The Finding of Caera
Since last Tuesday evening, we had been tirelessly looking for our lost little girl. Because of the wonderful assistance of Robin Siegel and various friends at Lucky Dog, information about Caera's disappearance was spread to probably thousands of people very quickly. I would like to thank especially Amit, Lynn, and Abbey - strangers who took time out of their schedules to help us for no other reasons than a dog was missing and needed to be found. I am sure that there were many others who put in such work to whom Nichole and I are forever grateful. I thought I would share with everyone the full story of Caera's disappearance, the search efforts, and her eventual recovery.
On Tuesday afternoon, Nichole received a phone call from our dog walker that Caera had jumped out of the car and she couldn't find her. We would later find out that our dog walker was not sure where Caera jumped out of the car (she remembered seeing Caera in the car at the park where she takes the dogs for a walk, but didn't specifically notice her missing until after driving three of her dogs to their drop off homes.) This meant that Caera could have escaped either near Cabin John Park, NW Washington, DC, Kensington/Bethesda, MD, or Bethesda, MD near Montgomery Mall. I should note that Nichole and I live in Silver Spring, MD.
Anyway, after checking these locations, we ended up near Cabin John Park around dusk. Nichole headed into the woods armed only with the small light on her key chain while I drove around the neighborhood looking for places Caera might be. A found a bunch of Montgomery County police officers sitting near the park in their cars, so I asked if they had seen our dog. A very nice police officer informed me that there was a recent reporting of a dog wandering the intersection of Tuckerman and Westlake, which is on the far side of Cabin John Park. The police officer also informed me that they were there "looking for someone" as well. I quickly recovered my wife from the woods, not knowing who this "someone" was, and we headed to Tuckerman and Westlake.
After it becoming too dark to wander the woods, we returned home, planning on hiking every inch of the park the next day. After scouring the park, Nichole bashed her knee on a rock while trying to cross a small stream. We continued our campaign of putting up fliers in locations near Potomac, MD and talking to anyone walking around about our dog.
Friday, we put up more fliers and then spent a good portion of the day planning the massive search that would take place with the help of volunteers on Saturday morning. Friday night, we received another call from the Potomac Woods Neighborhood. This time, the callers had said that the dog was definitely not a white beagle, but a dark beagle mix. We immediately headed to the area and started searching, despite the dark and the pouring rain. After a few hours and realizing that it was too dark and rainy to find Caera, we returned home and prepared for the search the next day.
I received a phone call from a couple of guys in Silver Spring who said they had my dog. The call was, to say the least, odd and the guys almost seemed like they were hiding something. Several things went through my mind about what was going on. Maybe Caera was found, but was dead. Maybe these guys actually had Caera and our nightmare was over. Or, maybe these guys were planning on mugging us for the reward we had advertised on our fliers.
Naturally a skeptic, I focused on the last possibility and planned to be mugged in Silver Spring while trying to get my dog back. My father was helping out that day and we decided that the two of us would go in to meet these guys and confirm that we were getting Caera -- Nichole would stay in the car and call 911 after a certain amount of time if we didn't return.
As we were driving into the neighborhood, we passed a nice man who didn't speak much English, but who needed a jump start for his car. I told him we would be back, which I totally forgot to do after the events that next transpired. If you are that man and have somehow learned to read a lot more English and ended up on this website, I am really sorry. Lo siento, mi amigo.
Anyway, back to the possible mugging. Our fears were not helped when I called the guy's cell phone back to let him know we were in the neighborhood. He had his phone set up to play a song instead of ring. The song was "Shoot 'em up." I honestly didn't know whether to laugh or cry in fear.
Anyway, we tried to ask the guys to bring our dog outside so we could be sure there wasn't a guy waiting to club us on the head with a mallet (who would even use a mallet -- this is how crazy I had become). The stay-outside plan had failed, our dog rescuer / assailant convinced us that it was necessary to go into his apartment (the place I now assumed I would be beaten bloody).
We knock on the apartment door, and instead of a blunt object hitting me in the head, my beautiful puppy jumps and knocks me to my knees so she could lick my face. I have never been so relieved before. 70% because my Caera was back and 30% because I no longer had to fear the beating. This was not a scam, it was a total fluke.
Apparently, while this guy was walking his own dog, Caera popped out of the woods and started playing with his dog. He grabbed her and called the number on her collar. He didn't even know that there was a reward, which we of course gave him anyway. To Caera's rescuer, sorry I thought you were planning on mugging me, but may I recommend a new song for your cell phone ring? Perhaps "Why can't we be friends?"
We of course will never know what happened since she escaped on Tuesday, but the important thing is that she is home and safe. I've said it many times, but I have to say again I have been so amazingly impressed with the help and support of so many random people in this ordeal. Strangers offered their time and energy to search for a lost dog for no other reason than they wanted to help. We are immensely grateful to each and every one of you. Caera has not been awake for more than 10 minutes since she's been home, but were she awake and capable of speech or understanding of what everyone did on her behalf, she would also be immensely grateful.
Thanks to everyone. May you never go through this type of experience, but if you ever do, Nichole, Caera, and I will be there at the drop of a hat to help you out.
More Info: http://www.findingcaera.com/
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