Tuesday, March 3, 2009

We Saw Our Own Damn Dog

Yep, you read that correctly.  Sarah and I both saw Lucy today.  We don't have her in our hands yet, but we were close.  So very close.

Let me back up a little.  I promised to give more details about this embassy sighting, and it leads directly to today's excitement.

DC Animal Control called me last night to say that a stray dog, white, same collar as Lucy, was spotted behind an embassy on Massachusetts Ave.  The dog matched the description of Lucy on the lost dog report they have, so someone over there put two and two together, and called me.  Apparently, two Animal Control officers responded yesterday, but the dog ran away from them and they didn't want to give chase because the area is near the Rock Creek Parkway.  So the plan was for them to call me today before they headed back out, so I could go with them and try to coax the dog out if it turned out to be Lucy.

The plan went slightly awry, but that was harmless error.  A nice Animal Control officer named Ted went to the area today, the dog wouldn't let him get anywhere near it, so he called me.  Sarah and I came down, met Ted at the Metro station, and he took us over to the area.  

Behind a row of embassies on Massachusetts Ave. is a strip of land; it runs down a steep hill, then levels off briefly before running into an offshoot of the Rock Creek Parkway.  It is not a terribly large area, and a dog in there has nowhere to go until late at night when traffic on the parkway dissipates.

So.  We traipsed around a bit with Ted, calling Lucy's name.  Within about 10 minutes, I caught sight of a white(ish) tail moving through the trees, away from me.  Shortly after, Sarah, lower down the hill, saw Lucy.  Thus began the most frustrating afternoon in recent memory.  To shorten a long story, in the course of the next hour and a half, we each saw Lucy, quite clearly, 4-5 times.  Each.  The nearest I got was probably about 30 feet away.  We made eye contact, she turned and went the other way.

I tried calling her name and issuing commands, like "come;" I tried talking quietly, sweetly, whistling, making play noises, using her various nicknames, all for naught.  Clearly she has gone into whatever survival mode they go into when dogs have been on the loose for a few weeks.  She doesn't seem to really recognize me or Sarah, and treats us as she treats all humans:  things to be avoided.

So that's the bad news.  She's completely unresponsive to me or Sarah.  Which is so incredibly frustrating, because we were so close, and we kept seeing her.  But the good news is that she clearly has made this area something of a home base.  Her tracks were all over the place, and readily visible thanks to the snow and mud.  We could see the track she had worn along the top of the hill, behind the embassies, and down the hill and back around.  There's a loop she has worn into the ground.  She has been here for days, and hopefully will stay here until we get her fuzzy butt into a trap.

I'm still a little stunned.  I can't believe I saw her little Goose face so close, and she wouldn't even respond to me.

In any case, we set out some feeding stations, and set up a trap.  There is pretty much an entire rotisserie chicken there (minus the bones of course), plus about 5 pounds of dog food, a few cans of cat food (which is really stinky, so attracts dogs well), and a few bowls of water.

SIDENOTE:  Sarah came up with a brilliant idea.  Because it's supposed to go down to 11 degrees tonight, we were worried about all the available water freezing, and Goose not getting anything to drink.  So Sarah bought some of those adhesive, muscle pain relief, heating pads (click here to see what I mean), and stuck them to the bottom of the plastic water bowls, so the heat would keep the water from freezing (hopefully) for 12 hours.  Fine work, Sarah.

The hope is that at the very least Lucy will get some good meals, and some solid nutrition in her body.  Hopefully she'll think that this area is just brimming with free food, so there's no reason to move on to another area.  And eventually, as we reduce the number of feeding stations, the only place she'll find food is inside the trap.

PLEASE NOTE:  If you are anywhere near this area, please DO NOT go there in search of Lucy.  Do not try to approach her, do not try to do anything anywhere in the vicinity.  The worst thing that could happen right now is for well-intentioned people (including myself) to drive Lucy out of this area and into the unknown.  As long as she's sticking to this spot, we want her there.  We'll eventually get her into a trap.  So for everyone wanting to help us locate Lucy, please avoid this area of woods behind the embassies on Massachusetts Ave.  Consult the map if you need to be sure.

4 comments:

  1. Yay, this is so exciting! Please keep us posted... :-)

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  2. Dan, dude, this sux (that Lucy saw you and wouldn't come to you). Not surprising, but it still sux. It really suggests that a trap or a catchpole or cornering her are likely to be necessary in the end. A few thoughts to share . . .

    1) I've found time & again (and also learned in dog obedience class) that there is a difference between "Come" and "Lucy, come here". Now, Lucy's life today isn't business as usual, so that may not work even if it would have worked 6 weeks ago. But try it next time you see her.

    2) Outstanding idea on Sarah's part! Now, if you have an electricity source at any of her feeding stations, there are heated dog bowls. Also, Sonia is holding a heated birdbath that was loaned to the Rocky effort, to use as a water bowl, so contact her if you want to get that from her.

    3) If you feel like reading another story of a dog that watched calmly while her man baited her feeding station, but wouldn't come to him, check out the page below. In fact, you ought to read that story anyway, even if you don't as one with Sophie's dad Mike.

    http://www.missingpetpartnership.org/seattlepethunters-sophie.php

    Keep the faith, Dan and Sarah. I just sent Daphne a slew of email addresses that I dug up tonight for people in the area, so she can send out her email that she sends, with the flier attached. More eyes watching can't hurt, and with luck that will attract more people that want to come out and help.

    Nancy

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  3. This is exciting news. I will keep checking back. I remember our vet telling us that once dogs are out there lost for a couple weeks, they do change and it is like they are wild and won't go up to anyone so I think this is normal behavior.

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  4. This is the most uplifting news! We've seen her signs all over town and are so happy to hear she's back.

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