Day 3

Today is the end of the third day that Ricochet has been missing. He went off with Freckles Thursday morning around 0800. I was out in the barn and didn’t notice that they had wandered off into the woods together. I was worried about them. I walked down the driveway a bit and called them. Freckles came back later without Riki. When Freckles came home is when I really started to stress out about him. I walked through the woods looking for him, I called a lot, drove up and down the roads, but I didn’t find anything. I was upset I didn’t find him walking up the driveway, on his way home. I was glad I didn’t find him on the side of the road though… I went to bed really late, thinking he would be home in the morning. When I woke up and he wasn’t back I got really concerned. Since then, I put up over 150 posters in Maryland and Virginia. I handed out around 100 postcard flyers and put more in mailboxes. I talked to a lot of the neighbors, put him on websites and gone to shelters. The search and rescue lady did come out. She was super friendly. Laura Totis is her name. She came out with her German Shepherd and tracked him for a while. We ended up near the main road by Mr. Jenkins’s house. He said he had seen the dogs there Thursday morning. He said he had given them a snack and then they were playing in the front yard. His daughter who lives across the street said the same thing. Laura Totis tracked Riki to the main road ad then lost his scent. She said she is pretty certain that he was picked up and that I needed to flyer more. I have flyered since then. Now, I think that the person who has him either hasn’t seen the flyers and maybe he lost hic collars; or they don’t care that he has two collars on and has seen his posters but doesn’t want to give him back. I don’t really know, but he shouldn’t be gone this long. I do know that he has to come home; he just has to. There isn’t really any other option. I think about him every second of the day. I have been nauseous for three days now. I can’t eat, I can’t sleep without him and when I nod off for a minute, I wake up wondering why he isn’t in bed with me. Every jingle I hear is his collar, every dog I hear bark is him, I see him everywhere, he consumes my thoughts. Every time I drive past one of the Lost Dog posters with his picture on it, I can feel my heart break. I don’t even feel like a real person, I find myself doing things and wondering when I started doing it. I drive home from somewhere and don’t remember doing it. It’s like my body is doing things by routine and my mind isn’t aware of what is going on. I see him every time I close my eyes. I’ve even tried praying. It’s all too much; he’s in every little thing I touch. It’s all too real; he’s in every little thing I feel. The problem is, I’m trying to be strong but I don’t know how much longer I can be without him.

AW