Ziva is Missing

 Woke up Friday a.m. "with my alarm" ( I struggled!).   Got up, went to the bathroom, & made my way to the kitchen to hand out the morning brush chews.   Grab 4 as always & attempt to start dispensing when I realize Ziva isn't there.  I look around & say her name "Ziva?"  Nothing.   Very unusual as she NEVER misses a snack EVER!  
"Ziva!" "Ziva?!" I call. I walk to the front, check my office. Check Rich's office. Check the bottom of the basement stairs "Ziva?"  Open the front door, look out. I walk to the back of the house & turn on the patio light, open the door, & ask "Ziva?".   Open the front door again, no Ziva.

This alerts Rich (Ziva is his baby).  "Looking for Ziva?" "Can't find her".  He traces my steps & rushes to get dressed.  I start looking for my slip on shoes & coat.  Of course I can't find my stupid slip-ons because she was playing with them the day before. 

Finally, locate a pair I can slip on & head out the garage. She's not in the garage, so I open the door & start out.  Down the driveway, up and down the side walk calling for her.   'ZIVA!" Nothing.  It's dark out & I think I see movement on the trail--but can't be sure "Ziva is that you?"  NOTHING.  I'm worried about her, but I am more worried about Rich because this is his baby.   He will freaking lose it.  In the house, he's opened the backdoor & left it open so she could come back in if she does try.

After a few minutes of back & forth, calling her name I decide I probably should drive around calling her.  I head back inside to get my glasses & keys. 

As  I am coming in, Rich is coming out.  Asks if I've seen her, I tell him I haven't.  He then heads out to try & look for her-hoping hearing his voice brings her to him.

Not even 10 seconds later, he comes back in followed by Ziva.   Apparently my calling her brought her to us.      

Longest 15 minutes of our life.   

The night before Rich was getting into bed (I had long been asleep) & Peryn bugged him to let him out. This was at 11:20 PM. During that excursion, Ziva went out & didn't come back in.  She doesn't sleep in the bed, she tends to sleep in the closet--so he didn't notice. 

The WHOLE NIGHT up until 5AM she paced out on the patio.  She disappeared after 4:57AM according to the camera.  

We have all the Security Logs & videos to recreate the whole event.   She was so happy to see us & didn't seemed too fazed.   Not ONCE did she bark while outside.   She lies outside most of the day, so we think she just assumed it was one of those times but we weren't letting her in.   None of the dogs alerted us to her (because again, she stays outside a lot).   Had she barked, THAT would have got their attention. 

She's fine. She's happy. Can't tell she spent the night outside.  Took us the whole day to get past the panic we had when we couldn't find her.     
It did show us we don't have to worry about her wondering off as she had the whole night to, but stayed home. 
We're really lucky to have dogs that choose not to explore & wander off.  They prefer to stay with their humans.   

And we do have an invisible fence, but the collars are not kept on them for extended periods of time.  So it would not have been on at night.  She really does not require one because when she's outside, she rarely leaves the patio.  That's her domain, hanging out on the patio & watching people walk buy or just laying around enjoying the weather. 

Below are the camera captures of an "Animal" on our patio (corresponds to the log above)

David---just bug Rich ..I don't want to hear it.

Bad Momma

Volos hates unknown sounds.  Beeps! Bells! Any electronic sound.  Freaks him out big time. 

Back in 2020 we had a power outage that lasted awhile.  The alarm beeps when it goes to back up battery. It beeps continuously to remind you that it is on battery.     

He started getting all freaked out and trying to hide.   So I decided to take him on a drive around to get out of the house.    

Unfortunately, this outage went awhile, so by the time we got home the Carbon Monoxide detector --which has a vocal alarm-- started going off.   Around this time, power was restored. That CO alarm was setting off the house alarm.  It was then triggering the house monitoring alarm, so it was a big loop of noise.  
Poor dog nearly lost his marbles.

We won't discuss the time I set off the smoke detector while cooking.  That was another trauma in Volos' eyes.

So today we had our work in-person Holiday Outing.  I left the boys for a bit to go be around people I used to see daily, but no longer did.   
When I leave the house I have 2 different alarms I can set.   The one is for when we have the dogs with us and one without.  The difference is the motion sensors. (See where this is going?)

So I arrive at the place and we sit down & start catching up.  Phone starts ringing.  I see it's the alarm company and RIGHT AWAY I know my mistake. 

I'm not worried that they're calling me or anything. No. I know that back at home the alarm is sounding and the boys are alone, already anxious, driving poor Volos to madness.   

I feel so horrible for that. My poor boy --on his GOTCHA Day/Birthday--- has to deal with that alarm. 

Last night wasn't any better.   There was a bad storm that came through.  Deep long rumbles leading up to it--that went on forever.  Then the lighting, thunder, & rain.   
While I love having Volos in my lap, a frantic-terrified Volos is NOT gentle. 

After I got home today I had to turn on all the lights because he ALWAYS leaves me something to clean up when he's not had a good time at home alone.   

So that's what is going on as I type, I'm letting the enzyme cleaner soak into the stain to remove it easier. 

Right now he's pretty happy. I took them to the basement when I got home. Then we went on a car ride to PetSmart to spend their gift card. He got himself another toy.

Peryn got one as well, but we all know that Volos doesn't believe toys are for anyone else but him.

As I mentioned, it's Volos' Gotcha Day, which we use to serve as his birthday.  He's been with us 3 years. It feels so much longer....   But based on what they told us when we adopted him, he turns 8 today.   
So Happy 8th Birthday Volos!!!