Hi members,

Our canine friends (best friends) even though put on a brave face most of the time they run for the hills during such times as conditions are ripe for thunderstorms or similar activities such as idiots setting off fireworks early hours of the morning.

If your best friend is like me and thinks he is Harry Houdini, the escape artist from all thunderstorms, then you may end up going through what I went through 3.30am on the 21st if March 2010 when some clowns set off a heap of fireworks close by.

We thought we had the backyard locked up like Fort Knox, not so for our intrepid Houdini canine mastermind whom managed to brake free when the fireworks were in full flight scaring the living daylights out of him. First he tried to come in the house, but by the time we woke up to realise what was going on, he was gone.

So with all the above said, I would like to share with you what it took to get Couper back, hopefully our experience may help others if they go through the same thing and loose their best friend.

• Started by walking the streets at 3.30am

• Then came home and grabbed the car and drove around looking for him.

• First light, we rang the following...

  • The local Veterinarian.

  • The Pound.

  • Our neighbours once they arisen, being a Sunday morning.

• Three vehicles out looking for him up till at least 8:30am.

• Printed posters and laminated them straight away and placed them at all the local shops.

• Posted a notice on this website.

What was it that brought Couper back to us?

A very nice person, good Samaritan, was walking her dog with her children at about 8:00am about 2km from where we live and near a busy road (might add that  Couper has real no road sense in terms of dealing with any traffic). Couper being a friendly retriever jumped out from some bushes where he was obviously hiding (or sleeping) for at least a couple of hours and started to play with the children and the their dog.

These guys took Couper under their wing and took him home, then rang the local Veterinarian and Pound. It was the Pound that alerted her that there was a missing male 13 month black Flat Coated Retriever that we informed the Pound of about half an hour earlier. The Pound gave her our phone number and she called us, what a relief.

When we got there to pick Couper up he was playing with the kiddies and not looking any less for wear. Though the experience certainly tired him out as he spent the rest of the day resting when we got him back home.

Just a few tips that may help others...

• We have had Couper micro-chipped.

• He is registered with the local shire.

• Name tag is important, though he chewed his off recently somehow.

• And the registration tag on the collar as well.

Timing is of the essence as well - must act straight away and we did not give up from 3:30am in the morning till 9:00 when we got him back again.

And I was all ready to head off to Obedience Training with the club too, that morning.

We know he was very, very scared when the fireworks went off at 3:30am as he defecated a bit in the court yard before he took flight.

So we hope our experience will help others if they ever go through a similar experience.

This page has been setup now so that if you have lost your best friend, please e-mail me with a photo and I'll post it as a matter of urgency and courtesy to help out. No problem. webmaster@northernsuburbsdogclub.org or call me on 0428 519 250.