Dustin Gate: What Happened to my Dog?
I know there are a lot of you guys that were wondering what exactly happened with my dog Dustin over Labor Day weekend. Will without further delay I will recap this long, emotional, and one of the shittiest times in my life as best I can:
Well it started out that my roommates and I had planned to go check out Memphis Fur Meet (MFM 2011) over Labor Day weekend. Since all of us would be gone someone needed to look after my dog Dustin. Not to worry, one of my roommates longtime friend Rob was willing to come up and help out so all was well for our trip. The three of us packed up Thursday night and left VERY early Friday morning (3:30 am to be exact). As it was a 7+ hour drive from Athens we wanted to get an early start. It worked out though, Rob would be later in the afternoon through Monday to help out. As planned, we all got to the con around 11am are proceeded to have a great time (con report to follow later). Everything was fine and well until my roommate gets a call early Saturday morning. He had to then sit me down and then tell me that Dustin went missing between 5 and 5:30am. Already, I was quite concerned but did not panic. Dustin being the stinker he can be sometimes, more than likely just got loose and was running amuck in with the neighborhood dogs. Or so I thought at that time. I relayed my concerns and gave advice how to track him down. My old roommate, for example, had Dustin slip away at least three times in the past. As the day went on and time had slipped into the afternoon hours I got even more concerned. At this point I had started making calls into all the animal shelters in the local and surrounding areas as it was already a good 6 to 8 hours with no sightings. Even at this point, I was not in super panic mode figuring well he is going to get hungry and come back home, at least by nighttime. I did the best I could to go about with my business and tried not to get overly worried. I managed to do okay with this approach until I woke up Sunday to find out even after talking with a long of neighbor’s, even the mail lady, NO ONE has seen him. Now this is when extreme panic and worry kicked in. Knowing that it has been well over 24 hours not even a sign of him. Very emotional, upset, and crying as I stood out on our balcony of the hotel I tried to find ways I could slip out early from the con. Sadly, with it being Sunday and the holiday weekend, coupled with the fact we are on the very outer edges of the Memphis metro area, there was not a hell of a lot I could do. To be very honest, I spent pretty much the rest of Sunday bouncing between states of being an emotional wreck as well as drunk. We all woke up early on Monday morning and started to get things packed up as fast and best we could. At this point, horrified, I had to start to face the dreadful possibly I may never see Dustin again. I have had him for four years, got loose god knows how many times, and not ONCE had ever been close to being gone this long. To pour salt in an already gaping wound Mother Nature decided she didn’t want to play ball that day either. We had to drive right through a tropical depression delaying us to the point that when we did get back, it was already night fall. None the less, I still had to do something. Biting my lip extremely hard, my roommate drove me around the roads to make sure, God forbid, Dustin was lying dead on the side of a road. The good news was there was no sign of him. Also, bad news that yet, there was NO sign of him.
Now, this is where shit goes from bad to worse. After again, re-speaking with Rob (the friend watching Dustin) and examining Dustin chain (which has not been moved since Saturday morning) there was very good reason to think that instead of Dustin getting loose. He was taken. His leash was meticulously wrapped around in about two circles with the latch pointed up in the center of the loops. No matter how you sliced it, there was NO way Dustin could have got loose with the chain laying out in this way. Now adding anger to my already emotional state I spoke with my roommates, even got my parents involved texting them a picture of how the chain was and getting their thoughts. It was decided at this point to make the police a where of the situation. A cop had come out about 15 minutes later. After explaining the situation to him even he was agreement that something did not add up. Couple this with the fact that even though I have a semi-completed fence, the gate had not been locked over a month so I could mow easier. Also, adding to the fact that sadly the backside of my property is against a non-connected sub development that is well known for all kinds of trouble. After speaking with the cop there really wasn’t anything more I could do that night but try to get some rest and get up early and pound the pavement. As you might imagine this did not prove to be very easy for me. Having to come home to the reality that Dustin was truly gone coupled with fact there is good reason to this he was taken I was a total wreck. Thankfully, a good friend of my named Ben, who also is a dog lover, was kind and selfless enough come over and console me all night, despite having class the next day. I owe him a lot from that gesture as I don’t know how I would have made it through that night.
Bright and early on Tuesday I got up and recalled all shelters but sadly no word. I took the ladies advice and came out just make sure as she said mistakes can happen. I also caught some of neighbor’s before they went to work and checked with them again. After that, I got on the phone call basically every vet with in a 20 miles radius of Athens. Once that was done I went ahead and drove around for a while looking for any signs or clues, as well as talked to anyone I saw around. Nothing. When I got back home my roommate started to make a flyer as I started posting around everywhere online I could. Facebook, Crag’s list, several lost pet websites. I even called the paper that placed both an online and print ad for free to help. I have to tip my hat at the local newspaper to do all of that and for free. Once the flyer was done my roommate was kind of enough to drop it off at as many places he possible could. I was glad he volunteered to go do that because I know not all business would be very kind or sympathetic to the situation. Thankfully, most of them were but I knew I would have got very upset at the ones that did not. Once the evening started to approach I as well took the flyers and went to door to door talking with everyone in the area that I could.
