Bonnie is home!!!

Tonight, there is peace in our world...

I was working from home when, around 3pm, Steph phones me to say "They've found Bonnie". My first question, though I could hear it in her voice, was "Is she okay?"

It appears that a family was driving through Linbro Park, a commercial and residential area barely 3km as the crow flies from our home, saw her and picked her up. They (called "Y' for this posting) immediately knew that she was an animal that was well looked after and knew that they should do something about it. Y stopped their car and called her and, although hesitant at first, she eventually got into the vehicle. Y's family could not, for reasons we're not sure, look after Bonnie themselves and passed her onto one of their son's teachers, whom we shall call "T". They, in turn, could only look after Bonnie for two days as they had three of their own dogs which were not taking kindly to Bonnie being there. Their neighbour, call him "G", said he was looking for a dog and would take Bonnie in in case she was not claimed.

Y's husband saw the article that appeared in one of the local newspapers about Steph and how she had been hijacked and that Bonnie had been taken, and immediately knew that they had the same dog. Y got hold of Steph's number through the printers and called her to say that T had Bonnie. We then got hold of T and, after some anxious minutes caused by having to leave voicemail messages, eventually spoke to T and she told us that G had the dog and that she would let her husband know that we were coming to pick her up.

Needless to say, at 5pm, we got stuck in traffic and it only added to the tension we were feeling and Steph and I had a "mini-domestic" in the car, though we both knew what it was that was causing it.

We arrived at T's home around a half hour later and rang the gate buzzer. T's son answered and when I said we were here for the grey dog, he said they'd found a brown one. Our hearts sank, but when I pressed them that Y and T had said that the dog was grey, they eventually opened their gate and led me through to where the dog was being kept.

I first saw Bonnie lying in the shade of G's house, in the dust as there was no grass around, and thought it was not her. I'd seen a picture of a young male Weimaraner on one of the lost animal websites and the position she was lying in reminded me of him. However, once I called her name, her ears pricked up and she came running over to me, starting to remember. After a bit of patting and happy talk, she started her familiar happy whining and I knew that she remembered who I was.

I played with her for a couple of minutes, reinforcing the bond again and eventually walked her through toward the car, picking her up before I got there due to the heavy traffic that was going past the gate. Steph just sat in the front seat, I think not quite believing what she saw. We put her on the front seat as Steph's Peugeot 206cc is quite small.

We said our thanks to T's husband and son, numerous times, and they reiterated that they were glad she had been found. Then Steph got into the back seat (if you can call it that) and we drove home, all the while not believing that we actually had Bonnie back, stroking her, talking to her all the way, letting her stick her head out the open window as she so loves to do. We could, however, see that she was weary of the car and though she settled down on the seat, we could see that she somehow looked older due to her ordeal.

At home, however, when we stopped outside the gate, Bonnie immediately let out an excited yelp in recognition of where she was. We got the car inside the yard and let her out, and Duke and Cassie were around her, sniffing, recognising her, wanting to play. And Bonnie was immediately a different dog. You could see that she lightened up, she recognised where she was, she smelled familiar smells and saw familiar sights. She knew she was home and immediately went into the garden, looking into her familiar spots for lizards and mice. Her tail pricked up and you could just see that she was happy again.

Right now, she's lying on her bed, sleeping peacefully. I think she knows she's where she belongs and we're extremely happy and thankful that she's back with us. This will also help Steph in her healing process as it will take away the guilt she has over letting the hijackers get away with one of her "children".

In closing, we are forever indebted to Y, T and G for looking after Bonnie, for getting her home where she belongs. Thank you all...

This photo was taken about a year ago, but is still a favourite.