A great number of dogs are very frightened by loud noises, especially fireworks, and Hildie, our 10-year old Terrier mix, was a good example of that. She was terrified by the sound of fireworks - even those that didn't seem that loud to us. So each year, we had to sedate her with a mild tranquilizer prescribed by our vet. But even that didn't keep her safe.
On Saturday, July 6th, my roommate (Hildie's dad) and I, went out for two hours after making sure that our gate was locked and 'dog proofed' so that Hildie and our other dogs were safe. The dogs were in our home when we left but we opened the doggie door because one of our pets had a digestive disorder from the stress caused by the fireworks. We wanted to make sure he could relieve himself outside if he needed to.
When we returned home, Hildie was gone. From the looks of it, she had scaled our fence - something she had never done before and that we didn't know she could do. We heard later from our neighbors that someone in the surrounding neighborhood had set off illegal fireworks that night and it terrified Hildie so much that she panicked and tried to find us.
Since that time, we have posted over 1,500 flyers and handed them out to our neighbors. We have had stories published in the local papers, run an ad in another local paper, and posted information on over ten different LOST ANIMAL websites. Since Hildie has a microchip, we are hoping that whoever found her will try to find her us by bringing her to a local vet or animal shelter to be scanned.
In the beginning of our search, I also called City Sanitation to see if she had been hit by a car. They did not have any reports matching her description.
Each day, I get calls or emails from people in our community who want to help in the search. We welcome help. This is a big job and we need everyone's eyes and ears to help us find Hildie.
If you see a dog resembling Hildie, or hear that someone found a dog that looks like her and has decided to keep her, we ask that you don't approach the person but call us. We will contact the proper authorities to check it out. Email: Pat at: xnowisthetime@aol.com.
One last thing: If you do choose to contact us, please refrain from sharing any negative experiences or telling us what you think we "should have done." Criticism is NOT HELPFUL to us right now. Believe it or not, we get calls and emails from people who do that - and it really brings us down. We don't need that negativity. This is hard enough as it is and other people's judgment is really inappropriate at this time.
Thank you to all the 'dog people' out there. We are very grateful to have so many loving people in our community.
