![\"\"](\"https:\/\/feedingandrew.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/paam-tomaquet.jpg\" "\\"pa'am")
<\/a>\n\tSummer on toast!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
A week later, on a Sunday morning at 6:30 am, Donna and Teddy pulled up to the house.\u00a0 Teddy greeted me like he had known me for years.\u00a0 Donna and I sat on the front lawn and talked as she threw the ball for him.\u00a0 Just like my sister\u2019s Heelers, he didn\u2019t need a leash to stay at your side or near by.\u00a0 He made sure that he kept us properly herded right there on the lawn.\u00a0\u00a0 Truman seemed to like him too and when Andrew met him, he fell in love.\u00a0\u00a0 Everything seemed to have happened for a reason and with just a few tears Donna was ready to leave.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s when all hell broke loose.<\/p>\n
What we all had failed to realize was that Teddy had deeply bonded with Donna and his off leash abilities were tied to not losing her.\u00a0 Teddy shot from door to window where he tried to jump from the second story.\u00a0 I grabbed him before he fell out and suddenly he was out the back door into the yard and around to the gate where he tried to push his way out.\u00a0 When that didn\u2019t work, he was back upstairs pacing from window to window.\u00a0 At one point Donna returned for some reason and he managed to squeeze his way out another window covered with metal bars (tasteful Spanish style ones if you\u2019re wondering).\u00a0 This poor little dog was frantically trying to get back to Donna, but luckily, Andrew had a calming effect on him and for the rest of the day, Teddy stuck by Andrew\u2019s side or on his bed.\u00a0\u00a0 I could tell this really made Andrew feel special and it started to seem like it might just work.<\/p>\n
Then we decided to take him hiking in Runyon Canyon, which is our local off-leash, dog friendly, hiking trail up in the Hollywood Hills.\u00a0\u00a0 Heelers love to hike and we hoped this would help him see how great his new home would be.<\/p>\n
Even though it was almost six when we started, the afternoon heat was still fresh on the trail and showed signs of lingering for a while longer.\u00a0\u00a0 We still took the more rigorous spine (Andrew\u2019s favorite) and even though we kept him on leash, Teddy seemed at home and happy to climb and stayed right up with Andrew, leaving Truman and me behind.\u00a0\u00a0 Just 10 minutes into the sun drenched hike I called for Andrew to wait for us at the lone shade tree for a water break.\u00a0 As I got out the portable water bowl and fumbled with my water pack to fill it, Teddy saw an opportunity and seized it.\u00a0 He bolted and started to run back down the hill.<\/p>\n
My first reaction was not the fear of losing him, but the dread of having to walk back up the hill again.\u00a0\u00a0 I yelled at Andrew to pursue him as quickly as he could.\u00a0 Andrew shot down the hill so fast that I now imagined a trip to the emergency room as well.\u00a0 I, too, started down, asking people along the way if they had seen a little red dog.\u00a0\u00a0 One group of hikers did see him, but it was not the trail he was on.\u00a0 They said that he had shot off the trail and straight down into the wilds of the canyon.<\/p>\n
My reoccurring dream was starting to come back to haunt me, only this was worse.\u00a0 To lose a dog is horrible; to lose your friends only connection to her recently departed brother was beyond tragic.<\/p>\n
Andrew finally came back up the hill and for the next three or four hours and even after the canyon\u2019s heat gave way to darkness and coyote cries, we climbed the hills yelling out for Teddy to come back.\u00a0 People were kind and even one person tweeted it out on a special Runyon Canyon Tweet tree.\u00a0 Still, when we left the canyon, we left one dog short and with the burden of letting Donna know about the loss.<\/p>\n
I delivered the news.\u00a0 Perhaps, because grief had so overwhelmed her life for the last few weeks that Donna was surprisingly calm and resigned to Teddy\u2019s fate.\u00a0 We were all sure that his 35 pound frame would not survive a night in a coyote filled canyon and went to bed with heavy hearts.\u00a0 One last thing I did before falling asleep was to post Teddy\u2019s picture on the Runyon Facebook page at the suggestion of one kind Tweeter.<\/p>\n
