# Parker walked away from home today. But we got him back



## xellil (Apr 4, 2011)

Hubby called me as I was leaving Ft. Worth in the godawful traffic, and i got so freaked out I started graying out. I was imagining Parker getting killed in a bed of fire ants, hawks, coyotes, wild pigs, cars. I had a bunch of dental work done this morning and I had been driving in traffic all day so I felt like crap in the first place. I knew if hubby called me he had been looking for a long time.

Apparently he had the dogs in the yard and was trimming bushes and didn't check for awhile. Parker doesn't run ANYWHERE. He doesn't even walk fast. It's impossible to lose him if you are checking on him every few minutes. Snorkels can move three times faster than Parker and that's not saying much. A neighbor found Parker about a half mile down the road, just moseying along, heading toward town. They didn't recognize him so they took him home and put him in a little pen in the yard and thank goodness hadn't had his microchip checked or I wouldn't be a foster mom any more because that goes back to the rescue. 

I can't decide whether to kill hubby or just torture him slowly for awhile. I probably won't do either; he was so scared I doubt he'll do that again.

Thank goodness my brother is coming to fence our yard this weekend. Neither one of the dachshunds wear tags at home because they hit the ground when they walk so he was out there with no collar. Another neighbor might have taken him straight to the dog pound.


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## Sprocket (Oct 4, 2011)

GOOD thing you got him back! 

I wonder where he was going? lol


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## xellil (Apr 4, 2011)

Probably to get a beer but he forgot his wallet.

I wonder if he would have ever turned around and come back.


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## lovemydogsalways (Mar 4, 2012)

Really glad he was found. How did the people find out he was yours?


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## xellil (Apr 4, 2011)

lovemydogsalways said:


> Really glad he was found. How did the people find out he was yours?


hubby was going door to door - another neighbor told him the people that picked him up had stopped and asked if he knew the dog. He said he didn't even though he's been up here since we got Parker, but he was drunk so I guess he forgot.

It was really nice of those folks to pick him up. I bet alot of people out here would have just kept driving. I'm sure several cars passed him - he was not on a "main" road but there's traffic there. I bet it took Parker an hour or more to get that far.


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## bridget246 (Oct 26, 2011)

That reminded me of that day I left my door unlocked and somehow it opened when the wind blew to hard. It is kind of funny now. I came home, saw Bridget on the couch and said hello. Looked at the door wide open and almost fainting thinking Bridget ran out the house. Looked the other direction and saw Bridget relaxing on the couch, looked back at the door and almost fainted about Bridget being gone again. The stupid things that happen to us when we go through shock. I closed the door back, checked the whole house for a robber, and then gave Bridget a huge reward. Bridget looked really confused as to why she was giving a huge reward for sitting on the couch relaxing.


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## xellil (Apr 4, 2011)

bridget246 said:


> That reminded me of that day I left my door unlocked and somehow it opened when the wind blew to hard. It is kind of funny now. I came home, saw Bridget on the couch and said hello. Looked at the door wide open and almost fainting thinking Bridget ran out the house. Looked the other direction and saw Bridget relaxing on the couch, looked back at the door and almost fainted about Bridget being gone again. The stupid things that happen to us when we go through shock. I closed the door back, checked the whole house for a robber, and then gave Bridget a huge reward. Bridget looked really confused as to why she was giving a huge reward for sitting on the couch relaxing.


Ha - Bridget says she'll take that reward any day for sitting on the couch! 

I've done that before - run all over the place looking for a dog, including down to the barns and out in the pastures, when they were sleeping in a dog bed I forgot to check or didn't see them when I checked.

That's one thing I like about Rebel. i can't lose him under a blanket.


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## BeagleCountry (Jan 20, 2012)

I'm so glad Parker is home. It is times like these when we truly realize how much we love them.

Please take care of yourself.


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## chowder (Sep 7, 2008)

I'm so glad you found the little guy!!! It's the small ones that we lose, and then we panic. I know your husband must have been a wreck. 
The Lhasa I had before Chelsy wandered out of the yard once. She got under the fence and just kept going. She was old and blind and just wandered and wandered. Luckily she could still hear and I was screaming my lungs out for her. She finally yapped a few times and I found her about 4 houses over, stuck in someones garden patch. 

Give Parker lots of hugs. And then you can finally give your husband a hug, too. I"m sure he felt bad. Oh, and change the microchip number to your name and address....you can just do it online. I did it with Shades microchip when he became my dog.


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## Donna Little (May 31, 2011)

Thank goodness you got him back! He was probably going out for a hamburger or something. My guess would be Snorkels sent him...:tongue1:


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## Makovach (Jan 24, 2012)

That had to be crazy scary!

