The seventh day...

My husband and I left the house mid-morning and were driving around till the middle of this afternoon. We went back to the town nearest to ours and drove around the side-roads because two of our friends were zig-zagging around the residential streets last night. Today was a beautiful day, sunny and warm with a gentle breeze... the sort of day that we would have spent in the dog park with Savannah.

After driving around those back roads, we took a main road into another small town that we hadn't checked before.... up and down those streets we went, leaving a flier at the post office and the two stores in town. There's just a bit over 500 residents in this particular town... one would think that someone there would see a 65-dog dragging a long blue leash behind her.  We stopped in a convenience store to post a flier and get something to eat and drink. Muffins of some sort, and orange juice. We each got a different flavor muffin and Gary asked me if mine was good.  My answer was "I don't know, I can't taste it. I'm just eating it because I didn't have breakfast and I'm hungry."

One of the people who took a flier from us said that she would tell her family who lives one town towards the south.... so we drove to that town to post more fliers. Another small town with just a few hundred people, if even that. We called out Savannah's name along the two-lane road, expecting a bark in return. We did indeed get barks, but not from our Savannah. We took turns calling out Savannah's name along all the roads... my husband said if we ever get another dog, we need to pick a one-syllable name.

We gave fliers to the mailmen we saw along the county roads, and to the ladies working in the convenience store. Everyone had a lost-dog story for us.... Blue came back after six days.... TigerLily hobbled up the driveway on the 13th day... Hero waited two months before he found his way back to the barn. They all told us not to give up hope. How can we give up hope? That's all we have left.

One of our friends along the road here suggested that someone may have caught up with Savannah along the main highway or just as she arrived in the next town. "She's a pretty dog. They may have decided to keep her, or even sell her to someone farther away."  My husband and I thought of that on Day Two of this fiasco.  If that's the case, then we'll have to live with that, with not knowing Savannah's fate.

When I told that scenario to my special friend Corey, she said "Well, someone may have taken her but maybe they won't keep her because she's not such an easy dog to take care of."

With that in mind, this is for the person who may have Savannah right this minute, hidden away in a backyard, with intent to keep her for their own:

1.  Savannah is afraid of loud noises.... the louder the noise, the more afraid she is. She doesn't mind thunder as long as she's in the house, and she doesn't mind the rain either as long as she can splash in the puddles. I suggest you keep a large towel for drying her off after her puddle-splashing.

2.  She will eat as many bluebonnets as she can find. She'll pull up the paint-brushes and the yellow Texas stars, but she'll spit those out as soon as her nose finds another bluebonnet patch. Too many bluebonnets in her stomach will make her vomit, and it won't be pretty.

3.  Savannah's hearing is excellent, more than excellent. She can hear an armadillo out in the yard, or a raccoon on the porch, and her roaring bark in the middle of the night is earth-shaking. At first, you may be annoyed at her after-midnight barking, but you will learn that she is protecting you and your home and she doesn't bark without a good reason. When she barks just once, she is wanting you to go look out the window to make sure nothing is there. If she barks (roars, really) four or five times, then you can bet the ranch that something is definitely out there.

4.  She doesn't like cheap dog food, so don't even try. Buy the best you can afford and supplement that with the fresh rotisserie chickens from HEB. She prefers the dark meat, but only because she didn't get any of the white meat because that is my husband's preference.

5.  Savannah loves cats as long as they respect her space. She won't be nasty to them if they get into her bed or drink from her water bowl, but she will use her nose to push them out of the way. If they take a swipe at her, Savannah will just back away and go sleep someplace else. Her first choice will be your sofa, so I hope you don't have a small love-seat.

6.  For as long as we've had her, Savannah has been ultra-cautious around people she has never met. She will bounce up and down and want to play with every dog she sees, but it takes a while for people to earn her trust.

7.  She won't beg at the table for food, but she will stay close by while you eat and just look at you with the eyes of an old soul. If you choose to share your meal with her, she will take the pieces gently and then sit by your chair and wait for more. She won't be insulted if you give her just one bite, but she'll do her best to make you feel guilty.

8.  Savannah loves car rides, especially if you play Barry Manilow CDs and sing along with the music. She thinks you're singing to her and she listens very carefully. I don't know how she feels about country/western music because Manilow is my music-of-choice in my car and in my house. Please let her sit inside the vehicle, not in the back of a truck... Savannah is a living, breathing puppy, not a sack of deer feed or a case of beer.

9.  She is not exactly a morning puppy. You can take your time and have some tea or coffee when you wake up, without having to rush her out the door to use the grass. Savannah takes her time stretching and yawning and waking up, and she will watch you drink your orange juice and feed the cat before she sits by the door to be taken outside.

10. Because of her long hair, Savannah gets brushed every day, and she seems to enjoy it as long as you aren't rough with the longest hair along her tail.  If you talk to her while you're brushing her, tell her she's the prettiest puppy in the Hill Country and you will be rewarded with the biggest smile she can give.

11.  Savannah will be needing her adult vaccinations right about now. She's not going to like the vet's office, and she definitely will not like the injections, but again, if you talk gently to her while the doctor is pricking her with the needle, your voice will calm her. Savannah also likes to be hugged when she anxious... one hand on her chest and the other around the base of her neck... she will put her head up against your chest and listen to your heart beating.

12. That puppy was a nervous bundle of broken expectations when we adopted her. We worked hard with her to earn her trust, and we were rewarded with an unconditional love that enveloped myself and my husband, our cats, and our friends that Savannah saw each week.

13. You have an exceptional puppy there who has the best traits of Border Collie and Great Pyrenees beating inside of her loving puppy heart. Treat her with respect and love, and you will be rewarded in kind. If you abuse or neglect her, I hope she bites both of your hands off just above the wrists, jumps up against your flat-screen TV and renders it useless, crashes through your front window so your cat escapes, soars over your fence and brings it smashing down on the windshield of your beloved vehicle, and then miraculously finds her way back to us where she belongs.