Things I learned before 8:30 a.m.

Rosie ran away this morning.

We were out on one of her little useless trips outside, the ones where she acts like she has to pee but really she just wants to go outside and sniff at the places where the skunk dug up the lawn. Last night she got skunked, ever so slightly, which sent us into panic mode as: A) it was her first, and B) we have a wedding/vacation to go to this weekend, and we're bringing her along, 'cause it'll also be a dog party. I washed her with dishsoap so only her muzzle smells now.

So we're walking up the road, and I see Cleo, the neighbor's very nice dog, hanging out by our laneway. I let Rosie go up and say hi. They ran around and around in circles, and played a bit, and I thought "they're not going far, and it's early, so I'll just let Rosie off the leash". This after having been dragged over a ditch and having my arm pulled out of its socket about 3 times. I unclipped her. They ran around and around and into the woods. I called Rosie and she came flying back at me, grazing me, and flew back into the woods. I let her run around a bit, then called her again, and again she came flying back at me. But then she ran in the other direction. Up near the other neighbors' place.

The other neighbors are mysterious to us. We never see them - I had never met the wife, and we've lived here 61/2 years. They're very German, and have nasty German shepherd dogs with names like "Hagar" and "Rex" and "Chonga". The dogs are not friendly and they're enormous. When I saw Rosie run off in that direction, I panicked, as last night we had a near-dark encounter with Hagar, who displayed his not-so-friendly side while off his leash.

She went bounding off into the woods in their direction. I called and called - nothing. I called until I was hoarse. Nothing. My nice neighbor the blacksmith called his dog, Cleo, and she returned, but no Rosie . We both called. I went in and woke up hubby, who came bounding out of the house in his jacket, sneakers and underwear. We both called. Hubby went crashing into the woods, and got so far that I could only hear his shouts faintly. Nothing. No movement in the woods, no barking, no whimpering.

My mind raced to all scenarios: She'd gotten down to the highway. She'd followed a bear. She'd eaten something dangerous. She'd upset someone. She'd gotten kicked or attacked by an animal. She'd gotten into a porcupine. She was lost.

All those things raced through my head. I had a chalky mouth and felt weak, and almost threw up. I called my mom because I didn't know what else to do, and she came over and called her as well. Finally we heard one bark that was unmistakeably hers. I chilled out a bit, as at least she was alive and didn't sound too far away. Then another bark. We all ran towards the sound from different directions - hubby still in the woods in his underwear. It was coming from the direction of the mysterious neighbors' house, so I screwed up my courage and went up their laneway. I heard "hullo!?" and there he was - and his wife! He said "watch out, there's a bear beside the house." I explained that I had lost my dog and heard her barks coming from the direction of their yard, and he said "she's probably got the bear." He had gloves on and had called the wildlife service. Then I hear hubby shouting "I HAVE HER". Turns out, she'd gotten caught in one of the neighbor's live traps, which he uses for trapping raccoons. My dog is very black and medium-sized, and he'd thought he'd seen a bear in the trap so called the wildlife service. Misunderstandings all around, and Rosie was humbled, but fine. We rejoiced.

So the things I learned this morning are:

1. Rosie will come when called, unless she's stuck in a trap.
2. The neighbors, who we've spent 6.5 years giving sidelong glances to, are actually quite nice and have a beautiful garden hidden beside their house.
3. The neighbors have traps set all over their yard.
4. There is a bear that lives near their house, which they see often.
5. There is a dude living in the woods beside our house. Hubby was walking a trail up there and heard "hullo?" but he didn't see ANYTHING. He looked around. He said "I was on the trail but the guy was in the woods, and I could NOT see him." So that's a bit freaky.

All in all, that was a lot of action for early morning. Now we're off to a wedding!

Updated to add: hubby clarified for me later that when he found Rosie, she was just sitting there cheerfully, in the cage, wagging her tail. He actually said "I wish I had a photo of exactly that image, because it was so damn cute." Our guess is that she's so used to being in her crate that she figured she was in a new outdoors crate, and just settled in.

Also, we were told that that night was the year's first killing frost, and that the dude in the woods was probably harvesting, ahem, some of his crops. Makes sense, and explains his terse tone. So phew, no dude living in the woods.