Yes, it happened. My child in a dog body, Kintla, went missing.

I was outside filming a vlog at the chicken coop and had my girl out with me like I normally do, and she was sticking right around the chicken coop. Normally, she runs off this way and that into the fields, so I was happy that she was keeping to the area where I was. Even though she was close to me, I still checked on her every few minutes like every over-protective dog mom would.

• 11:44AM I check on Kintla to see her sniffing around the chicken coop like she had been the past twenty minutes. I go back to filming the end of my vlog.

• 11:46PM I finish my vlog and immediately go to look for Kintla. I don’t see her so I call for her. Normally, she comes with just her name called. Nothing. I wait and call again. Nothing. I begin to beep her collar while yelling “come” and again…nothing. I figure she ran down the trail by the chicken coop so I follow that, but I don’t see her. I run back up the trail past the coop and don’t see her anywhere. I begin to panic.

“Kintla, come!” “KINTLA, COME!!!”

My property isn’t very mountainous or hilly, so I have a good view of most of it and I see she is nowhere in sight. I really start to panic. I run back to hop in my utility vehicle to traverse the property while yelling out the window and beeping/buzzing her collar and there is no response, just dead air.

I do what any normal person would do and call my mom. I tell her how Kintla is gone and I don’t know what to do and begin to break down. She tells me to get myself together and asks me if I have searched all of the areas she could possibly be. She wondered if Kintla had gotten into a building or gotten stuck somewhere. My heart fell thinking Kintla was stuck somewhere, but I knew she would be barking if so and I didn’t hear anything. Based on my mom’s advice, I call one of my neighbors to let him know my dog got out. He was gracious and let me know he would look and keep me posted if he saw her.

• 12:00PM I figured by now that Kintla had slipped the fence. This was odd to me because she had never done it before and I became frantic. Thoughts of someone driving by and stopping to pick up Kintla and whisk her away crossed my mind and I cried even more. I wanted to die. I shot over to my other neighbor’s house to let them know my dog was missing. She assured me Kintla would be back. I know Kintla though, and her instinct and nose drive her on wild pursuits. After leaving my neighbors, I drove up and down the road scouring both sides with no sight of a little black dog bopping through the fields with a curly tail sticking out.

• 1:20PM Twenty minutes elapse of me calling for Kintla profusely and searching every nook and cranny of my property—thinking maybe she slipped into a crevice in a building or got locked in the chicken coop. Nope. My heart is heavy because THIS is not normal for her, but I’m just hoping she appears out of thin air.

• 1:35PM I decide to shoot over to the neighbors I haven’t met yet. I didn’t care what awkward introductions had to happen, I needed to search for Kintla. I drive up their road, knock on their door, and no on answers. I begin walking to the other residence on the property when the door opens and a lady asks how she can help me. I introduce myself as the new neighbor and let her know my dog is missing. I’m describing Kintla, sobbing, when all of the sudden we hear thuds and a muffled wail. Behind me is a shed and a grain silo filled to the brim of year’s old forgotten stuff, and my neighbor said “that could be her.” I run to go look and climb over piles of old metal, wire, and wood and look through the crevice between the silo and old shed to see Kintla there, in between the two dilapidated buildings. I run around to the other side traversing over piles of stuff and avoiding a cow head poking through the fence and grab Kintla and pull her out.

• 1:45PM Kintla is safely in my car and I am conversing with my newly met neighbor who was an absolute angel of my day.

Kintla somehow bolted from me, traversed the field, skipped a fence, and wound up between two buildings within 2 minutes. I haven’t been that scared in a long time, and I hope to never lose my girl again. I couldn’t live without her.

Cheers to a safe curly tailed girl. 😊