Sad Day

I know things could be worse, but our little dog, Bolu, ran away today. I'm pretty sad about it and not feeling any more cheery about being here.

Bolu a few weeks ago, on top of fill dirt with his favorite toy, "Mr. Sunshine."

Yes, this is the dog we just spent $$$$ in blood tests and shipping charges to have sent from Argentina, to the U.S., to South Africa, to here.

But apart from the expense, I really miss him a lot and I hope he is at least OK wherever he is.

I am still unclear how it happened. I was at work and Neil was getting the car's oil changed.

Nanny was at home feeding Nile and a plumber from work, along with two contract plumbers, came and buzzed the gate. Nanny let them in but she did not go outside or call the dogs in. Apparently Bolu went out of the gate, which he sometimes does, but he usually sniffs around and follows any visitors back inside. It seems the plumbers left the gate open ... I asked around the neighborhood and the gardener for our neighbor said Bolu came in their opened gate and he took Bolu back to our house, but the plumbers still left the gate open ...

Of course, when I tried to ask Nanny and the plumbers what happened, I got a patchy, sketchy story at best. The main barrier to communication is that their English is not great, so I get a lot of head nods and confused looks mixed with either no response or a couple-word response that doesn't make any sense or contradicts what they just said.

Ditto asking around to the neighborhood watch guys. We drove around, called Bolu's name, etc.

I am thinking that someone probably picked him up, as he is a nice, extremely friendly little dog that is very different looking at least from the typical dogs here.

My big boss suggested I follow the lead of his friends who recently lost a Yorkshire Terrier that was subsequently recovered -- post a sign with a reward.

As he said,

"If your dog is out there, $1,000 pula will find him."*

*($1,000 pula = U.S. $154) 

 The pic we'll use for the LOST DOG - REWARD signs.