Saturday, July 25, 2015

A Dog Story

This is one of those oddball German travel stories that you pick up in the summer.  I think if journalists would collect them each year.....you could write a 300-page book over such weird episodes.

So, there's this German couple.....guy, a gal, and they had this dog....Flecki.

Now, they'd decided this summer to go off to Croatia.  They'd had a great trip, and some point....they went to an animal shelter and adopted Flecki.  So he's not that familiar with them, but they'd been with the dog for a number of days, and things were looking good for a great new home for Flecki in Germany.

So, they started this trip back home.  They'd crossed the border.....gotten onto A8 and gotten somewhere near Stuttgart.  There.....they pulled off for a rest break and were letting Flecki run free in the parking lot grassy area.....next to some woods.  The Stuttgart-21 project is underway, and there's some dynamite being used to dislodge some boulders.  You can kinda guess.....an explosion occurred while Flecki was running free.  He got disturbed......took off for the woods and never came back.

The couple?  Well....they were kinda attached to Flecki.  They stood there and waited.  As of yesterday (Friday).....they'd been there since Monday afternoon.....waiting in this parking lot and hoping he'll come back.  I assume this weekend.....they will give up.

They slept in the car and made the best out of the situation.  I'm guessing that Flecki is a bit tired and hungry by this point.  He'll eventually show up somewhere.

Years ago, I went to a going-away dinner for a guy in the office.....who had an Army MP friend attend.  The MP sat next to me and we conversed about Army life.  One of his jobs related to the Army dog business.  He had a dog assigned to him and had the dog with him for about two months.  Things were fine, as he thought.  Good dog.....seemed friendly.....never any issues.

One day, Sarge says to this guy.....take the dog to the Army vet office on post and get the quarterly check-up.  So he goes over and the vet with his assistant....take the dog and do the complete check-out. The MP walks across the street and gets a coffee.  When the vet finished his job....he told the assistant to take the dog out back and let him run a little....without the leash.  So the helper does this.  Not more than ten seconds after they get out there in this yard, without a fence......this dog takes off....turbo speed.....going for the woods.

Yep, this dog makes it there and just keeps on running.  The dog never looked back.

 The MP shows up and the helper explains this.....very unnatural of the dog.  I'm guessing the anal temperature thing on the dog had him a bit hyped up and angry.

The MP spent that entire afternoon in the woods looking for the dog.  Sarge got called and got kinda peeved.....these dogs are costly.  It's a full report if they don't find him.  The next day.....Sarge has several folks with the MP.....looking for this dog in the woods.  They never do find him.

Dogs are a curious animal.  They love humans and get fairly attached.  They also are quick to note issues and react in different ways.  Maybe this couple will find Flecki.....but I kinda think that he's moved on and probably a fair distance from the parking lot area now.

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