Shar-Pei On The Run!!! I'm Exhausted!

EllenD

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Aug 20, 2016
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State College, PA
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Senegal Parrot named "Kane"; Yellow-Sided Green Cheek Conure named "Bowie"; Blue Quaker Parrot named "Lita Ford"; Cockatiel named "Duff"; 8 American/English Budgie Hybrids; Ringneck Dove named "Dylan"
So it's now 2:02 p.m., and I've been out looking for Jett, my Shar-Pei, since around 7:00 a.m. this morning...I'm frozen (it was about 19 degrees F when he took-off and now it's only 27 degrees F), I'm exhausted, I stepped in a hole and twisted my bad ankle that was re-built with a bunch of metal hardware, and my car is sitting in a construction site, "beached" in a huge tire rut from a bulldozer...But I got him back!!! (Now I'm going to kill him :mad:)

I have a large backyard that is fenced-in with a 7-foot high wooden privacy fence, and I just let the dogs out the sliding-glass door to go do their thing...This morning I got up around 6:45 a.m., hit the bathroom, then let the dogs outside and hit the coffee-maker...I was getting the dogs their breakfast, and when I opened the sliding-glass door only Lola, the Cattle Dog, came back in...I went outside and found that someone had unlatched and opened-up the gate WIDE, through a dense layer of leaves (so they had to have purposely opened the gate, it would have had to have been unlatched as well by-hand, nothing the dogs did or could have done)...I still don't know who did it, it could have been someone trying to break-into my house last night (it was latched when I went to bed last night around midnight or so and put them out before bed), or if it was my new neighbors who I share that side of the fence with (we each have are own gates that go to our individual yards, but that side of the fence is shared)....They just moved-in literally a week ago, I haven't met them officially yet, but they are renting the house from my old neighbors who moved and are renting it to them...They are a couple in their 30's I'd say, like my age, with a little boy about 6 or 7, and little baby, and a little dog that doesn't ever stop barking. I don't mind the dog, but if that kid opened my gate and did this I'm going to hang him up by his ankles from my basketball hoop with ratchet-straps and let his parents find him hanging there...:54:

My neighbor on the other side, who has lived there since I moved in and is the nicest woman on the planet (she and her husband are from Russia here on a grant working for Penn State) said she saw him walking up the street, she ran inside to grab a leash and when she came back out 5 seconds later he was gone...So I jumped in my car and drove around for about 2 hours (my neighborhood is a big circle with 2 cul-de-sac roads in the middle along with a big park/softball field), then parked the car and went out on-foot for another 3 hours, walking through the surrounding pig-farm and developments, then got back in the car and went down into a construction site that I thought he might have gotten into...I turned around and went through a tire-rut, which ripped my front-bumper completely off, broke my foglight bracket in half, broke the air-dam, and it's still sitting there, beached on the front axle...My stepfather is going to bring his truck down tomorrow to pull it out, but the front end is toast...That's what insurance is for...:mad:

So around 12:30 I finally gave up, I was frozen, exhausted, couldn't feel my hands, feet, or legs, and while I was walking back home because my car is stranded I stepped into a huge hold in the middle of the woods and fell, twisting my ankle that is already forever messed-up and has a bunch of metal in it...I got home around 1:00 and started calling all the local shelters/rescues, and I was told by one of them to call the local police to file a "lost dog report"...State College has 5 different local police departments along with the PA State Police and then Penn State Police, and when I called the Borough Police I got a "We're Closed" message (lovely), but it passed me to the "Centre County Police Communications Office", and when I told the operator I needed to file a lost-dog report, he said "Was it a black Mastiff?"...Now Jett is a full-blooded Shar-Pei, he's black, and he weighs about 70 pounds or so, but it's all BULK. He's only a foot and a half tall, not even close to the size of a Mastiff, but I took a shot...So I said "Well, he's a full-blooded, solid black Shar Pei, could be him, where is he?" He said "Well, Penn State Police picked-up a black Mastiff, a male, walking down the road that was really aggressive and wouldn't let them handle him, so they took him straight to a Veterinary Office"...Now I'm thinking they just euthanized him and I'm panicking...

