When Mushu Goes Missing...You Write a Country Song?

If you are a friend on Facebook you will know Mushu the Butthead Bichon went missing earlier this week.  I wasn't worried at first because he's nine years old and has never gone missing from our yard.  Oh sure, he has ventured to the bottom of the driveway, but to completely vanish?  Never.

 

It not nice calling someone Butthead

I should have known something was up when he was out a bit longer, but when it's nice out he likes to sit on the front step and watch the...well I don't know what he likes to watch...but he watches.  I heard him bark at one point and it was the bark he gets when the deer come through the yard or people walk by on the road.  We're up on a hill so he gets a pretty good view of what's going by on the road.

But I still never thought anything of it.  The deer ignore his white fuzzy self barking at them and he soon tires from bugging them.  About a half an hour later I thought it was unusual he wasn't asking in, so I went out to get him.  He wasn't any where to be found.  We live on 3 acres so it didn't take long to walk around the acreage.

I walked down to the end of the driveway and was mad as I walked because he has been spanked before for going down there.  Then my heart skipped a beat when I got down to the bottom and he wasn't there.  So I started walking and calling him just in case he was in any of the neighbor's yards.  I was getting madder and madder as I walked.  One, because I'm seriously out of shape and walking in our hilly subdivision just about killed me and two, if he was at a neighbors I knew he was probably making a nuisance of himself.

Nothing.  I panted my way back home and got into the truck and drove around the subdivision swearing all the while that if I did finally see him, I was going to run him over.  Yes I was that mad.  But still nothing.  So I came home, grabbed a dog treat and went driving around the subdivision again yelling out the window "Here Mushu!  Come here pup!!  I have a treat for you.  Treat Mushu!!  Look what I have.  TREeeeeat!!!  Mushu you want a treat??!!!!!"  I'm glad we're thinking of moving soon because I might not be able to look the neighbors in the eye any more after that one.

Still nothing.  So I came back home and sat and waited....and waited....and waited.  As the hours ticked on, the more panicked I got.  It was getting dark and the coyotes have been bad around here this year.  I'm sure a nice fuzzy little hors d'oeuvre would have been perfect for a pack of coyotes that night.

I was just about to go out and drive around the subdivision again when the door bell rang.  I ran to the door and sure enough, there were three young boys...and Mushu.  Apparently they were walking into some trees to go exploring and were shocked to see a well groomed white curly-haired dog running out of the trees towards them.  They said Mushu was so happy to see them and practically jumped into the one boys arms. They said he was shaking and crying and they couldn't get him calmed down until they said "You want to go home?".

Mushu is not only chipped but I have tags on him as well.  Even though he has never gone missing like this, I wanted those tags on him for this very reason.  I have our subdivision acreage number on the tags as well as our phone number.  I was so grateful for those boys bringing Mushu back home I wanted to cry.  They told me where they found Mushu and I can't believe how far he was from home.

My guess is that he started barking at what ever came through our yard and the intruder ran into the trees behind our place.  Mushu followed and then because he's a sissy spoiled pup, got disoriented...and then got lost in the trees.  I swore I was going to give him such a spanking when he did finally come home but when the boys handed him to me I was so darn grateful to have him back I just couldn't.  My son laughed and made fun of me but he's not a parent...er....a puppy parent.  He doesn't yet know the emotions of being so mad, then so grateful.

 

I sorry mom.  I no mean it.

Gregg asked about "Your stupid dog going missing" and when I said "What ever.  I know you don't care about him but I was frantic."  Then he said "Ya well....there's been too much money spent on that dog to have him go missing like that."  Now I know it doesn't sound like it by the way I wrote it out but it says a lot to me.  Which is, Gregg may act all mean and tough when it comes to Mushu but he definitely knows how much Mushu means to me and certainly doesn't want to see anything bad happen to the little guy.  Awwww.

I said I just couldn't believe Mushu would go missing like that and it was so out of character for him it had me worried.  I said I don't know what got into him.  Gregg said "Well maybe he's got Alzheimers and couldn't find his way back.  He is old you know Joy."  Super.  I have memory issues and now my dog has Alzheimers.  Kind of sounds like a country song in the making. 

Comments

[Mahala]

Oh. My. Gawd. I gotta start checking Facebook again. Missing puppykins? I would have DIED. I'm so glad you got him back. *hugs* girlie!

[Beckie]

He's so damn cute...how could you not be frantic?!

[bermudabluez]

GULP! OMG Joy! I almost had a heart attack when I saw that he went missing!!! I would have been frantic...seriously panicked!!! So, so happy that he is back home. My Chloe would do the same thing though....she's good about staying in the yard, but if she by chance saw a chipmunk or a squirrel....off she'd run! And we have woods and coyotes and deer and all here too!!! Hug him hard for us, Joy....we are so glad to here he is home safe and sound. Thank goodness that those boys found him!! There is something to be said for having tags on them too!!

[SAA]

I'm so sorry Mushu went missing. I know how that feels. Dickens got off his leash one day before we were able to fence in the backyard.

I was frantic all night. Unfortunately, he somehow got out of his collar, too, so he had no information on him. We went to Kinko's that night and made flyers and a poster. We put the poster in the front yard with his picture, our phone number and "Have you seen me?" on it.

Thankfully, a nice couple had him, saw one of the signs and gave us a call. He was home within 20 hours, but it was the longest 20 hours of my life.

I'm so glad Mushu is home.

[Karmyn R]

Whew! I'm glad he was returned.

[WT]

Ha! You should try living with beagles, that's a weekly event (and they've been known to go missing for days), but I'm glad he got back safely.

[Jennifer]

I had a similar experience when I lost the blonde goddess in Disney World. However, she wasn't chipped or tagged; we were lucky to get her back!!
Glad he is home safe and sound!!!

[Ami]

I don't do Facebook, but I'm sure glad that I caught this story AFTER it had a happy ending!!

[Penney]

So glad the boys brought him back , i bet you were frantic to have your little guy go missing.

[Musingwoman]

I'm SO glad Mushu was returned safe and sound! How scary!

The one time my beloved childhood cat went missing we were frantic and searched the neighborhood for hours.

Come to find out he'd just gone to sleep inside my mom's sewing machine. :)

[Deb]

I couldn't imagine how I would handle it if my little pup diego went missing. After my sisters dog went missing on one of her walks by the river... we got a tag for diego with his phone number and home address on it. I hope it never has to be used.

Thank goodness those boys found little mushu.
What a cutie! I am sure he was just as happy to be home.... as you were relieved to have him home!!

[Dawn]

I am glad he showed up. I was telling a young guy that men get married because they have bad memories and need someone to keep them on task. I told him it gets worse when they get older. Then I told him the homeless guys are homeless because they are single and forgot where they live and ended up just staying on the streets. He was frightened even at 18. I think he will marry. I am sure it is similar for old dogs but part of bad memory is just inattention to detail and I suspect that is more Mushu's problem than Alzheimers....for now ;-) .

[Karen]

I was so relieved that you found him. Poor little guy.

[Pamela]

I wonder if someone carried him off?