EPTI was away out of state. On Saturday at around 8pm our neighbor heard the dogs barking furiously. When my father got home, our three dogs were gone, and the gate open. A friend reported seeing a pickup driving around with three dogs that looked like ours. Someone dognapped them
My father, grandfather and aunt drove around and never found them. On Monday, animal control picked up one Brittany, then another and returned them to my father. We had the daughter and mother back, but not the grandmother. We never ride with them in the back of the truck, because they'll jump straight out. Uncontrollable, thankfully. The dognapper probably got to the first stoplight and they took off.
Animal Control also reported that someone had found a very old, dead Springer Spaniel on the side of the road down the hill from our house (our dogs are Brittany Spaniels, but easy mistake so it could have been her). None of the dogs had their collars (they were off for cleaning after the skunk incident the week before, see previous entry). This "springer" had no collar. Our dogs were all chipped, but animal control had no chip reader. The springer was buried at the dump, and my father was not allowed to dig it up to see if it was our dog. If it was, how did she die? Hit by a car? Just lay down and died?
Dad avoided telling us for a few days, hoping she'd show up at the front porch. It wouldn't be unprecedented. She got lost in the middle of Winter a couple years ago (December in Wyoming = cold) but turned up at a redneck families porch who fed her and kept her until I could go retrieve her.
Well, a week later she isn't back. While we can't know for sure it was her on the side of the road, it probably was. I'm not as busted up as I could be, because it was her time. She was almost 16 years old, which is super old for a larger dog. She was deaf, going blind, and terribly arthritic. We hadn't put her down cause we are big softies, and last time we went hunting, she pointed and retrieved a bird. It was what she lived for, and we sort of hoped she'd die doing it one day.
On the other hand, we had no chance to say goodbye. Couldn't bury her with other dead pets at the cabin, etc. I'm pretty pissed at whoever did it. I still don't know why though. Why, when stealing dogs, did he bother with the old decrepit one? Was he jusit tired of barking? (ours do not bark, except at deer). Was it someone who wanted to rob the house but wanted to get rid of the alarm dogs first? I'm glad I'm back and likely to be home in the evenings while my dad is still operating. If that fucker comes back he'll face the armory. Bo's time was close at hand anyway, but if we had lost Two (she was the second of the litter, never got a real name) and/or Ressa as well I'd be super pissed.
Anyway, RIP Bo (named after Boadicea/Boudicca, a Celtic queen from Anglia, where we lived when we first got Bo).
Two and Bo helping us fish:
![[image loading]](http://img27.imageshack.us/img27/2308/45916142.jpg)
Ressa, Bo, and Two By the cabin:
![[image loading]](http://img223.imageshack.us/img223/9933/58468644.jpg)
Clockwise from top left, granddaughter, grandmother, mother
![[image loading]](http://img193.imageshack.us/img193/8180/46679369.jpg)