The next morning I received a phone call from an unfamiliar number and area code. Hoping for a \u201cI have your dog\u201d call, I sprang for the phone.\u00a0 It wasn\u2019t the call I so desperately wanted, but the man who ran the Facebook page on which I had posted.\u00a0 He informed me that he had alerted over 8000 fans and he would be in the canyon searching for a good part of the day.\u00a0\u00a0 Later, he called back to let me know that one of the fans was the guy from The Bachelor and he tweeted Teddy\u2019s loss to over 50,000 followers.\u00a0 Unbelievably, before noon there were around 100,000 people who had been alerted and news that many of the day\u2019s hikers were calling out for Teddy as they made their way through the canyon.<\/p>\n
I got to work as well.\u00a0 I made posters and had them printed up at Staples.\u00a0 Once they were ready, Andrew and I took to the hills again.\u00a0 On our way up, we got another call from Jeff:\u00a0 Teddy had been sighted twice and in the same spot.\u00a0\u00a0 He had been sleeping in the shade, but unfortunately nobody grabbed him and he was no longer there.\u00a0 Still, Teddy had survived the coyotes and the place he had been seen at was near water.\u00a0 When we arrived, we put up posters and began our search.\u00a0 Andrew and I scoured up and down the rocky terrain in the area where Teddy had been spotted.\u00a0 We searched through all the undergrowth all the while calling out his name.\u00a0 After a while, Andrew took off and for hours hiked up and down the canyon calling for Teddy.<\/p>\n
In the mean time, I had gotten hold of Donna and told her that Teddy had been seen, but not found.\u00a0 She said she would come, but by the time she got to the canyon it was almost dark and hope was running thin again.\u00a0\u00a0 We finally reached the spot where he had last been seen, and Donna shot up the side of the canyon. Letting go of the calmness she had tried to approach this loss with, her real feelings for Teddy became apparent. \u00a0She desperately screamed out his name and maniacally worked his favorite squeaky toy, all the while slipping on the loose rubble that the Manzanita and scrub oaks clung to on this precarious slope.<\/p>\n
Before I could even go up after her, I heard the cry \u201cOh my God, oh my God, oh my God!\u00a0 It\u2019s Teddy. \u201c<\/p>\n
Donna worked her way down the hill and came out of the shadows with Teddy right at her side.\u00a0\u00a0 His leash was gone, but he was attached to Donna with a bond stronger than any leash could afford.\u00a0 We got him down to the water source and fed him handfuls of snacks that we had brought.<\/p>\n
As we walked, Donna said that she couldn\u2019t leave him.\u00a0 I had suspected this might happen and was prepared for it.\u00a0 She had been through so many traumas that she just couldn\u2019t leave her brother\u2019s dog right now.\u00a0\u00a0 During this whole exchange, I had failed to see Andrew walk off and get into the car.\u00a0 When Donna finally left, I found him sitting there in the dark.\u00a0 I could tell he had been crying.<\/p>\n
\u201cDad, how could she just take him like that?\u00a0 That\u2019s so messed up.\u00a0 I\u2019ve have spent the last 24 hours climbing up and down the canyon searching for him and she just takes him away like that.\u201d<\/p>\n
My heart seemed to keep breaking over and over this summer and it was falling apart once again.\u00a0 I knew what this dog meant to Andrew.\u00a0 This was his worst nightmare realized.\u00a0 He had given his heart over in an overwhelming instant of trust and no sooner had he done so, life proved to be cruel once again.\u00a0 This was not how it was supposed to have played out.\u00a0\u00a0 I had pictured our own version of \u201cMy Dog Skip\u201d and was living the very abridged version of \u201cOld Yeller.\u201d<\/p>\n
I did my best to explain what Donna was going through.\u00a0 If anyone could understand loss and what it can do to you, it was Andrew.\u00a0 I knew there was one more thing I had to do.<\/p>\n
\u201cAndrew, for whatever reason, Teddy was just not meant for us.\u00a0 He bonded with Donna after losing her brother and hopefully she will keep him.\u00a0 I think that\u2019s where he belongs.\u00a0 But I\u2019m sure there is another dog out there who would love to have a good home with us.\u00a0 Would you like to start looking for another dog?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes, dad.\u00a0 I would,\u201d came a soft reply.\u00a0 Andrew was mostly silent on the way home, but I chattered a bit about the prospects of finding a dog that would be a good fit for us.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe will start with one of the dog rescue organizations in the city,\u201d I mused \u201cand we can find one that doesn\u2019t come with so much baggage.\u201d<\/p>\n
Famous last words\u2026<\/p>\n
Coming soon:\u00a0 The Dog Days of Summer, Part III or Chasing Maggie.<\/p>\n
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