Dog Saga

Here is the complete Dog story. The Elliott’s were in Chambrun and left Kofe back at Pierre’s. Rooney (Woo – Knee) is one of Pierre’s staff and had Kofe roaming around out of his cage as Lemuel was playing with him. When he was coming in the door at the gate with his bicycle, Kofe jumped straight at him, knocked him back, and took off down the street. Rooney took chase and followed him out of the neighborhood to the North, across a river, where he ended up in some Sugar Cane fields. Word got to us in Chambrun and we jumped in a car with Sitota, left the girls with Kacie and Aubree, and took one of the most wild car rides we have ever taken. Walton is an AMAZING driver! We will probably never get between Pierre’s house and Chambrun that fast ever again.

Well, Shelli got so car sick from racing down rocky roads (heads hit ceiling more than once…Sitota loved it!) that we dropped her at the entrance to the neighborhood with Nathan (Pierre’s son) and I returned to the house, dropped Sitota with Dianne, and took off with Walton, Rooney, and a friend/neighbor named Eric. We hurried to the end of the road in the truck, down a hill, across a river (no easy task), and into the cane fields. We were walking along a path towards a tree line when about a hundred yards ahead, we spotted Kofe. He saw us, but when he heard us call his name, he took off, quickly out of site. I am not sure if it was the two Haitians who were ahead of me, or that he didn’t recognize my voice, or that there were four of us…but he took off. We searched all over calling his name for over an hour until the sun set with no luck, and then decided to head back home and try again in the morning.

We decided not to tell the girls that night. They were tired when they returned from Chambrun and didn’t even know he was gone.

The next morning Aaron was up at first light and after getting organized, we were off looking again. This time Rooney, Eric and his dog, and Aaron set off to the same area were we saw Kofe last night. For 2 to 3 hours we searched all over a large area….through cornfields, sugar cane fields, open fields where cows and horses were grazing, a pretty good distance was covered. We talked to some people and asked if anyone had seen him. I think one guy had, but it was a bit lost in translation for me. After a while, we decided to return home and wait for a bit.

At this point, we decided to tell the girls. Sitota is still a bit young and oblivious to the whole matter. The girls took it better than we expected. Isabel through tears cultivated hope…wanting to go to Chambrun to look for him, thinking we will probably see him sometime. Sydney didn’t say much. Shelli probably took it the hardest telling the girls.

After lunch in the mid-afternoon, word came to us that someone had our dog. We immediately took off. As we marched off, word was passed to us that someone who we had seen last night had caught Kofe and had him tied up across the river. Shelli got her first opportunity at crossing the river. As we made our way across, Nathan Pierre (big 16 y/o…240 lbs?) stepped on Aaron’s foot right in the spot that he dropped a palette earlier in the week. As he went down, he drug Shelli down a bit too. Nathan and Aaron went all the way down, while Shelli managed to stay upright. The water was up to our waist and running VERY fast. Other than two phones in Aaron’s pocket getting slightly damp, everyone made it across safely. It was quite the adventure.

Up the other side we go, down the length of a field to the edge where a man had Kofe pinned down with a long piece of cane that had a hook on the end of it. It was slipped around his collar and twisted around and he was pinned. As Aaron approached Kofe, he was quite scared and started to recoil. When he finally realized it was me, he immediately perked up and started wagging his tail. After freeing him and turning Nathan’s belt into a leash, we drug him back across the river and marched him home. Other then smelling the worst he has smelled in the 10 years since we have had him, he was fine. A spray down with the hose, some dog shampoo, and soon he was asleep in his crate.

As Shelli said when it was all over…”that may have been the best adventure I have been on in my whole life.” Well…it certainly has been an adventure. More like drama. That is enough for this week… as if we have any control over the matter. But there you have it…the dog saga…hopefully the end!

I think one of the guys took some pics so once I get them, I will post them on here.