The front gate was open because he had pulled in, and he was here for a while because he was looking at an issue I was having with another mower. Candace found her way out of the dog yard through a gap that was too small for any of our other dogs, made her way along the fence line, behind the trees, and slipped out the front gate. I happened to catch a glimpse of her trotting down the road. I ran inside to get a leash and keys to go after her but she disappeared into the woods.
Except one spotting that same day we saw and heard nothing of her for the next 10 days or so. I would patrol the roads in the area but never saw her. She didn't know me or this place as her home so she had no reason to come back here, but I left the front gate open except when our dogs were out and put a bucket of water out there in the hope that she'd come back this way. I had pretty much given up hope because Candace is a senior dog, not in the greatest shape, and the heat and humidity were just brutal that first week she was running at large. But, about a week ago we finally got what seemed like some reliable spottings in the neighborhood, and one day I even spotted her back along the road in front of our house. We got a trap from Green Dogs and deployed it in the backyard of the most recent siting, backing up to a vast wooded area that contained a creek down below. We caught a raccoon. A raccoon who was very unhappy about being caught.
Erika called in a woman whom I'd call a professional trapper, except for the fact that she doesn't do it for money. She came out on Monday and set a couple of game cams. This was more than just strapping a camera to a tree, however. She came with a tub of bacon grease that she rubbed on nearby trees to make an attractive scent. Dry dog food mixed with wet cat food was scattered around the area to make a place where food could be found. Much to my surprise, we saw Candace (and raccoons and deer) on both cams early the next morning. Candace was in a nocturnal, survival mode, hunkering down somewhere in the woods near a water source during the day to avoid the heat and doing her sojourning at night and in the very early mornings.
The trapper lady came back on Tuesday with something she called a Missy trap. This is a homemade contraption of rigid panels, along with poles to span the top so it can be covered by a net. But the key to the trap is a springloaded door that is held open by an electro magnet connected to a sensor sort of like a garage door laser. When the dog walks far enough into the trap to break the laser beam the magnet is released and the door slams shut. A nearby game cam recorded the comings and goings of raccoons, who fortunately were small enough not to break the laser beam. I got frequent notices to my phone along with pictures. She also set up a camera that provided a live feed.
Sometime after 1:00 a.m. this morning I got call saying "We got her." Clay and I hopped in the car and drove over as quickly as possible because it looked like she was trying to dig out of the trap. I got inside the trap, double leashed her with a slip lead in each hand, and then carried her to a crate in my van. She didn't seem at all upset. I think she was happy to be going somewhere with someone, anyone and anywhere at this point.
We put her in a crate in my office for the night, with water but no food, figuring that she had been scavenging around on the ground for whatever the raccoons missed and not wanting to overload her stomach. This morning she met the dogs again and she ate a little dry food mixed with canned. She's now sleeping on a bed in my office along with the others.
I am ecstatically happy and just so relieved that she's alive, safe, and no longer trying to survive on her own. Historically that's what their canine ancestors always did of course, although generally with a pack, but we have bred out much of their natural abilities if not the actual instincts. Domestic dogs aren't made to live in the wild. I didn't know Candace really, and still don't, so I didn't have a personal relationship with this dog, but I was responsible for her and I have enough empathy to feel for any creature in her position, having lost her home and then being forced to live on her own.
Ten years ago I had gone through this with Maya. She had escaped shortly after she came here as a foster and was running at large for several weeks. She had also been running scared, not knowing where she was or where to go. Maya had youth on her side and she shared some survival skills with Candace for sure. Interestingly, the place where we trapped Maya was on the same neighbor's property not far from here and only about 10 yards from where we trapped and recovered Candace.
Candace seems relieved if not overjoyed to be back here. I'm overjoyed enough for both of us and am going to do my best to make this up to her and give her the best life possible from now on.
Candace, left, with Maya and Elvis on July 2.
Candace meeting Della and Sherlock on that first day.
Unhappy trapped raccoon. He was released.
This is not the trap, or the location, where we finally got Candace.
Candace scavenging for scattered food at the baited location on Tuesday morning.
This is where we set up the trap that caught her very early Wednesday morning.
Candace scavenging at the second baited location we had set up on Tuesday.
This was directly across from our house.
Candace sniffing around just outside the trap,
and going in through the open door.
That wonderful moment when the door slammed shut.
Clay and I extracting her from the trap.
Back home to a crate in my office, about 1:30 a.m. Wednesday morning.
Waking up to a new life later Wednesday morning.
Outside this morning.
The smallest dog in the house on the biggest bed.
That's fine, it's yours Candace, please just stick around and use it.
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2 comments:
Thankful you were able to return her to domesticity!
Oh, thank dog you caught her. We went through the same thing when Knibble went missing some 30+ years ago. It took us a month to catch her, and once home, she never went AWOL again.
Lucky Candance.
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