Big Black Dog in East Nashville

Ode to east nashville, i.e. the happy ending
Jamie
April 29, 2008

Yesterday, our dog went missing.

After the the Garage Theft of 2007, we put up a new fence that enclosed the garage area and had two big gates that allowed us to drive into the backyard. With this being our first foray into gate making, they aren’t the sturdiest things, and a year later, they sag enough so that the latch doesn’t always stay latched. Such was the case last night when the wind picked up and the gate was blown open enough to let a big dog through to eat grass and poop in yards other than his own.

After discovering that Houdini had made a run for it, we loaded up in two cars and canvassed the neighborhood until midnight. We drove every street an alley from Eastland to Davidson, from 5th to 20th, many of them twice, but no luck finding a big black dog in the big black night. Though our dogs are sloppy, mushy lovers, they’re big and have rottweiler markings, so we’re always conscious that strangers may see them as a threat. Desperate, we put posts up on Craigslist, Petfinders, and the East Nashville listserv.

By this morning, we were getting calls and emails of possible sightings around the area. Neighbors we’ve never met have offered their assistance, local business owners have gone out of their way to help, and all of you guys have kept our spirits up all morning.

Turns out, while we were doing all this work, that dumb dog had lucked into finding one of the nicest people in the neighborhood and had a slumber party at her place, his belly full of food and his lazy butt in her bed.

Despite the hardships that come with living in East Nashville, I have never known a kinder, more considerate community.

Thank you to Jackson for taking time out of your day to follow up on a sighting posted on the listserv. Thank you to Chris, Chris, and Christy for keeping an eye out and offering your help. Next blogger meet up, I’m buying each of you guys a beer. Or twelve.

Thank you to Laura Creekmore for managing the Google Group that reunited us with our four legged wanderer, not to mention everything else you do. Thank you to Trisha of the Hip Zipper for answering my post and calling just to make sure that I had indeed found him. Thank you to Leslie on Woodland for letting me know that the staff at Mad Donna’s had taken pity on the dog. Thank you to the staff at Mad Donna‘s for taking the time to help him find his way home instead of kicking him off your doorstep.

The biggest thank yous of all to Robin of Robin’s Nest Animal Rescue (no URL yet, but believe you me, when it’s up, I’m posting all about it) and to our newfound neighbor Tammi. Thank you for taking our pup in, for coddling him, for protecting him by making sure we were who we said we were, and for bringing him home to us.

I’m so grateful that I have this community (both online and off) to live in. I thought tweeting about the dog being missing would just be another little contribution to an ongoing conversation, but instead, you guys jumped right in to offer help and consolation, and then celebrated when he was found. I’m sincerely taken aback by your compassion, and I am very, very thankful.

Our boy is at home now, unaware that anything was ever amiss, and his sister is sleeping the sleep of the dead, so relieved that she doesn’t have to spend another night alone on the dog bed.

Thank you guys. Really.

Source: http://beingbrilliant.wordpress.com/2008/04/29/ode-to-east-nashville-ie-the-happy-ending/