I found Carol at home today. The dog was still with her (and of all things, I had forgotten my camera!). She had called the vet and had given them the ID number on the rabies tag that they had issued to the dog, but it was so old they could not ID it. She had called the animal shelter and had given them the ID number off the license.
Same thing, but they said it would be in their records somewhere, just not in a convenient place to access.
So she was going to drive the dog the 12 miles to the animal shelter and see if they could find it while she was there.
If not, she was not quite certain how to proceed. She was not going to leave the dog there, because, given its age and health, she knew they would put it down in three days or so. So she would just bring it back home. She remembered her black and white "Little Munckin" the old dog that had disappeared in the marsh (which she and Dodd call "the meadow." It is much drier now than it was before they bought the property but back then it was a genuine marsh.)
"That's not going to happen to this good dog," she said emphatically. Not long after Little Munchkin disappeared, she had found some bear scat on the trail. She feared that might explain why she could not find it.
She had made posters, including the one above, below the old picture of the Chihuahua and had put them up around the neighborhood.
Nobody had called.
I must say, the dog, though still stiff and slow, looked much better than when last I saw it.
*Cocoon mode: Until I finish up a big project that I am working on, I am keeping this blog at bare-minimum simple. I anticipate about one month.