Had an absolutely terrible evening of it yesterday. I was in my mum's house (about 50 miles away from our own) beecause I had rehearsals and I got a phone call from a very panicked Emmet at about 6.50pm saying that the dogs were gone. While we're at work, they are kept in the utility room, with access to the back garden so they can get in and out. Our fence is about 6 foot hight, and the bolt on the gate is at about 5 foot (with no padlock, unfortunately but that has been remedied). When Emmet eventually got to check after the drama finished, the gate was open and the bolt drawn across, so it definitely wasn't the dogs just digging under or jumping over.
Emmet was on his way home from work, about 5 mins away from the house when his brother in law, who lives beside us rang to say that the dogs were out running around the green, He had tried to grab Hector but his collar came off and the 3 of them ran off. Emmet tore back to the house, and when he got there his BIL was standing on the corner talking to a guy in a jeep, who turned out to be a farmer whose land they had been on, and he told Emmet that if he saw them again he was going to shoot them "because they're always worrying my sheep". Emmet told him that they had never gotten out before, and the guy said "I've definitely seen that big brown one on my land before" and Emmet told him that that was impossible, because we only have him 3 weeks. The farmer also told him that the dogs had attacked a child in the next housing estate down, which Emmet told him they just wouldn't do. Anyway, he threatened to shoot them again, and Emmet just ran off to look for them. He went into the next estate down, and a group of kids told him that the dogs had been in there, but had run back out and up the hill. He went up that way, calling for them all the time, and while he was up there, hi BIL rang to say that Tink was after coming back to our house (I'm so proud of her for doing that). Emmet legged it back down to the house, put her on the lead, and went back out to look for the other two. He eventually found them about half a mile down the hill, in another estate. At this stage, I was burning rubber trying to get home to help him look for them, and he rang me straightaway to tell me he had them., that he was bringing them home and was then going to try and find out about this child that they supposedly attacked, our main worry at this stage being that if they had done something (which we refused to believe) that we would be made to destroy them.
The same group of boys who had originally told him where the dogs were last seen showed him which house the boy who had been "attacked" lived in, and Emmet called up. The dad answered the door, and when Emmet explained that they were our dogs who had gotten out and asked him had one of his kids been hurt he was like "Who, Ross? Not at all, the little brown one jumped up on him and that was all. They were lovely, especially the white one." THANK GOD! We knew that none of them would ever hurt a child, but some people would just see a dog jumping up on a child and immediately brand it as dangerous.
So, needless to say, the dogs got a severe dressing down and Emmet bought a massive padlock for the gate. We also rang the police and explained what had happened and told them about the van acting suspiciously that morning, which I'm about to explain...
So, I left the house at 6.30 yesterday morning, and my windscreen was frosted over. While I was scraping the ice off it, a white van with 3 men in it drove into the estate, drove around it very slowly, and when they passed by our corner, the one in the passenger seat was STARING over at me. Now, there's only 23 houses in our estate, so that kind of behaviour, particularly at that hour of the morning (when it's still pitch dark) sticks out like a sore thumb, and when I drove out of the estate, they were coming back down from the top of the hill (which is a dead end, but with lots of big single houses up there), which made me even more suspicious. Unfortunately, and I've been kicking myself about it since, I never bothered to ring Emmet to tell him.
So, our theory is that they came back during the day to break into the house, not realising that there were 3 large dogs happily snoozing away in the utility room. They opened the gate, came into the side garden, and as soon as they made any noise, the 3 dogs came running out. I reckon they just legged it back to their van and drove off, leaving the gate wide open and the dogs out. Either that or they were trying to take the dogs themselves, and couldn't get near them - Tink and Boru are VERY wary of strange men and would have been barking and growling at them.
Whatever happened, we are absolutely blessed that we got them back safe and sound. The whole way home until Emmet rang to say he had them I was bawling my eyes out thinking of them being shot, or hit by a car, or just plain getting lost and never coming home. As I was leaving my mam's she said to me "Did Emmet check the house, was anything taken?" and I just said to her "Mam, I couldn't give a shit about the house, all I want is my dogs back."
Thank you God for looking after them.
Emmet was on his way home from work, about 5 mins away from the house when his brother in law, who lives beside us rang to say that the dogs were out running around the green, He had tried to grab Hector but his collar came off and the 3 of them ran off. Emmet tore back to the house, and when he got there his BIL was standing on the corner talking to a guy in a jeep, who turned out to be a farmer whose land they had been on, and he told Emmet that if he saw them again he was going to shoot them "because they're always worrying my sheep". Emmet told him that they had never gotten out before, and the guy said "I've definitely seen that big brown one on my land before" and Emmet told him that that was impossible, because we only have him 3 weeks. The farmer also told him that the dogs had attacked a child in the next housing estate down, which Emmet told him they just wouldn't do. Anyway, he threatened to shoot them again, and Emmet just ran off to look for them. He went into the next estate down, and a group of kids told him that the dogs had been in there, but had run back out and up the hill. He went up that way, calling for them all the time, and while he was up there, hi BIL rang to say that Tink was after coming back to our house (I'm so proud of her for doing that). Emmet legged it back down to the house, put her on the lead, and went back out to look for the other two. He eventually found them about half a mile down the hill, in another estate. At this stage, I was burning rubber trying to get home to help him look for them, and he rang me straightaway to tell me he had them., that he was bringing them home and was then going to try and find out about this child that they supposedly attacked, our main worry at this stage being that if they had done something (which we refused to believe) that we would be made to destroy them.
The same group of boys who had originally told him where the dogs were last seen showed him which house the boy who had been "attacked" lived in, and Emmet called up. The dad answered the door, and when Emmet explained that they were our dogs who had gotten out and asked him had one of his kids been hurt he was like "Who, Ross? Not at all, the little brown one jumped up on him and that was all. They were lovely, especially the white one." THANK GOD! We knew that none of them would ever hurt a child, but some people would just see a dog jumping up on a child and immediately brand it as dangerous.
So, needless to say, the dogs got a severe dressing down and Emmet bought a massive padlock for the gate. We also rang the police and explained what had happened and told them about the van acting suspiciously that morning, which I'm about to explain...
So, I left the house at 6.30 yesterday morning, and my windscreen was frosted over. While I was scraping the ice off it, a white van with 3 men in it drove into the estate, drove around it very slowly, and when they passed by our corner, the one in the passenger seat was STARING over at me. Now, there's only 23 houses in our estate, so that kind of behaviour, particularly at that hour of the morning (when it's still pitch dark) sticks out like a sore thumb, and when I drove out of the estate, they were coming back down from the top of the hill (which is a dead end, but with lots of big single houses up there), which made me even more suspicious. Unfortunately, and I've been kicking myself about it since, I never bothered to ring Emmet to tell him.
So, our theory is that they came back during the day to break into the house, not realising that there were 3 large dogs happily snoozing away in the utility room. They opened the gate, came into the side garden, and as soon as they made any noise, the 3 dogs came running out. I reckon they just legged it back to their van and drove off, leaving the gate wide open and the dogs out. Either that or they were trying to take the dogs themselves, and couldn't get near them - Tink and Boru are VERY wary of strange men and would have been barking and growling at them.
Whatever happened, we are absolutely blessed that we got them back safe and sound. The whole way home until Emmet rang to say he had them I was bawling my eyes out thinking of them being shot, or hit by a car, or just plain getting lost and never coming home. As I was leaving my mam's she said to me "Did Emmet check the house, was anything taken?" and I just said to her "Mam, I couldn't give a shit about the house, all I want is my dogs back."
Thank you God for looking after them.