Friday August 6, 2010, 11:00. Guest from Idaho joined us on the Dulcinea for an afternoon of sailing. All excited about our guest first time adventure; we headed out. We passed the log yard and were adjacent to a condemned log float near Anthony’s Hearth side when our guest started calling out “Hi Kitty, Kitty, Kitty”. We looked over to see that it wasn’t a cat; but a little dog!! Hugh and I both said “That’s not right!” How do you suppose it got there? So we turned the boat around to begin our rescue.
Jeannie, having her life vest on, volunteered to step out onto the dilapidated float to rescue the very scared little white dog. She gently picked her up and brought her aboard. We wrapped her in a sweatshirt and cuddled her, trying to get her to relax. She was not responding to food or water yet. As we headed on our way we past the Harbor Patrol. We hailed them to report our little lost friend. They had no reports of a missing dog, so put out a bulletin on her.
Off we go again! She is now responding to our comforting sooooo, we head out to sail! Wind was great. With minimum gibes we headed for Boston Harbor. Cruising at hull speed we were at Boston Harbor Light House in record time. We learned we could secure the cabin a lot better, which will be fixed before our next trip out. But, our new rescued pup handled it well! As things settled down, we offered the now named Boomer moist dog food and fresh water. She accepted!! She enjoyed being held and comforted by everybody on board.
Returning to the slip around 4:00 pm, we leashed up the dogs to take them potty. While up on the grass a young man, who we found was a pre-med student from California, stopped to admire and pet the dogs. He ask what breed each one was. Goliath, 4 lbs., and Misty, 4.5 lbs., were Yorkes. Mona, 8 lbs., was a Brussels Griffin. Boomer, 6 lbs., a Pomeranian/ Chihuahua. We wondered if we could have picked up a little more speed without all the weight of the dogs!
The young man then looked at the white dog and said “Hey! I just saw a picture of this dog on the bulletin board down the dock a ways.” We were amazed! The four of us went to see the poster. Sure enough, there was a picture of our new found friend, named Foxy, with a phone number. So we called.The people happened to down town Olympia, 5 minutes away. They were ecstatic!
They told us they just rescued the dog a week ago from a puppy mill; so it was still a little skittish. They went to Anthony’s for dinner the night before and when the mother got out of the car so did Foxy. They searched with flash lights till 1:00 in the morning with no luck. They resumed the search again later in the morning; still no luck! They were in a very depressed state until we called to tell them we found there baby! So, they reunited; it was very touching.
We headed back to the Dulcinea with an empty feeling ... needing to regroup, but also happy for the people with Foxy. We called Harbor Patrol, canceled the bulletin, then poured a glass of wine and a close to another day and adventure!
Happy sailing!!!
Hugh Buchholz and Jeannie Carroll, Dulcinea