Monday, May 25, 2009

Saturday we had planned to have a Micmac Search Party Party, but Memorial Day weekend turned out to be a bad choice. So I went to Kathy's house in Amherst and she, husband Darren and I drove around putting up posters and dropping cards in newspaper boxes. It was an awakening for me. There is a LOT of undeveloped land around her house. On my first visit, it seemed to me that the area was mostly suburbs, but once you get a mile or two from the house, there are pastures and woods and farmland. Miles of it. We drove down country roads where there were no houses for miles.

The animal communicator had said to look for an old shed. We probably saw 50 of them. If Mac has gone feral and is living in the fields and woods, he has an awful lot of room to roam out of sight of any humans. It does seem odd though that there have been absolutely NO sightings of him in the past three weeks. I'm still fairly well convinced that someone has him, but I now only believe that about 60-40 instead of 99-1.

Although Darren understandably has a hard time believing that a puppy as well-socialized as Micmac -- who loves everybody and everything -- could simply decide to return to the wild, it is a common occurrence with whippets and some other breeds who for whatever reason, end up on their own. Even the most socialized dogs seem to flip a switch in their brains and go into survival mode. They won't even come to their owners when they are in this state.

I first heard about this when I got into whippets, and my initial thought was, well, those dogs were simply not very bonded to their owners. But as I learned more about it, I discovered that it really can happen to any whippet at all. Some of the ones who have taken off and "gone to ground" are dogs who were sleeping with their owners the day before. It's a strange thing, and it doesn't happen to every whippet on the run, but it happens to an awful lot.

It's actually a good thing because they survive very well this way. Aero, who belongs to a friend, escaped from a yard in unfamiliar territory in West Virginia. He was being transported to a new home and was traveling with someone he didn't know. The dog was missing for 61 days in the mountains in winter. It was six degrees some nights. Two months after his adventure began, he was spotted in a garage stealing cat food. He wouldn't come to anyone, but when someone came back with a couple of whippets, he approached. They caught him, and as soon as the leash was snapped on, Aero was back to himself. Very strange.

But wherever Micmac is, I think the answer is still to spread the word and let as many people as possible know there is a large reward out there for him. Whether someone spots him or has him confined, $500 ought to encourage some action.

Sharyn

1 comment:

  1. I was wondering if there is any update? Have you guys found him yet?? I hope so!

    ReplyDelete