Disappeared, Armelle finds her dog a year later
Today, I wanted to share a beautiful dog story with you. Some time ago, I met Armelle. She came to work at EmmèneTonChien.com for a few weeks as part of an internship. The process was not easy for her, because she had just lost her two dogs and her cat in quick succession. She dreaded a little hearing about dogs all day. Finally she loved it, she loves talking with you dear Wouafer's, and it allowed her to mourn her animals to keep only the best memories.
One day, a few weeks after the end of her internship, she called me almost in tears to share great news with me…. And my tears flowed too! Flows of happiness!
I give the floor to Armelle and her dog, Thor the survivor. If you regularly read the articles published on EmmèneTonChien.com, you already know Armelle; she published an article in the Mag' on traveling to Canada with your dog.
The disappearance of Thor, the anguish, the search for my lost dog
We had been back from Canada for a year when Thor disappeared. We lived at that time with my in-laws, a house with a large unfenced garden where Thor had his marks since it is the house where he was born.
My dog used to go say hello to the neighbors but always came back. It's a Breton spaniel, so he has a strong hunting instinct and loves to follow animal tracks which can take him quite far.
As this behavior worried me a lot, we put a collar on it with our name and telephone number engraved on it. We had done well, because several times quite distant neighbors had called us to tell us that Thor was at home, that they had opened the door to him and that he was sleeping at their feet! Reassured, we immediately went to look for him, happy to find him safe and sound.
And then that famous Monday, March 27, 2017, he left and never came back and no one called us that day. We looked for him in every possible place. We called all our neighbours… No one had seen him that time.
I immediately sensed that someone had kidnapped him… We let the night pass, but he didn't come back. That night I woke up at the slightest noise hoping it was him, but no...
The next day still nothing: no sign of Thor. So I made an announcement on pet alert 34 which was broadcast and shared in droves.
The days pass and there settles the expectation, the anguish… I couldn't sleep anymore, but where could he be? Were they hurting him? Was he dead? I think I imagined all the possible scenarios, the worst of course, those that send shivers down your spine and make you cry.
I went through all the sites, Facebook pages on lost dogs, groups on Breton spaniels. I made an announcement on chienperdu.fr, and created an alert so each time a black and white male dog was found I received an email with the announcement. Several times a black and white Brittany Spaniel dog has been reported by friends. Each time, we immediately took the car and we drove for hours in the indicated place, without ever finding the slightest trace of Thor.
I ended up resigning myself and no longer looking for my missing dog
Days, weeks, months passed. I never really gave up research. But by dint of it, it's true that I didn't really believe in it anymore… I continued to look again and again at the ads for lost dogs, the ads for the sale of dogs on the Good Corner.. It made me suffer a lot.
When Thor disappeared, my other dog, Soïa, who considered Thor as her son, found herself very much alone. She looked for him everywhere every day and ended up letting herself die of sadness. On June 8, 2017, she died. We buried her under a wild almond tree.
At that moment, I admit that a part of me gave up. I was like dead, my babies were gone, how was I going to move on?
People don't really understand this pain, "they're just beasts". Me, they were my children, 2 were dead but 1 had disappeared, I began to see him everywhere. It was turning into an obsession.
Months and then a year passed. There, I said to myself that I had to mourn but I couldn't, I was convinced that he was suffering at the bottom of a cage, I saw his eyes and I heard him cry. I couldn't get over it, I went into a kind of depression I think, some people told me to get a dog back, it would do me good. But I couldn't.
And then one day, a courier from ICAD arrived at my house
We ended up moving with my husband to a small apartment (since we no longer had a dog, no need for a garden) and there I had the impression that I could start to forget him.
And then one day, June 6, 2018, I received a message from my husband. It was a photo of a letter received at my in-laws. I read but I do not understand well. I read again, “your dog n°xxx has been found. He is currently cared for by the ASA kennel in Aussillon etc”. It was a letter from the ICAD identification department. The ICAD had launched the usual procedure, sent a letter to the last known address, for our case, to my in-laws who had therefore received the famous miraculous letter.
I couldn't believe it. We had found Thor, my Thor, my dog. This letter told me that he was there, living somewhere waiting for me. I didn't want to believe it so as not to be disappointed once again. As my husband had recovered this letter in the evening no one could be reached at the kennel, we had to wait until the next morning. I barely slept all night.
As soon as I opened, I called and asked a whole bunch of questions to be sure and certain that it was indeed my Thor that they had found after a year of disappearance. It was him, but the gentleman from the kennel quickly told me that he was in a bad state, and asked me if I wanted to get him back.
Sure !!!! He's my son, what a funny idea! He explained to me that it was very rare that after more than a year of disappearance, people get their dog back and then with everything he sees every day...
Me, I said to him: “Don’t move, we’re coming!” We had to drive two hours, because we live in the Hérault and Thor was found in the Tarn.
My dog was found wandering on the road half dead on a sidewalk in the town of Mazamet. The city services took him to a veterinarian who treated his two front paws and then he was returned to the kennel, which perked him up in a few days. I was found on June 2 and I picked him up on June 6.
When we finally arrived at the kennel after a 2 hour drive that felt like days, the kennel boss immediately took us to the box where Thor was. It was him, skinny, dirty, with the 2 bandaged front legs and a collar around his neck. He approached the gate and went to party to the gentleman from the kennel.
My husband and I said his name 2 or 3 times, he turned to us, felt our fingers through the grate and went into a state of madness!
He was jumping around and crying, we entered the box, he gave us a crazy party, although he was weak and limping, he was making impressive leaps.
It was a nice reunion, but I still didn't realize. When I put the leash on him to get him out of the box, he understood that we were leaving together, he started crying and crying. He didn't stop. I think he understood that his ordeal was over. We will never know what happened to him, if he was used to raise dogs before a fight, or if he served as a breeder in one of those horror farms...
Daily life that resumes as if nothing had happened
I never could bring myself to throw away his cushion and his toys, and I did well because he found them when he arrived at his new home. He was so happy to find his favorite stuffed animal (a frog!!). First we washed him, then he slept for 3 days, hardly ever going out.
We let him recover slowly and in 3 weeks he was almost like “new”. The vet removed the stitches from his front legs. He was still limping but he had regained his joy of living as if nothing had happened and especially as if he had never disappeared.
My husband runs a lot suddenly as soon as he was in shape to follow him he took him with him. We bought him a harness and a lanyard, and now he does canicross. He has incredible energy, he is never tired and always asks for more.
Life resumed its normal course. As I write these words, MY Thor is in his basket with all 4 legs up and sleeping peacefully in his warm home with his loving family. As the son of a friend says “it's Thor the super dog, like a super hero but he's a dog”!