So glad nothing happened and he is safe and sound now.


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## Celt (Dec 27, 2010)

So glad that he's home safe. This kind of scenario is the reason my boys wear embrodiered "tag" collars.


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## magicre (Apr 7, 2010)

xellil said:


> Hubby called me as I was leaving Ft. Worth in the godawful traffic, and i got so freaked out I started graying out. I was imagining Parker getting killed in a bed of fire ants, hawks, coyotes, wild pigs, cars. I had a bunch of dental work done this morning and I had been driving in traffic all day so I felt like crap in the first place. I knew if hubby called me he had been looking for a long time.
> 
> Apparently he had the dogs in the yard and was trimming bushes and didn't check for awhile. Parker doesn't run ANYWHERE. He doesn't even walk fast. It's impossible to lose him if you are checking on him every few minutes. Snorkels can move three times faster than Parker and that's not saying much. A neighbor found Parker about a half mile down the road, just moseying along, heading toward town. They didn't recognize him so they took him home and put him in a little pen in the yard and thank goodness hadn't had his microchip checked or I wouldn't be a foster mom any more because that goes back to the rescue.
> 
> ...


i swear i'm getting older because of my dogs and yours....i can't wait for the fence either....


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## meggels (May 30, 2010)

I know it's not funny, and I am SO glad he was found, but I can't help but snicker at the mental image in my head of a little dachshund just moseying down the road LOL.


Oh and I would have totally stopped and tried to pick him up. I'm really bad about trying to "rescue" the "stray" dogs I come across (not to steal or anything, just to keep safe and out of harms way in the road).


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## MollyWoppy (Mar 19, 2010)

Glad the old boy made his way home in the end. I'm guessing 1/2 mile walk is quite a jog for him, you wonder what on earth is going through their heads sometimes don't you?
Grab yourself a nice cold wine, sit yourself down and give Parker a jolly good talking to. 
I know you're initially mad at your husband, but I've been there and done that, the cat was there a second ago and suddenly she's gone, frantic, searching, almost crying thinking the worst, and then the other half starts up, just don't need it, I've punished myself enough already. So, go easy on him, it won't happen again, promise.


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## DaneMama (Jun 27, 2008)

So glad to hear that you got him back safe and sound! I know how heart breaking and scary it can be to lose a pet....


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## 3labs (Mar 27, 2012)

You got him back! That's always the best feeling. I would slow torture hubby.


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## xellil (Apr 4, 2011)

I was pretty nice to him overall. I know how horrible I would feel if it were me. Rick doesn't holler at me when I have royally screwed up so I decided to return the favor and not make him feel worse. I'm pretty proud of myself, actually. Maybe I'm finally growing up. 

Hubby thinks Parker was trying to find me. He says when I am gone Parker whines and looks for me all the time.

And Meg I agree - he's a very odd little dog and just goes slooooow. It was probably pretty funny looking. I wonder what I would have thought if Rick hadn't called me and those folks hadn't picked him up and I found him walking up the road on my way home. Wonder how long it would have taken me to realize it was my own dog. I'd have probably said "hey that dog looks kind of like Parker!"

We pick up dogs too although I haven't seen one out here since we moved back. It's hard to drive off and leave a dog you know is either lost or dumped. I'm very grateful someone did it for me. And also grateful Parker is not scared of people! They said he came with them just like they were his new family. If he had run from them he would have ended up who knows where and gotten eaten by coyotes tonight.


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## meggels (May 30, 2010)

Oh god, I would have been so excited if I had found a friendly dachshund (one of my favorite breeds). He would have become part of my family and been pampered until I found his actual family lol.


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## NewYorkDogue (Sep 27, 2011)

So glad Mr. Parker found his way back to you... that boy has some wanderlust, doesn't he? 

Makes sense that he was in search of you; you've probably become his "north star"... 

As sweet as the story ended, good to know the fencing will be installed soon!


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## frogdog (Aug 10, 2011)

love a happy ending...what a relief...thank goodness for good neighbors and kind people


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## Unosmom (May 3, 2009)

Gosh, thats scary. Those dachshunds are like beagles, one minute theyre there, next, the're gone. I'm trying to decide whether to microchip my parents dachshund, even though he hangs out around the house, my parents have so many visitors that stay at their house for a week or longer, I'm paranoid about someone leaving the gate open and him going to explore the great outdoors. 

As far as tags go, I highly recommend boomerang slider tags, they are little more expensive then average tags, but the quality is so good, it'll last for years. 
Boomerang Tags


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## frogdog (Aug 10, 2011)

I've seen these Boomerang tags...will they fit onto the no stink Dublin collars? I use the Dublin tags with the lobster clasp that they come with but could add this additional just in case.


