Eclipse Lost and Found

I have 5 puppies that I am running here at dog camp. They are my “sun themed” litter. They were born last year, and just had their 1st birthday on June 18th. 4 girls, Corona, Umbra, Zenith, and Eclipse. And one boy, Solstice. With 35 dogs mistakes can happen, and Eclipse was accidentally bred with Saturn while she was on the picket line , waiting to be hooked onto the gangline. To remedy this problem I was going to have her spayed on my day off. So on Thursday afternoon, Eclipse, Cosmos and I all set off down the mountain to go to town. Her appointment was the following morning, so we would spend the night on a beach somewhere. I have been parking my truck at the bottom of the mountain at the Sheep Creek Trailhead. That way I can leave the day before my day off whenever the tours are down for the day because I don’t have to wait for the tours to Gold Mine tours at the bottom of our road to finish. Remember it is a narrow winding one lane road, you don’t want to meet a Tour bus part way down the hill. We can take the Sheep Creek Trail to the bottom and not interfere with the tours at all.
We headed out the driveway. Right outside of camp I meet Sean who was running down the mountain to go to a restaurant that is right up the Thane Road. They have a Salmon BBQ and the camp cook had the day off, so somehow everyone convinced Sean to run down and pick up dinner for everyone to go. I knew Cosmos would follow him anyways, so I asked Sean if he would mind if Cosmos went down with him and if he could just throw him into my truck when they got down there. Sean didn’t mind so off they go leaving behind Eclipse and I to walk down. I had a huge backpack on with all my gear for my day off, so we were just going to take our time. Eclipse was on a leash, but she has run free many times before, just like all of my dogs. They all do pretty well hanging around me. I wanted to make sure she got out of camp before I let her loose, because sometimes the dogs would rather socialize all the other dogs before they go for a walk. So when Sean and Cosmos were out of sight I let Eclipse loose. We took the road down to the old Mine Superintendent’s house, then cut over to the Sheep Creek Trail. Eclipse was having fun and was staying close. Part way down the steep part of the trail I looked around and Eclipse is gone! I called for her. Nothing. I stopped and looked around. I called and called for her for about 5 minutes and then I looked back up the trail. It is straight up and I didn’t really want to climb back up, but I couldn’t find Eclipse. So I headed back up the trail, calling as I climbed. I got all the way back to the top of the hill and still couldn’t find her so I walked back down past where I first discovered she was missing. No Eclipse. So back up I went, uuugg, climbing up and down a mountain with a pack on, when humidity is at 100%, is frustrating. Not to mention I had just taken a shower and put on some “un-doggy” clothes so that I could look half-way civilized when I went town. Now I was sweaty and dirty. I got to the top again, and still couldn’t find her, so back down I went. Along comes Sean carrying a HUGE box full of the food for camp.
“Did you see my dog?”
“No. Cosmos is in your truck.”
Damn! So obviously she wasn’t down the trail, or Sean would’ve ran into her. So much to my dismay I begin climbing up the hill again, following Sean and his box. Part way up I start realizing the strong scent of fish coming from the box.
“So do you realize we are walking bear bait with that box,” I ask him.
“Yeah I thought about that, if a bear comes and steals our dinner, I won’t be mad because then I would have a cool story to tell.”
Now that’s the attitude.
We climb back up to the top. We cut over to the road where Dustin has driven the 4 wheeler to meet Sean. I am very upset now, still not finding my dog. Dustin tells me that my handler Matt saw Eclipse in the bushes just around the dog yard. Good!
So we all pile on the wheeler, that’s 3 people, a backpack, and a large box of fish.
When I get to camp handler Matt tells me about seeing Eclipse on the edge of camp. He tried to catch her but she’s a little shy so she ran off into the bushes. Then Kym walked out into the bushes, thinking that Eclipse would more likely come to a woman than a man. Kym said she heard Eclipse running through the brush but she never saw her.
So I walk out into the brush calling and calling. No sign. So I go back and take the trail I cut to my tree, being that it is nearby. No sign. So I go back up to camp and think. I borrow a bike and go all the way up and all the way back down the trail. No sign. Horrifying images of maimed and hurt Eclipse flash through my head. Its now been 5 hours. I am totally upset. Everyone is trying to reassure me that she will come back to camp eventually. I think that maybe she went back down the trail to find me. Plus Cosmos has been down at the trail head sitting in my truck the whole time. Matt and Sarah loan me their cell phone so that they can call me right away if she show up to camp. And I head down the trail to the bottom. Now I am stuck and unable to get back to camp until tomorrow. So Cosmos and I head into town. I call every so often to camp, worried sick about Eclipse. The next day I call the Humane Society and file a missing dog report. The day drug on forever. It was the worst day off I had in a while. I called camp almost every hour. Finally I got clearance to go back up to camp. I decided to sleep in the middle of the dog yard so that if she came back I would be right there to catch. I was literally sick with worry.
Matt and Sarah went for a hike with a couple of their dogs an Lily their baby. I was sitting inside sulking about my lost dog. Sarah busted in the door out of breath.
“We just saw your dog!”
They saw her down on the trail heading up the mountain. So I headed out the trail to my tree so I could head her off at the pass. When I got to our field where we become “faeries” I saw her running through.
“Eclipse!”
She hesitated and looked at me a little scared.
So I sat down right in the middle of the field.
“Eclipse!”
Then she ran over to me an jumped in my arms. There we rolled in the lupines and buttercups that are in full bloom. What a reunion!
“ You crazy girl! What did you want to play coyote for a day?”
So off we went back to camp, the major load on my heart lifted. The Cosmic Canines all one again.