On Saturday, June 23rd and Sunday, June 24th a group of people were trying to locate and capture a bichon who had escaped through a door at his home the previous weekend. There were several sightings of the bichon in a few sections of Gaithersburg, MD. As I was on my way to meet the owner to help with the search, the dog crossed my path on the road! That started many, many hours of our going from street to street looking for him, leaving flyers with people and posting them on poles and trees along the way. Every time we would consider heading home, someone else would tell us of a recent sighting. At 11 PM he was seen running down the middle of the road where I first saw him (but about one mile away). We finally gave up late that night .... and the search started again the next day.

On Sunday the sightings were in a nearby subdivision. He was seen in many different places, but we always seemed to be one step behind him. Finally at about 9 PM, some young boys spotted him and followed him up one of the streets. They caught our attention and we followed them. Thankfully (and luckily!) the dog got himself entrapped within a large fenced-in yard. It took another two hours to get him into a crate, but once we had him in that yard we knew we would get him.

From there, we raced him to the emergency veterinary hospital where we were in for a huge surprise ... and disappointment! This was NOT the bichon of the owner I was working with! We could not tell that in the darkness of the night in the backyard ... and before that, we couldn't get close to him to see. He was just too frightened and was such a MESS from being on his own in the woods for over a week (or so we thought). Plus when we were talking and trying to cajole him while he was in the fenced-in yard, the only voice he seemed to listen to and not be fearful of was the woman who we thought owned the dog. How heartbreaking for her after all of that to learn her dog is still missing!

So I took this little one into Maryland Bichon Frise Rescue, Inc. and have filed "Found" reports on him. I have done searches trying to find his family. So far I have had no luck finding them ... nor has the county Humane Society. I have received calls about two other lost bichons this week, but Hadley is not either of those (and since I received those calls, both of those bichons have been returned to their families). When the required number of days have passed and all attempts to find his family have been exhausted, we can then consider him as one of our Rescue dogs and will be able to place him at the appropriate time.

It took over five hours for Hadley's coat to be clipped down ... and that was with at least 2 and usually 3 people working on him at one time! He was so incredibly good that everyone who came into the exam room to offer assistance thought he had been sedated ... but he had not! He just sat there and did not move while we just worked and worked and worked on him. He even started to give little kisses to us as we cut off his matted and debris-filled coat.

After we clipped him down, I reweighed Hadley. He started at only 11.9 pounds, but after his coat was gone he was down to 11.4 pounds. The little guy needs to gain a few pounds ... so he gets 1 cup of food per meal (instead of 1/3 cup) and is allowed lots of treats. He is enjoying that! We estimate his age to be between 3-5 years and that he was out on his own possibly for months!

I have had to keep Hadley separate from Charley and Lucy the past two days. They have seen each other through an expen and a gate that is separating Hadley from them. They cannot wait to meet him. He just looks at them. He hasn't shown any fear towards them and it wasn't until tonight that it looked like he had any interest in meeting them. I will start introducing them tomorrow. I am trying to take things slowly with him .... I don't want to do anything that might further traumatize him.

If Hadley should become one of our Rescue dogs, then we will return to the vet's for some more work: dental cleaning, microchipping and a few more tests. Until then, I will continue to work on his becoming accustomed to being safe and loved. It is starting to work. We took a nap together today, and he came over and put his head on my arm, and gave me gentle kisses all over my face. I loved it! :-)