It was at this point that the story takes even more of a shitty turn. While talking with one of the local people at about 4:45pm I got a phone call. It was a local Athens number from a person claiming they had Dustin and demanded to know how much I would give them for his return. In total disbelief, I do not recall the exact words I told them but I know I offered them a large sum begging for his safe return. For whatever reason, they said whatever, forget it, stating they were just keep him and hung up the phone. After taking a minute to let it all soak in the thought did cross mind that it was just an evil prank as my number was plastered all over the area. Still, I was very livid and got a hold of officer who was helping me and filled him in on the situation. Within a few minutes, he came back to the house. I told him what happened exactly and showed him the number that called me (no, they didn’t even try to block the number). I was completely shocked to find out the cop KNEW the phone number just after seeing it. He went to his car and tried to reach whoever it was. They of course, being dumb, answered the cops call but quickly hung up. I did not hear exactly what was said as he did this inside of his car. He then came out and said he knew exactly where this was and would go check it out. Yes, you guessed it, it was from that shitty sub development that was telling you about earlier in the story. The cop did report they had a dog but it was not Dustin. This was went I just said point blank, “Do you think this was a prank or do you think something is going on.” Without any hesitation the cop responded that he did believe something was going on. Knowing the individual, if he didn’t have the dog he might know who or where Dustin was and perhaps who had him would just let him go. At this point, I really don’t know how to put in words how I was feeling. It was now that a formal police report was opened up. Both of my roommates came home shortly after the ordeal. The one was still putting up the flyers and the other had to go to work. Both of them were in complete shock once I told them what had just happened. Going off the polices advice we went to check out the bad neighborhood where the call had come from hopping that maybe Dustin would be just walking around. Off the advice from my mom, we went again after dark thinking if someone was going to let him go, they wouldn’t do it during the day light. Sadly, no luck.
Here again the story takes another turn, but for the better. At about 11:30pm I got a phone call from a lady by the name of Dianna who lived in the area (not the bad one) and she said that she had seen the flyer’s my roommate had put up at the grocery store. She stated that she had seen Dustin and was pretty sure she knew who had him. I was clearly extremely happy to find out she had seen him. The first report of his sighting after Saturday morning plus to learn she was pretty sure she knew where he was. We spoke a little long, I made it very clear how much Dustin means to me and as a dog lover herself, she sympathized with me, too. She ended the call saying she would look into it right away, even thought it was the middle of the night. About 20-30 minutes later, I got another phone call. This time it was from Dianna’s sitter Emma. Dianna during the called told me she had a sister who lived just 3 doors down from me. Emma told me that her sister did indeed get hold of who had Dustin, but because of the whole situation and the police involvement, they were scared to bring him directly to me even thought I had made it very clear when talking to Dianna that I was not looking to blame anyone. I just wanted Dustin home safe. She said that they brought Dustin to her and she would walk him over to my house. At about 12:15am or so, she came walking up the road where I ran to meet them. All I can say it was an explosion of happiness, tears, and emotions that would rival even the best after school special. We invited Emma in for a bit, going over the long story of everything that happened. I could not keep track of how many times she was thanked and hugged by myself and my roommates. I was so happy to have him back I don’t really have words describe it but finally after more than 90+ hours of being gone, he was home and in my arms again.
So now you’re probably thinking so what REALLY happened? Sadly, I will never know 100% what happened but here is what I do know. Someone did in fact have him and showed no real sign of returning him as he was brought back to me with his collar intact with full readable ID and phone numbers etc. Does that mean the people who had him took him? I can’t prove that. Did someone take him, get scared and turn him loose? I can’t prove that, either. However, with that said I 100% believe that even know I cannot prove it, that he was indeed taken from my yard. All of the other evidence a side, the fact that he was gone for so long without coming home and the fact someone had him just to be leaves no doubt to me. Since he was returned happy and well to me, I had the police close the case without any further investigation. It would have done no good as I already knew there was no way to prove anything.
So what’s the moral? I don’t care if you live in the best or worst area; DO NOT turn your back on your loved ones. You just never can know what might happen. Trust me guys, you DO NOT want to go through the hell that I had to with this whole thing. So please, take my story to heart and let others know this CAN and DOES happen and to protect yourself and your family. Since all of this I have taken many steps to what I can to prevent this from happening again. I talked with my roommates about changes regarding when Dustin goes outside and general home security. Installed some of the best LED motion activated flood lights this weekend, replacing my old one’s that had no motion and burnt out long ago. I opted to spend a pretty penny for the LED lights because they were WAY brighter than your average light and would consume far less electricity. Plus they had some of the most advanced motion control settings. I have also brought an 8 indoor/outdoor DVR camera system with night vision and mic. This should be in this week and installed sometime next weekend. I know even the best most expensive gadgets can’t guarantee you things can’t happen but at least I have some piece of mind knowing that I have taken many steps to protect myself and my family. Please, for the people reading this, do the same.
Current Mood: accomplished
{C}
Originally published at Dasoslukos Den