This is a long story....but for any of you who travel or camp with your dogs it is worth reading. Please don't do what I did.....................
The first dog of my own is my now 9.5 year old flashy mahogany brindle boxer "Mikela". Mikela was purchased as a pet and spent a short time being shown following a breeders encouragement.
I was working for a general contractor, Mikela was 15 months old. My boss had asked that I spend some time at a job site in Tuolome Meadows on the outskirts of Yosemite Park. Since I was going to be the only woman on the site and Mikela already accompanied me to work daily, I decided I would take her with me. The hotel was happy to have her (amazing eh?).
My boss, Mikela and I left early in the morning. I followed him up while he towed a compressor up to the site. Needless to say it was a long slow trip but Mikela sat up front with me the whole way and we had a nice chat :-)
We arrived at about 6 pm and I went and checked in to the hotel. It was just getting dark when we headed over to the house that the guys were staying in across the street. We hung out for awhile and I fed Mikela and then we all decided to go to the restaurant on the corner for some dinner. I left Mikela in the house ASSUMING she would be ok being left for an hour. Well I will never make that mistake again.........
When we got back it was dark and we went inside and no sign of Mikela. We looked and called and still no Mikela. Then one of the guys noticed a screen had been pushed out of the window in the living room.....she was gone....it was now about 9pm and pitch black in this tiny town.
The guys helped me look for about an hour (oh gee did I forget to thank them? NOT) and I continued looking and calling and driving my bosses 4x4 Explorer into places it should have never been, in fact I had no fear of the dark or the snakes, bears or coyotes I just wanted to find my dog.
At about 11pm I was tired and blurry from the tears.....In hysterics I phoned my parents (thank god for them) and they were of course asleep. I guess I should have tried to gain composure but as soon as I heard his voice I lost it........my mom was lying there and she woke up as she could hear my screams into the phone: "Mikela is gone, I cannot find her! She broke out of the house, I have been looking! She is gone! She is gone! She is gone!" I said. In fact I was so hysterical when my dad asked me where I was and how to get there I couldn't tell him. He said he would head for Yosemite and to call him on the cell phone with directions later. He and my mother actually got up and got dressed, grabbed their dog and got in the car. No extra clothes no nothing! My mother told me to start telling people there was a $500 reward for her.......I said "Mom I don't have $500 right now", she said "Well then you will just have to pay me back". I asked mom to grab a photo of Mikela and that was all she came with.
The only place open now was the Chevron station. I would go by there from time to time and the man working would give me coffee. He let me borrow a flashlight too. Many of the children in the area had asked their parents to stay out late in hopes of getting the $500 prize for finding my dog...hey whatever works right? I drove up and down the freeway which actually goes right through the center of town....many big trucks go through there at over 45mph.....I was bleary eyed driving up and down that road.....I was looking for a body. I drove down along the river which gushed from the snow run off. It was bitter cold water but sounded like our familiar ocean that Mikela and I spent each evening after work at. I thought she would go towards something familiar...still no Mikela. It was now about 3am.
I went to the phone and called my dad. He had stopped at the base of Yosemite and asked how to get to Tuolome and was on his way....I told him to talk to the guy at the Chevron station, he would know where I was. The Chevron station guy (named Chris) told the CHP officer on duty about her and he said he would keep an eye out. My parents arrived at 5am. They found me walking up and down the streets of the small town calling for Mikela.
My mother took me back to my room to get some rest....they were going to look now and at first light they would be back for me. I don't know if I slept or not but at 6am I was up and we were out looking. Mom had spoken with the hotel owner and she was helping my mother make fliers with the reward and a picture. Purely on adrenaline and a double espresso my father and I decided to walk down the river to where it emptied into Mono Lake. I still had a gut feeling she would go to this area as the water sounded like the pounding ocean. It was hot and I was tired and losing my voice but I knew she would probably only respond to me, so I kept calling for her. We got to the end of the long river path and still no sign of her. By now my mother had canvassed most of the town and people were asking me about her and they were hopeful but fearful I would not find her. You see they thought that maybe a bear or coyote had gotten her as they are prominent in that area. As we were walking the lake path my father and I noticed a dog barking (we knew it was not Mikela) on the ridge top on the other bank of the river. We had said that we would look there after treking down this side so at about noon, we made our way back to the 4x4 which was now extremely dirty from my off road driving the night before. We found our way to this ridge. It was behind a pumice stone quarry and there was all kinds of activity up there. I told my father there was no way she would be up here....Mikela hates noise and hates tractors. My father wanted to check it all out though so we made our way behind the activity towards the ridge where there was a mobile trailer there. We stopped just outside and I called for Mikela a few times. A woman came out of the trailer and I asked if she had seen a boxer dog with "stand up" ears (her ears are cropped) and she pointed just behind me to the left and said....."Does she look like that?" Out of the corner of my eye I saw her and before my father knew what I was doing I was out of the car and had scooped her up. She had been holding up a very swollen front leg. My father had exited the car now and said she may have been bitten by a rattlesnake. I figured it to be a broken leg. I knew she was in shock. I was unsure how she had survived the very frigid night and how or when she had suffered this injury. In fact we will never know.
