as told by Nancy Despeaux
February 27th 2011
Diddy is a happy go lucky 5 year old male yorkshire terrier and companion to Liz, who's in law school at Howard University in the very urban Washington DC. He's tiny, at 7-8 pounds, and extremely friendly. He's a great dog!
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| Liz, sharing the great news for the ????th time! |
Wish though she might that she could really take him every last place she goes, Liz had to leave him behind when she has an out of town trip to make in February 2011. A friend cared for him while she was gone, in his home accross town. Diddy knew the friend from his visits to their house, so it was a good solution.
All week long, the friend walked Diddy, but off leash, which was of course against the rules. However, good dog that Diddy is, he didn't run off. Until Saturday, the day Liz returned home. She got the call from the friend as she was boarding the plane. We can only imagine how awful that plane ride was.
Liz's mom, Cee, lives in New York, and they are very close. Actually, Diddy and Cee's dog Karma are litter mates. While Diddy was missing, Cee was miserable stuck at home in New York when she wanted to be boots on the ground in DC, helping Liz search for Diddy.
But speaking from the perspective of someone that has participated in many lost dog searches, Cee stands almost alone in what a rock she was, more helpful and supportive she was in the search that I've almost ever seen. Perhaps it is because if people have a lot of support, they don't contact me for help, but I almost never see anyone going through what Liz went through that has anyone like Cee in their lives, doing all that Cee did to try to circulate the word of who to call if a dog matching Diddy's description was to be found.
On the seventh day of agony came the ecstacy for Liz, and Cee. I would say for Diddy too, but he was far from agonized -- at least in the time after his "run-about" came to an end several hours after he vanished!
It seems that he had scampered about 5 miles from where he bolted, in about 3-4 hours. He was in traffic, risking his life, when his rescuer encountered him, and offered him an open door to climb through. It seemed like a good idea to Diddy; he loves car rides!
After first taking him to her house, where she already has 4 dogs of her own, she took Diddy to her mom's house. All week long he was doted on and loved, with assorted purchases made for him, and he was as well behaved and happy as ever.
And that was the total giveaway. His rescuer could plainly see that it was impossible that no one was looking for this wonderful dog. Much as she would have loved to have a dog exactly like him, she knew what she would have wanted had someone found her own dog. She tried the shelter several times -- not leaving him there, but as soon as Tueseday, notifying them of this found dog she had, with a full description. And then finally, on Friday, six days after he hit the streets and made his way to her house, she tried again, and apparently was insistent that someone MUST be looking for this dog.
Presumably at her urging, the shelter person made a phone call to this person, Liz, who had lost her yorkie the previous Saturday afternoon, to tell her about the dog found and being held by a citizen. It was the call that Liz had hoped and prayed for all week!
Liz of course flew to that house as fast as she could. Cee and Karma were already en route to DC; Cee hadn't been able stand another minute of not being by Liz's side. How nice for Cee that she got to drive straight to the house and be greeted by none other than Diddy himself!
Everyone enjoyed a beautiful reunion visit. But you know how dogs are -- Diddy didn't even look back at his wonderful temporary home and family when Liz walked out the door to go home!
A blog was set up for the search for Diddy, and you can read Cee's version of the story there: http://pleasefinddiddy.blogspot.com/
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