Scare of my life

[isabelladangelo]

or at least in the top five. I had just gone in to put the mail down on the table when I hear Shiloh barking in the front lawn. This is normally nothing but some poor people trying to walk down the sidewalk in peace.
So I calmly walk back outside to yell at Shiloh when I see what he's barking at. He's not barking at the sidewalk but at the rowhouses. I immediately look to the gate and yeap, Ginsie escaped...again.
So, I went over to see where she was and, this time, she ran beneath the end houses porch. Great. You see, the end house has the one loose piece of wood that's just big enough for a small creature, like a cat or a dog, to get into. Normally, Ginsie just goes under there and I wait for her to come out.
This time was very very different. I think the cat went under there first and was scratching at Ginsie from a small opening in the crawlspace beneath the houses. I kept hearing her yelping and barking.
I wasn't too scared yet, but I moved a couple of cinder blocks from the otherside of the deck just so I could get a good look at her and try to push her with a broom handle and hope that she'd come out. The broom wasn't long enough. As long as I could see her, I knew she was okay.

I saw her suddenly start towards the broken piece of wood and figered she was coming out. So, I went around to the other side and...nothing. No dog and she wasn't beneath the deck anymore either. So I asked one of the neighbors who was out if she saw the dog. No. Hmmm....

So, as I'm figuring the silly pup just went back up to our deck I hear a very ghastly sound. I heard barking from under the houses. Oh yes, Ginsie managed to push back a board beneath the deck just enough so she could get into the crawlspace too. This was not fun.

For ten minutes I heard periods of yelping and barking. After trying to coax her back out, I called the emergency line for my housing units. Here's the basic conversation:
"Hello, you've reached such-and-such homes. Is this an emergency maintenance issue?"
"YES!"
"Please hold."
Grrr....
"Canugimmeurhphilihenumber?"
"Excuse me?"
"Can you give me your house and phone number?"

So about five minutes later, I get a call from one of the maintenance guys. I tell him what the problem is and he basically said "Oh, I don't know if we do that." Wait, you don't know if you go into the crawlspace? Let me tell you right here, right now, you DO. If you don't, then my housing services are certainly going to hear about it.

So, twenty minutes later, I'm still next to the end unit's deck (which hasn't been touched in YEARS. I mean there is a spider web from half way up the back door down to the deck. There are pine needles everywhere. It's a mess.) and I'm still praying. I'm praying to Saint Francais, to the Virgin Mary, to God...and I'm asking everyone to just help her and give her BACK. At this point Ginsie has been down there, good 45 minutes or so. And around two minutes before the guy gets there, she stops barking.

I can't hear a thing. Dead silence...and that scares me more than anything. What if she fell? What if she's having a seizure? What if her collar got caught and she choked to death? So, I'm in full panic mode by the time the guy gets there. I see him and ask him if the big bomb shelter looking entrance on the far end of the units is an entrance to the crawlspace. He says it is. So I clear it off while he's checking his messages on the phone. (Umm, dude, they are from me telling you to hurry up or I'm calling 911)

The entrance is steep and there's no ladder. I show him where she entered from and all. He basically looks at the crawlspace/bomb shelter looking entrance and says he needs to get a ladder. I told him that I'm really scared and just want my dog. He said he was scared to go into the crawlspace. What the freakin' heck?!? I told him that if he got the ladder, I'd go down there myself!!!

So, he leaves. I'm standing there, shouting into the crawlspace for Ginsie. Nothing. I keep looking over to the deck. Nothing. About three minutes into this, I'm totally in tears. My puppy isn't barking, I have no idea where she is down there, and I'm not sure if she's hurt or not. A couple of minutes after this, while I'm still praying, I hear those clicky noises her collar makes. My head swings to the deck and...there she is. Happy, smiling, and looking at me like "Hi Mommy! I had fun! Can we go on a car ride now?"

I ran over to the cider blocks I had pulled out (which is where Ginsie was looking out from), yanked another one out (those things are heavy I later learned! I'm guessing around 30 pounds each? Maybe more...), grabbed Miss Ginsie by the collar and covered her in kisses. I checked her and not a scratch on her. I put her leash on her and stop and hug her every few paces back to the house.

Ginsie is all like "I'm hot. Can we get inside and get some water?" while I'm still crying, happily now, and just hugging and kissing the little pup. I waited for the maintenance guy to come back. A different one drove up with the ladder. I managed to wipe my eyes a bit and walk over with Miss Ginsie, announcing that this was the pup that caused the whole mess. (I had closed the crawlspace doors before walking to our house. Again, a lot heavier than I thought...I'm pretty sure they are meant for two people to open....) So, this new guy is happy that the pup is okay and asked me what happened. I told him about the problem with my gate and showed him the issue. He said to call it in Monday and he'd come back out to fix it.

So, after two bowls of water and a few treats, Ginsie is happily laid out on the floor right near the air conditioner. I'm still a wreck but at least Ginsie is fine. I don't think I'm leaving her at home tonight and I'll just go see the movie tomorrow...after I've been around her 24 hours and know she won't pull that again.

Comments

[julia0925.livejournal.com]

I'm glad she's ok! That is really scary!

[isabelladangelo.livejournal.com]

:-) It scared her too by the way she's been acting. She does not like leaving me alone for even a second.