I climbed into the back seat holding my baby and she was very shocky now. Panting way too hard, rapid heart beat. I knew she needed a vet NOW! We drove down to town and I phoned my mother on her cell phone. We needed to find a veterinarian now (remember we are in the middle of a truckers town). My mother was to meet us at the hotel with the directions to a vet. The woman at the hotel said the vet was located in a town 30 minutes away! She called him for us and said we were on our way. That 30 minute drive was like 3 hours! I just held her on my lap and talked to her, trying to tell her she would be ok, even though I was frantic. She seemed to be somewhat coherent but she was not all there.
We finally arrived at the vet and the nurse came out to meet us at the car. I carried her in and placed her on the exam table. The vet, a very nice man, Davis grad., recently retired from a thriving practice in Petaluma, CA came in to examine her. He gave her a shot for the pain and I started to faint. He told me her leg was broken badly, she need to see an orthopedic specialist for surgery most likely. He placed her in a temporary cast, gave us some pain meds to get her through the rest of the day and night and we were on our way again.
We headed back to town and dropped off the 4x4 and I left a note for my boss (who was not too happy btw) and we headed to grab some lunch (it was now 3pm) and we stopped at the hotel for my things and to thank the woman who owned the hotel. Then we went for gas and to thank the man who had helped me that night. We then started our long drive home. I sat in the back of my parents car and Mikela had her head on my lap.
On the way home I contacted a friend, who bred Mikelas father, and she directed me to an orthopedic surgeon in San Jose. I called them from the cell phone and started out very nice with the receptionist and then finally told her that my dog could not wait 1 week for an appointment this was an accident we are all in shock I have been up for more than 24 hours and I need to speak to the surgeon NOW! She was happy to have me off the phone and passed me on to the surgeon who booked me an appointment for 8am the next morning.
Mikela and I slept on the floor that night with my arm around her. She and I were up several times because of her pain. The next morning we were off to the vet. After x-rays and exam we found that she had broken both bones in her front leg and that the main one in the front needed a plate and pins to secure it and for it to heal properly. Then it was off to make payment arrangements. The bill was for $2500.00. Thankfully again my parents extended me a loan (they both went with me to the vet that day). Mikela had surgery that afternoon. She went through it wonderfully! I love this medical group. They called me so often I did not have to call them! At night the practice turns into emergency so she had 24 hour care! I did call at about 1am and I could hear a dog crying in the background...it was my baby. They assured me they were going to give her meds and would call me if she continued. I told them I wanted to be there for her if it would help. The next day I drove to pick her up....she was so happy to see me! They brought her out to the front on a leash and she would hop and thump her cast on the floor....now Mikela had a nickname "thumper" :-)
Thumper thumped around for a couple of months and we continued to see the vet for x-rays and cast changes etc......she made an excellent and full recovery. She now sports a plate and 4 pins in her front leg and has a slight limp. Showing was out but I didn't care....thats never been what is important to me. My dogs are my kids and showing is something for people, not for the dogs, they could care less :-) I am thankful for my parents and for having my first boxer still with me.
Finally the moral to the story: Mikela was crate trained. In fact she loves her crate and has a choice where to sleep at night and chooses her crate often times. Had I brought it with us and secured her inside while we were out to dinner NONE OF THIS WOULD HAVE HAPPENED!!!!!!!!!!!! Crate train and take it with you on vacation....don't do what I did...don't assume!
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