Many of you do not know that our first dog Charlie went missing, never to return. He was a pure bread terrier and thus represented a significant investment for us. We had purchased him as a result of the increased snake sightings on our property. As we researched what dogs were good for snakes over and over again terriers came up. We gladly made the investment as we thought at best, he will kill every snake in sight and at worst, he'll take the bight instead of the children! He, however failed to take any interest in snakes and eventually was found wondering the neighborhood by some less than honest folks, who must have sold him for some quick cash!
More recently we purchased a new dog this time a big one. He is a German Shepherd but we did not pay a full German Shepherd price which makes us wonder if he is really a pure bread. At any rate we did not care so much as we just wanted an intimidating presence. He is a sweet dog and although just a puppy shows double the brain capacity as our little terrier ever did.
November 1st we had him tied up as we had some guest who were intimidated by his presence. I decided to give him a little break before they woke up in the morning. I untied him forgot about him until 1hr later. We scoured the neighborhood looking for him but nobody saw him or admitted to seeing him. This began to worry us, as usually our neighbors are pretty helpful in these sorts of problems. Our Filipino friends began fearing the worst. As it was a holiday many people would be drinking. In our neighborhood dog is the perfect side dish to alcoholic beverages. He being a large healthy one would have been a great find!
We however tried to carry on our day as we still had guest and planned to go up river to visit some of our Aeta friends and swim in the river. Our guest gathered and said a quick prayer that he would be found.
We spent the morning and until midday playing in the river and eating rice and fish with our hands. On our way back home we heard what distinctly sounded like our dog’s bark. The bark sounded like the same bark he used when we come home from town and he hears our voices. He often barks until we arrive at the house, which is about 100 steps up a hillside. We decided to investigate and so I left the group and doubled back up a trail toward the sound of our dog. I walked at a brisk pace for about 10 minutes before the barking stopped. I picked a point in my mind where I thought it had last come from and ended up marching into a family compound of huts and people gathered around a charcoal pit filling bags to be sold at market. In a commanding tone I said "Nasaan ang aso ko!" which means where is my dog. The people looked stunned and all pointed sheepishly to a shack where he was tied up. I then asked them why they took him, but got no answer. Accept for a question, in tagalog they asked me "who told you?" I replied, “nobody told me I heard his sound!” I went past them and headed straight for our dog. Nobody moved accept for a few of the young kids who gathered to watch me untie him. After he was untied he jumped around, chased a few chickens and then joined my side on the trail toward home. I said an awkward "Salamat" which means thank you, and that was that.
It has taken me a few days to process but what we think happened is this. One of our visitors saw him sitting on the stairs earlier that morning. The people must have grabbed him and drug him or carried him across the river and then led him the 2km to their house.
We are thankful that Father heard our prayers and that he was not someone's snack that day!!
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