Chica, miracle dog

Chica asleep on some pillows before she disappeared.

I have not been writing much for a couple of reasons. First, on June 27th, our blind dog, Chica, got out of our yard and disappeared. I was too upset to write about it at the time. Then, just a couple of weeks later, my mom suffered a massive stroke and died and writing has not been something I have felt like doing. Today, I am going to tell Chica’s story. You likely will also find my mom’s obituary in one of the local newspapers soon - or you can reach out to me and I can share it.

Chica came to us with her sister about 8 and a half years ago; they were dumped on the side of the road and picked up by a neighbor. Van and I agreed to foster the two dogs, which, of course, turned into our keeping them all of these years. Chica was always the sweet one, at least relatively, while her sister, Chuck, would full-on bark and bite if possible. Over the years the two have mellowed; additionally, we fenced our front and back yards this year and that has also provided a further sense of security for them and has helped calm them down.

Back in February I wrote about Lucy, one of our other dogs, and Chica. Lucy is fairly deaf and Chica had recently gone blind. Because of the fenced back yard we felt pretty good about Chica and her safety. Then, one afternoon around 5:30 PM, I took off for a hike with two of the other dogs. Van let Chica outside the fence thinking she would follow me - he was tired and didn’t really consider any other possibility. My mom had already fed the dogs that evening at around 5:00 PM so there was no reason for anyone to look for Chica again until about 8:30 PM that night. At that time we put the dogs out for their final pee break before locking them into their crates for the night; as the other four dogs headed out the door I realized Chica wasn’t with them - and that’s when we started to panic. We alerted the neighbors and started to comb the area looking for her. We called and called, stopping to listen, but nothing. We looked until it was too dark to do any more. The next day we looked again and had no more luck. I posted on Facebook in case she wandered onto the County road and was picked up but nothing.

We were devastated, especially Van who had let her outside the gate. We kept an eye out for her and for vultures but saw neither. We grieved and adjusted to life without the little one. Then my mom’s stroke and death happened and we were well beyond thinking of the dog except occasionally.

About two weeks after my mom’s passing and a day after her ashes were brought home my sister in law and I were working on my mom’s room when my husband called and asked if I’d seen a post on Facebook. Now, I go on Facebook occasionally, but not daily, so the answer was no. He said that someone had told him there was someone posting about a small dog coming to their house in our neck of the woods. I went on Facebook and I looked and found the post, along with a photo that looks nothing like our dog; however, to make sure it wasn’t Chica, my SIL and I got in the car and drove out to the neighbors’. This wasn’t as easy as that sounds - they live beyond a locked gate, but we got lucky as someone drove up just as we were leaving and let us follow them in. The neighbors showed us where they had seen the dog and told us to “have at it.”. We walked around and called and called, but nothing. We decided to leave so went back to where the neighbors were and let them know that we would come back later; as we drove out we passed the spot where they had seen the dog - and there she was! I could not believe it, but yes, it was Chica. A month is the woods, completely blind, she had found her way to a home and those folks had posted on Facebook and we had a very joyful reunion. I picked her up and just broke into tears, not caring that she smelled very much like a skunk! She had lost some weight, but not as much as you would expect. Somehow that little dog figured out she could eat Manzanita berries and worms and she also found water.

Chica when we got her back - a little thinner, very dirty and stinky.

Having Chica back is wonderful. She brought some joy into our lives during a very painful time and I have no doubt my mom was looking down and guiding that dog back to us. She’s gained back her weight and looks very good. We also have a GPS tracker on her collar now so if she were to get outside the fence again we would be able to find her more easily. It has been a rough month, but having Chica back has been a bright spot.