Mick’s Story

I thought that everyone might want to hear the whole story about Mick (aka Hamish), now that he is home safe and relatively sound.

We had been practising Mick's 'recall' in the garden and in a small fully fenced paddock on the National Trust land behind the high street here in Haslemere. He had been doing very well and we were quite confident that Mick would not want to leave us. Blackdown is a local beauty spot where we walk daily, ensuring that the area was very familiar to Mick too. It has been fully fenced and gated so we knew that if Mick bolted, he would be recoverable within 5 minutes. Well, he did bolt and Peter went off down the hill after him and I held the fort, knowing that dogs will usually return to the place that they went from. We didn't figure on a well-meaning family group who met up with Mick, took him though the gate, out of Blackdown, and then let him go on the nearby road, saying to me later "He seemed to know where he was going!"

Our mistake was not having our mobile numbers on Mick's tag, although we did have the home number on it. We only knew that they had let him loose after the fact. We searched long and hard down the footpath where they'd seen him disappear, but to no avail. As darkness descended we continued to search and call and search and call, still to no avail. We were forced to go home, but with very heavy hearts. Before bedtime I went out in the car to travel the roads in the area hoping to catch a glimpse of him and knowing that it would be fruitless. Peter did the same on foot and he felt the same, but neither one of us wanted to admit that we felt that way.

I was up at first light to go out to look for Mick and I walked and walked and walked, then drove and drove and drove. I met dog walking friends and asked them to look; then I went home and telephoned the police, dog wardens, RSPCA, you, Celia Cross and a list of people who lived down the lane where the family had let Mick go. I then registered Mick through www.doglost.co.uk after an internet search and they very quickly emailed a poster to put up in order to alert people to Mick’s plight. We then took 50 copies of the poster and whilst I drove, Sam put the posters up around the area. Peter kept walking and walking, looking down every footpath and bridlepath in the area. Saturday night we were devastated as we watched the snow come down and the temperatures plummet, but again it became too dark to search anymore. Again I went out in the car to drive the roads where I felt he might turn up. I felt that if we lost Mick forever, I would never again own another dog - I wouldn't trust myself to look after it properly. Nevertheless we continued to look for Mick. Sunday was spent in much the same way. At one point, Sam and I met up with Peter by chance and we stood for some time wondering what we could and should do. Darkness fell yet again, but I decided to stay out and put up more posters yet further away. By that time we had thought that Mick must surely be dead, either through exposure, being hit by a car or having been shot for worrying sheep. We felt unspeakably sad, helpless, devastated, yet unwilling to give up.

I had put up about another 15 posters when my mobile rang. A woman’s voice said the magic words, "I think I have your dog!"

As it happened, I was only about 5 minutes away from her farm and waiting in the back of her car was a cold, tired and skinny Mick. She'd found him bedding down for the night with her sheep! She said that she had worried about his reaction as she walked him back through the flock of ewes and lambs to the gate, but he made no attempt to chase, but stayed close by her side. What a good boy! I quickly put a coat on him, thanked the farmer profusely and carried Mick back to the land rover. The welcoming committee was out in full force when I pulled into the drive at home! First he had something to eat, second he drank lots of water, then he went to sleep on Sam's lap! Our only complaint was that Mick smelled of sheep!

We felt so terrible whilst Mick was missing. We'd felt that we'd let him down by not keeping him safe. The thought of him suffering in the cold was unbearable. Now that we have a second chance, we intend to ensure that he's not at risk again. We have learned that:

o we shouldn't get over confident; he is still naive and has so much to learn and we must take our time in teaching him what he needs to know.
o we cannot trust that other people will take the sensible course of action
o we should ensure that his identity tag has both of our mobile ‘phone numbers as well as the home telephone number
o the farmer likes wine and chocolates and is a very lovely lady indeed!

And Mick seems to have learned things as well. He is keeping a closer eye on us when we take him out and he doesn’t pull on the lead at all. He’s learned the value of food and he is really not that fussy anymore. He seems very, very happy to be back home.

Unfortunately, in his travels, Mick has further injured the outer toe on his right hind foot. The toenail has to be removed at the local veterinary hospital. Whilst we will worry about him going ‘under the knife’, it is nothing compared with the worry we’ve had whilst he was missing for two long cold night and days.