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## xellil (Apr 4, 2011)

Yes, I really thought it wouldn't be that hard to live without a fence and with a small pen they could pee in. 

But it's so confining - if I go out into the yard all three of them want to go so I can't dig in the flowerbeds or piddle around (like Rick did) and the dachshunds usually head off in different directions so i spend all my time following them around. With three dogs it's really alot harder to keep track than with two. 

I could probably tie them out but I've never done that and I hate to start now. Of course poor Rebel is the one who has to be well behaved and the spoiled rotten doxies just do whatever they want. If I called and either one of them responded I think I'd fall over dead of shock.

frogdog, I love your collage of Yogi. That is so cool!


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## magicre (Apr 7, 2010)

frogdog said:


> love a happy ending...what a relief...thank goodness for good neighbors and kind people


that collage is so cute. yogi looks like he's smoking a stogie -- left hand side LOL


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## Unosmom (May 3, 2009)

> I've seen these Boomerang tags...will they fit onto the no stink Dublin collars? I use the Dublin tags with the lobster clasp that they come with but could add this additional just in case.


it should work with this one
Boomerang Tags


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## frogdog (Aug 10, 2011)

Good deal...may have to order several...thanks!


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## Dude and Bucks Mamma (May 14, 2011)

xellil said:


> I was pretty nice to him overall. I know how horrible I would feel if it were me. Rick doesn't holler at me when I have royally screwed up so I decided to return the favor and not make him feel worse. I'm pretty proud of myself, actually. Maybe I'm finally growing up.
> 
> Hubby thinks Parker was trying to find me. He says when I am gone Parker whines and looks for me all the time.
> 
> ...


Hmmm, maybe they need a new dachshund. You already said you aren't keeping him... Maybe his "new family" would adopt him... It sounded like they liked him. Potential forever home, maybe?

I would at least tie Parker. We used to tie our deaf and nearly blind brittany out when we were out front because we liked to be outside with us but he couldn't hear us if we called him back! Then Parker could be out in the sunshine with you and the other dogs and you would be able to work in the yard without worrying about him taking a stroll again. You know I am not a fan of tethering at all but I have no issues with tethering so long as I am out there with them. We tether the dogs when we camp and we tether Buck down at the beach. Well, we tie him to an exposed root. Hahaha.


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## xellil (Apr 4, 2011)

Dude and Bucks Mamma said:


> Hmmm, maybe they need a new dachshund. You already said you aren't keeping him... Maybe his "new family" would adopt him... It sounded like they liked him. Potential forever home, maybe?
> 
> I would at least tie Parker. We used to tie our deaf and nearly blind brittany out when we were out front because we liked to be outside with us but he couldn't hear us if we called him back! Then Parker could be out in the sunshine with you and the other dogs and you would be able to work in the yard without worrying about him taking a stroll again. You know I am not a fan of tethering at all but I have no issues with tethering so long as I am out there with them. We tether the dogs when we camp and we tether Buck down at the beach. Well, we tie him to an exposed root. Hahaha.


No, they are not the ones for him - first of all they are some of the snooty neighbors. Rick said the hubby was plastered - Parker was enclosed in a little porch and he was knocking beer bottles over when he got excited to see Rick and started running around. The wife was a little uptight. I don't want Parker living with a drunk and a bitch, even though it was very nice of them to pick him up.

And last but not least, if they are the people in the house I think, they shot my parents dog. They have two labs that used to come up here every morning, eat, hang out, poop in the yard, and go home about 10 am. One day my mom's chow went through the electric fence and followed them home and they shot him. I'm not 100% positive the people who picked up Parker are those people so I'll have to get hubby to show me exactly which house.

But still, i am grateful they got him. Being out here on the loose is no place for a very small dog after dark. Or any dog. There are owls and coyotes all over the place. Oh, and fire ants. They will kill a small dog very quickly.

Luckily, we are getting our fence. We should start building it Saturday and it will take a few days. Hubby took the dogs to the barn tonight and he (gasp) tied Parker down there so he could go in and out without watching him every second. he said it worked out pretty well but Parker was not happy about it.


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## Dude and Bucks Mamma (May 14, 2011)

SHOT YOUR PARENTS' DOG??? Who the **** does that??? Yea... Parker can do better.


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## Donna Little (May 31, 2011)

xellil said:


> I don't want Parker living with a drunk and a bitch, even though it was very nice of them to pick him up.


There's a country song somewhere with a line or two in it like this I think.....


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