My poodle Maggie May had a full out panic attack last night after that first huge roll of thunder. Though prone to panic, I'd never seen her so terrified. She kept me up till 4:00 a.m. standing on top of me panting and shaking. Finally, I fell asleep. When I woke at 6:00, Maggie was gone--I assumed under the deck where she goes when she's afraid. When I finally arose, I went outside to get her. No response. My biggest fear was that my little Maggie May was lying literally scared to death under my deck which is impossible to access without unscrewing several boards.
I called my neighbors down the street: Theresa Burke and Brian Geagan. And they dropped what they were doing to come immediately (Brian was helping on the river clean up, but Theresa ran downtown to get him). Brian unscrewed several boards so that we could look underneath with flashlights. It was very, very tense. Meanwhile, Theresa searched every nook and cranny in the house and the yard, both of them concluding that Maggie had vanished.
I knew that my yard was completely sealed, but I called the Healdsburg Police anyway because Theresa, using good logic, reminded me that when dogs are scared enough they can escape through even the smallest crack. As she went out to the street to begin canvassing the area, a policeman whose badge read "S. Eland" approached us with a huge smile and a shivering, dirty and sticker-covered Maggie May who he'd found downtown on the corner of East and Matheson, scared to death. Maggie must have been out wandering the streets for up to six hours.
Thank you so much Officer Eland, Brian and Theresa from Maggie and me. We are so grateful to live in a town where neighbors are there for each other. Keep hope alive!
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