On Friday morning, we got a call from the trailer driver. They had stopped for a coffee in Virginia just off the highway, and when they came out of the restaurant 10 minutes later, the trailer door was unbolted and the dogs were gone. The horse was still there (different compartment), but no dogs.
My mom and sister were devastated. It did not upset me a lot because they were my sisters' family's dogs, and I liked them but wasn't attached, but I empathized. We made up a "lost dogs" sign and they faxed and emailed it to pet shelters around Richmond. We called around all day to animal control offices and even the dead animal collection division. No sign of them.
However, one of the people my sister talked to recommended a certain pet psychic. The psychic called today and chatted with my mom and sister. The psychic said the dogs were in the next county to the south, Enrico; had been found by a family; and would be brought to a shelter perhaps by Monday. The psychic refused to accept payment, and recommended that we contact a dowser that she knew.
So we called the dowser. He was a sweet old man who did not have a map of the Richmond area, but obligingly drew a picture and swung his pendulum. He independently confirmed the psychic's impression that they have been contained in Enrico county and that we should hear from them soon.
We had started to give up hope, since it is a very rural area and we didn't expect anyone to find the dogs, let alone turn them in to a shelter or authority. We didn't have long to wait before we heard more news. Last night, someone left a message on our answering machine that we found this morning. It was from someone who'd seen the dogs penned up outside a PetsMart, and then had come home and seen our flyer which their nephew had brought home. We have been waiting all morning on pins and needles for the PetsMart to open so we can confirm it.
Edit: The dogs never turned up. Oh well...
