for lost dogs in their holding period, the dogs for adoption were in a different part of the facility...so they deal with a whole lot of dogs!)  Tons of small breed dogs and a good number of pitbulls, boxers and mastiffs.  I saw another GSD there too, a very friendly black/tan saddle back, I think it was a female...wish I could've claimed her too.   There was this one very sad tiny puppy, must've only been 3-4 lbs, that had just had surgery for an injury to it's back. 
Of course Benjamin had to be in the very last room we went too (the nighttime dog warden drop off room)  Poor guy was sitting there in the very front of his kennel so polite and confused.  
One of the other people looking for his lost dog found his rat terrier there, but sadly the 3rd person didn't see her dog. 

I did ask if I could get Ben microchipped there, but they didn't offer microchipping.  But dad is going to make a vet appt. to get it done. 

I don't have any recent pics of Ben, I'll try to get some on my cell to post. 

glad your boy is back home.  :)
pjp

Order a chip from Revival. Hell, send me your address and I'll mail you one. If you can give a shot, you can chip your dog.

Euro---SO GLAD YOU GOT YOUR BOY BACK AND BEST WISHES TO YOUR DAD, FOR A SPEEDY RECOVERY!!!!

Jenni,
I use 24 hr Petwatch chips, why do you like Revival and how much are they????? These are real inexpensive and can be read by the scanners easily. I also have a scanner, but an older one...I do my own also...will have to find the website and check out Revival, thanks, Steph

Glad he's home! You can order microchips from nearly any pet supply catalog, I used Avid. It is just like giving a shot, very easy. And much cheaper to do it yourself! jackie harris

Great news for the both of you  .
B,rgds