I rescued Jett as a young puppy, it's a long story involving a greedy AKC breeder, and the bottom-line is that Jett loves me and is a sweetheart with me and my mom, and is okay with a couple close friends, but that's it...He's never bitten or even snapped at anyone, but he has a very deep, loud bark and he growls, and considering he was probably scared out of his mind I'm sure he was in prime-form, lol...I was passed from police department to police department until I finally got a hold of the officer who took him to a veterinary hospital that I didn't even know existed (the building used to be an Insurance Agency, lol)...Now I didn't have a car because it was beached in the construction site at this point...So I called this Veterinary Hospital and I said "The police told me that you have my dog, he got out of my backyard gate this morning and I've been looking for him since, he's a male Shar Pei"...She said "A blue one?"...I said "Well, he's solid black, he's a horse-hair Shar Pei not a brush hair, so he's got actual spiky hair"...She said "Well, you need to tell me something unique about him, because this Shar Pei is very aggressive and we can't go near him, he's very upset and I don't think he's a pet"...Now I'm getting mad..She asked me how old Jett was and I said "He'll be 2 on January 22nd, I got him as a very young puppy, I rescued him from a breeder who was going to kill him because he has Entropion, he's blind in his right eye and you can tell because his right eye is always shut and his third-eyelid was tacked"...She said "Please hold"...lol, it's my freaking dog!!! Then she came back and told me I needed to have all his vaccination records, photos of him WITH ME, blah blah blah, a bunch of stuff just to be able to pick him up...I said "You'll be able to tell he's my dog as soon as he sees me", she said "I don't think this is your dog, he's not a pet, he's gotta be a stray"...Now how many stray pure-bred Shar Pei's do you see running around, let alone ones who are blind in their right eye and obviously had tacking-surgery? I just grabbed what I had and got a ride with my mom to the veterinary hospital...

I walked in and the woman I spoke to said "You're here to see this Shar-Pei? He's calmed down a bit, but no one can get anywhere near him"...I brought his harness and leash with me, she led me back into where their kennels are...Now they had a huge kennel in the back, the size of a kennel for a Rottweiler or Great Dane, but they had him shoved inside a little tiny plastic carrier that was sitting inside of the huge kennel...poor little guy couldn't even sit or lay down...She's like "Now you can life that latch and open the kennel up, but stand way back because I'm telling you, this dog is very aggressive"...As I'm totally ignoring her and ripping at the damn latch on this kennel, I get it open and I see my baby crammed into this little carrier with his head down, whining and growling, and I said "Jett, it's mama, I'm here" as I popped-open the carrier door (the women took off and shut the door to the kennel room, and was peeking through the glass in the door like she was going to watch me be mauled, lol...Jett came flying out of the carrier and almost knocked me over jumping on me! His tail was wagging a mile a minute, and I hugged him and scooped all 70 pounds of him up off the ground and squeezed him...I heard another vet that was also watching through the door go "Yep, I'd say he's her dog!"...We got the hell out of there as quickly as possible, I swear, I don't know what their plans were or why they didn't just call to take him to one of the rescues/shelters, but I could not have gotten him out of there quickly enough...I had to pay them $25 for keeping him for an hour for me...And on Monday I have to file all of his vaccination records, his license, etc. with them and the police or I'm going to get fined a bunch of money for "letting him run"...yeah, I just opened up the door and let him run free with no harness/tags on him...

Jett is dead to the world right now, he wolfed-down his breakfast that he never got, ran upstairs, and fell asleep on my bed...He STINKS! He smells like he actually did die, lol...I don't know if he rolled in something or if it's just from being in that kennel at the veterinary hospital, but now my entire bedroom smells like it, I smell like, Lola smells like it...But I don't care...He can sleep there as long as he wants to...:D
 

Laurasea

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Aug 2, 2018
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Ellen!!! I wrote you a big supportive post, but my internet crapped out and it was lost...
So I'm so glad you got him back!!! And hope ankle and car are ok.
PS, I have a floofy poofy peekatzue that escapes all the time, they just hand him back, so your big boy is treated differently, not fair..
 

