My damn muts

OK. Tobi and Wiley have been living in Newhall for almost 3 years now, and we are pretty sure that they know their way home if they ever went downstairs to "play."

Well, let me tell you, Lyanne and I woke up to a scary situation last night.

As many of you know, there has been a heat wave throughout California (that is starting to subside). Last night was still quite hot in Newhall, so Lyanne left both the front balcony sliding door as well as the front door open to ventilate any cool breeze into the condo.

We were watching TV, and it was getting late. Without realizing it, both of us fell asleep in front of the TV. Before I know it, Lyanne woke up me freaking out, telling me that the dogs are gone.

I was still gloggy, and I was like "What are you talking about?" I was just petting them in my "half-sleep mode." I got up, and looked around. Sure enough, the dogs were gone. Gone! WTF! How did they get out? Why did they get out?

So, I got downstairs and started yelling their names. Now, they have gotten out before, and they generally don't venture really far. Normally, we catch them as soon as they run downstairs, and a simple "Tobi, Wiley" yell will get them to come back towards us. Worst case (before last night) has been them running to the former kids area to poop. And right after they are done with their businesses, they will run back to us.

Still semi-gloggy, I walked down and started to yell their name. In every time before last night, after I yell their name, I hear jingles. That tells me that they are nearby, and I can go find them. I keep yelling, and NOTHING. WTF. Where could they have gone? Now, it's late at night, and I am starting to fear for their safety. It's almost midnight, and that's not gone, given that there are known sightings of coyotes in our neighborhood.

I walked all the way to the beginning of the street. All along the way, I was yelling "Tobi, Wiley." I started to walk back to meet Lyanne half way to see if she had any luck. None. God dang-it, where could they have gone? Lyanne went back to get her car, so that she can drive around the neighborhood. In the mean time, one of our neighbors came home and saw us yelling. He was very nice, and helped us look for about 10 minutes. To that end, no luck. Now, I am really starting to get worried. By now, Lyanne had gotten her car ready to go out to look for them. She asked if I wanted to hop in, and I told her no. It's better to split up and look for them at the same time.

So, off she goes. I went to my car to get a flash light. I took my flashlight to trod up the hill. I was wearing that old ass slippers, and I could not get up the hill. I went back up to the condo, and went to change shoes so that I can go up the trial and try and see if I can find them. As I was leaving the condo, I decided to leave the front door open, so that they can get into the house in an event that they magically come back.

Back downstairs I go, and I went up the hill/trial. I keep yelling their names, and I hear nothing. I came back down the hill, and I was going to cruise Trumpet Drive one more time.
Up in the trials, I remember saying outloud to God and praying for their safety, and their safe return. The search, at this point, is reaching to be about an hour long so far, and it does not look good for Tobi and Wiley. My fear at this point is not so much that someone has taken them in, but the coyotes. I figure that if someone took them in, at least they are safe. We can always print up posters to try to get them back.

Then suddenly, jingle, jingle, jingle. Here they come, running towards the direction of the condo. I quickly picked them up, and did not let go of them until I got back up to the condo. I locked them up, and went to my car to go find Lyanne to come home. I drove up to Dockweiler first, figuring that she would be looking there. Luckily for me, I found her almost at the end of Dockweiler. I flagged her down, and I could tell that she has been crying, so I told her that they are home.

We returned home after that ordeal, and there are couple small reflections/lessons learned.