Clyde the Lodge Dog Lost in the Snow

2/17/2011

What a night, six o'clock dark of course and it has been snowing for days.  Clyde wants out, standing at the door, OK, there you go.  Phone rings, taking care of business,  I am on the phone and off in about 15 to 20 min. where is Clyde?  He is always back at the door, I check the side door, turn on the lights, check the front door, and call go back to the other door and call.  Oh, Me, Oh my, No black streak comes running around the side of the house, wiggling all over.  Where is he.  I go out the back door and call.  I keep this up for about an hour.  Then the yard is searched.  Then I am back in the Lodge, checking every room, checking every door.  Where is he.

He is always here, where can he be.  It is snowing pretty hard.  I'll go drive around,  I drive all around the Lodge, by the boats, by the new cabin on the upper road, I check under the fish house, I check in the fish house, I check in the cabin, under the cabin.  I know he couldn't have gotten in the Cabin or fish house, but. I drive up and down the highway looking for any sign of him.  No luck.  He has never gone away or on the highway.  Maybe someone stole him, no no other tracks in the snow.  Maybe he is in the Hen house, no.  I shine the flash light down at the creek, my fear that he fell through the ice.  I see no tracks no sign. So I check Kevin's Jeep, maybe he got in when Kevin came home.  I knock on his door.  He immediately cones to help.  He walks the whole place shines the light.  I call and hear a dog bark in the distance, sounds like the neighbor's dog down the way. 
I say,listen, what is that, I call a dog barks.  Lets go look.
We drive up and down every drive way, calling.  No dogs barking, no dogs answering.  Finally we give up and come home.  I make up a lost dog poster, sit, call, worry, afraid he fell through the ice.  I get the car and drive to point the lights on the creek, I run into the side porch in the dark wiggling between the hen house and porch.  I am calling again.  A dog answers,  I grab the car drive up towards the cabin, towards the sound, get out call, he answers, drive another 50 feet, stop turn off the car, call.  He answers, now I am sure it is him.  I have to go on the highway.  Drive 150 feet, stop turn it off, call hear him, another 150 feet, then a couple of more times, turn around come back.  I now have figured out where the sound is from and I go down the neighbors driveway for the third time. Stop call, another 50 feet. get out call.  I hear him crying, oh, my oh me, he must be moose stomped.  I am running through the snow half way up my legs, stepping on limbs that are breaking,  I hear him.  Oh, my what will I do, I can't carry him, maybe he is caught in something.  I tell him I will be back, quick get Kevin.  He comes, we get over there again,  I have a screw driver, the pliers, a knife, a cutter and a large table cloth to carry him on.  I call, no answer, then I hear a branch brushed in the woods, in the brush, shine the light, it hits something shiny in the tree.  Kevin grabs the flashlight and takes off, Here he has the flashlight again and I am in the dark! 
Kevin is now yelling, XXO"## and more,  And he is yelling at Clyde to hold still.  I am trying to find my way, I ca't even see his light, in a moment Clyde comes limping out and Kevin is still swearing, he has a huge metal leg trap in his hand.  We get Clyde in the car.  He has been out in the snow and cold caught in a trap for over 7 hours.  His foot was in the trap and he stinks so bad I almost throw up.  It is the bait from the bait from the trap.  Clyde was apparently lured by the odor of the bait.  The neighbor it turns out wanted to trap dogs.  Although he has never seen one on his property.  Clyde was trapped 200 feet off our property.  I do not know how I ever found him.  A trip to the vet, some frost bite on his foot, an abrasion and we can't really tell if his foot has any broken bones but a little antibiotic, some pain meds and he is walking on his foot off an on within 3 days, now he seems fine.   http://www.adn.com/2010/11/29/1578956/walking-the-dog-take-a-trap-opener.html    Here is a site that talks about the problem in our area.  It ends up Kevin was worried about traps all along, someone had been talking about it.  The neighbor told me at least he didn't use a snare trap.  Those will tear a dogs foot off.