One of our Dogster members, Hope, is missing from her home in Egypt, Tennessee.
Her distraught parents have sent a message out to their Dogster friends hoping that someone will have some information.
This is particularly sad because Hope was a street dog, she was finally rescued and found her forever family only six months ago. You can read the heartbreaking but triumphant story on her homepage.
Dear Dogster friends,
KM here. It is with a heavy heart that I report to you Hope went missing on Halloween day between 10:30 am and noon. No one was home during that short period of time. None of our neighbors who could have seen her were home during that time.
I got the call at work around noon from my husband, “I don’t know how to tell you this, but Hope is gone.”
Part of my spirit died right then.
Her fortress was tampered with, and she is gone. The chain link wire was severely bent at the back of the kennel, but this is not where she escaped. It looks as if something pulled strongly against the kennel (from the inside) to bend it in such a way in that spot. Cedar chips were strewn all over the inside of the kennel, all over the concrete areas and in her bowls and water bucket. Normally her kennel is neat and clean, and I have always kept the cedar chips swept off the concrete areas.
There is a hole in the chain link at the bottom of the kennel in the front corner. The wire has been “unraveled” (for lack of a better word) making a hole large enough for a dog twice her size to fit through. My husband and I both have deliberately tried to bend the kennel with our hands in similar fashion as what we found. The two of us together are not strong enough to do so.
Since we can find no other exit point, we must assume Hope then jumped or otherwise scaled the chain link fence of the dog lot after escaping the fortress. The big dog lot is lined with large rocks at the base of the fence. She did not dig out anywhere along the fence line. There are no holes in the ground. All of the gates were padlocked.
As best we know, Hope is at large.
Several hours after her disappearance, my husband and I saw Hope running fearfully less than a mile from home in a direction away from our neighborhood. Her head was down, her tail was tucked and her body reflected a fearful posture. She glanced at us and ran away as I called her name. That is the last time we saw Hope. We continue to search for her.
We put her food outside where she can get to it. We are keeping her schedule. The food has been untouched. The kennel and the dog lot are opened and unlocked when Cinnamon isn’t in the fence so that should Hope wish to come home, her fortress is waiting. Her bed is fluffed and her dog house remains cozy, but empty.
Being that you all have an emotional (and some financial) stake in Hope, I felt compelled to share with you this sad news. I want you to know that I still love her with all of my heart. I am crushed. Cinnamon is depressed. My husband is speechless. The hole in that galvanized chain link cannot match the hole in my heart.
We will never give up on her. God willing, I will feel those precious snout whiskers again someday. Please pray for us once again.
Love always,
KM, KD, Cini Mini and our precious Hope
In anyone has any information please contact Hope’s folks by pmail. You’re in our thoughts Hope, we want you home safe and sound.