Jen5200

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Mar 27, 2017
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Yikes - what a day! Glad you got him back :). Sucks about the car and ankle damage though...
 

ChristaNL

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Sunny a female B&G macaw;
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All are rescues- had to leave their previous homes for 'reasons', are still in contact with them :)
Oh dear..... never a boring day in your life eh?
Glad you got (to) your baby in time!



and speaking off...

Time to chain your back door shut - new neighbours or not, you really do not need this.
 

RavensGryf

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Jan 19, 2014
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Iā€™m so glad you have your baby back! Thatā€™s so scary when a beloved animal family member gets away. Had it happen when my boy was 7 months old. He jumped the 6ā€™ fence before we extended it. We were lucky. So weā€™re you! But Iā€™m mad that someone opened your gate, and mad at how your dog was treated!

Iā€™m sorry you got hurt and your truck had that happen to it too. Best wishes getting back to normal!
 

noodles123

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Jul 11, 2018
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Umbrella Cockatoo- 15? years old..I think?
I'm so sorry he is such a brat for running lol, but I'm glad you have your brat home safe and sound :)
It sounds like we had similar days (but for different reasons). Argh....! Seriously though--that must have been miserable and such a relief when you found him! He sounds precious!
 
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itzjbean

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OH Jet..... you stinker!!! (literally, lol)

So SO glad this was a happy ending and you got him back. I am very curious now as to who the heck opened the gate!!! Have you installed cameras around your property?
 
OP
EllenD

EllenD

New member
Aug 20, 2016
3,979
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State College, PA
Parrots
Senegal Parrot named "Kane"; Yellow-Sided Green Cheek Conure named "Bowie"; Blue Quaker Parrot named "Lita Ford"; Cockatiel named "Duff"; 8 American/English Budgie Hybrids; Ringneck Dove named "Dylan"
  • Thread Starter
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Just to follow-up on this...

Jett is fine, though he was covered with burrs and he stunk like I don't know what when I got him back...However, the 2 police-officers who found him and took him to a local Vet's office found it necessary to send me a $300 fine for "letting my dog run free without being on a chain/tether"...Doesn't matter whether my backyard is fenced-in apparently, they still have to "be on a chain/tether" where I live, and if they get loose because someone breaks into my house or opens a locked gate, it's still my problem...I'm telling you, I think I've bought the local police-departments their Christmas party next year already, including hotel-rooms!

My fence-gates all have padlocks on them now from the inside, so if anyone wants to open them they'll have to break the doors/latches...It's a pain in the butt because I can't go in and out of the backyard from outside, but better than losing a dog and paying another $300 fine...you know what bothers me the most? They didn't even tell me they were going to do that when I spoke to them, they were all nice and smiling and happy that I got him back...Then this $300 fine shows-up in the mail with one of their names and signatures on it...What a wuss, lol..

Jett's going to work this fine off over time...
 

ChristaNL

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May 23, 2018
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Sunny a female B&G macaw;
Japie (m) & Appie (f), both are congo african grey;
All are rescues- had to leave their previous homes for 'reasons', are still in contact with them :)
<insert a nice creative string of swearwords here >

Yup, typical "victim-blaming"...
if you did not have a dog someone else could not have let him out, so its alllll your fault.

Sometimes the world so does not make sense. :(


Does he still have enough savings left for his ear-work?
 

Laurasea

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That seems so wrong!!! And unfair! Abd ridiculousl! You were out actively looking for him!
I don't understand this! One of my dogs escapes all the time by digging, or tearing into the fence wood, squeezing out, climbing out ect...... Usually I catch him, but the one time I didn't they just handed him back to me and said they were happy to help!!!!!!
Just terrible Ellen, just plain rooten!
 

RavensGryf

Supporting Member
Jan 19, 2014
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College Station, Texas
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Red Bellied Parrot /
Ruppell's Parrot /
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English Budgie
That doesnā€™t sound right at all. Who chains up or tethers dogs in the backyard anymore?! In this day and age when people know what intelligent and sentient beings dogs are, we know how cruel and emotionally unhealthy that is for a dog. :mad:
 

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