Sammi is one of those dogs in rescue who just gets to you- one who carves a space in your heart and plants herself there. Maybe it's because she is older or because her eyes are so wise and soluful or maybe it's because her needs are so, so simple- she just wants to know that she is safe and loved.
Sammi ufortunately bolted from the front door of her new home in Baltimore on November 15, 2007 and raced away on her long greyhound legs. Probably the city noises were frightening since she was just getting used to city life after so long in the country. Whatever the reason, she has not returned and we are gutted to think of her out there on her own.
On November 20, we headed out to look for her with the professional assistance of Sam and her tracking dog, Brando, of Pure Gold PetTrackers. Brando picked Sammi's scent up immediately and took us for a very, very long walk.
We didn't find Sammi that day but we did find a lot of animals (and humans) in some pretty frightening circumstances. Our search for Sammi lead us through some of Baltimore's more troubled neighborhoods, to put it nicely. Within two blocks of Sammi's beautiful townhouse we were ambling past boarded windows, stores with iron bars covering every entrance and young men on the corner offering various items for sale (and I don't mean fake Coach purses).
The most frightening and saddest moments were in a tiny alleyway behind a row of falling-down homes. The state of the homes was enough to feel bad about, but when a large muscular pit bull managed to get his head and shoulders through the gate to his yard in an effort to get to our tracking dog, things took a serious turn for the worst. Sam got Brando the tracking dog away from the fence just as we heard a voice from inside the home yelling at the pit bull. As we moved down the alley we could hear the person beating the dogwith what sounded like a stick. At the same time, I grabbed up a tiny kitten hoping to save it from its future, but had to drop it when it panicked and tried to scratch and bite. A few steps from where I released him lay an adult cat, dead on its back, mouth wide open. It had clearly not had an easy passing.
The rest of the afternoon continued in the same vein...a trek beneath highway bridges amongst the makeshift quarters of homeless people, alleyways with dead animals and hopeless- looking people, miles of railroad tracks and a final journey through what surely must be one of the larges remaining public housing complexes on the East Coast. Unfortunately, none of it led to Sammi.
As of this writing she is still out there in a dangerous world. Her adopters and her Lost Dog family are anxiously awaiting news, so if you see her or hear of her, please call 703-295-DOGS.
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