Lost Dog

I lost a dog this morning. Not 'lost' as a euphemism for dead - I misplaced him. Well, he misplaced himself.

I let the little dog pack out in the yard - Max, Chooch, Sparky, Lilac, Bunny, Ruby, Bibi, Baby, Marco, Woodrow, Petra, Elvis the Shih Tzu, and Lina the tiny Chihuahua (who decided no more ex-pen for her, she wanted to go out in the big yard with the "big" dogs). I let Cider and Barclay out with them, too. It's a nice sunny morning and it's already about 30 degrees so not too cold to stay out for a few minutes and get some exercise. In the meantime, I filled their bowls with breakfast then sat down to check e-mail.

When I open the door to let them in, they come through the door in one big wave. All I see is a swirl of fur and tails and ears as they fly down the hallway to the kitchen gate. When I open the gate, the wave surges through there, too, and everyone runs to their crates and waits for me to get there with their dishes.

The way crates are set up at the moment, Cider's first, then Bibi, then Marco and Woodrow. Then Bunny, Ruby, and Lilac on the other side of the room. Last comes Barclay and then anyone who's not yet worked into the "regular" routine - in this case, Elvis and Lina - and finally Petra as I go back through the kitchen to let "family room group" out. (Max, Chooch, Sparky, and Baby aren't crated to eat, so they don't get fed until everyone else has been out, come back in, and gone into their crates to be fed.) Because Lina's so small I was afraid she'd get trampled in the chaos, so I scooped her up first, put her in her crate, and shut the door. Then I started the routine.

Cider's already in her crate, put the bowl in, close the door. Bibi - into her crate, put the bowl in, close the door. Usually Marco's next, but when I turned around Woodrow was going into his crate without being asked. Good - put the bowl in, close the door. Where's Marco? Hey - where's Marco?! Marco is always one of the first in his crate, he doesn't want to miss a single bite and he knows I'll put his food in with him as soon as he's in his crate. No Marco. I did a headcount on the little dogs still uncrated - no Marco.

I quickly got the others into their crates and fed them, then went looking for Marco. He's nowhere to be found. I looked in Cider's crate - nope, he's not in there with her. I looked in Woodrow's crate - nope, he's not in there with him. Crap. I went to see if he got left out in the hallway when I closed the gate to the kitchen. Nope, no Marco. Not in the family room, either. Not on the patio, so I walked the whole yard and he's not outside. Well hell's bells, he can't just have vanished into thin air, he's got to be here somewhere. Check Cider's crate again - nope. Check Woodrow's crate again - nope. Checked all the other crates, both occupied and empty - nope. By this time I'm on the verge of panic.

Then I happened to glance at Lina's crate. She was sitting in front of the doorway, but I saw a flash of white further back in the crate. I stuck my head down there and sure enough, there was Marco, in the back of Lina's crate. I never thought to look in there, he's never gone in there before and besides, I could clearly see Lina sitting in front of the door and I didn't think she was big enough to block my view of anything that might be behind her.

Marco was liberated from Lina's crate, he hopped up into his own crate, I put the bowl in and shut the door. And heaved a huge sigh of relief.

Somebody please adopt this adorable little guy. He needs to be in his forever home. They don't come any sweeter or smarter and I absolutely adore him, but he gives me a heart attack at least a couple times a week.