As I write this, I am still too shocked to believe it but too excited to sit still, but I am eager to share the details of Olivia's second rescue!
Last Thursday, I got a call about a new sighting. The caller saw her at the exact spot of the sighting back in May, walking on Potomac Avenue SE, along the fence of Congressional cemetery, across from that little triangle park. It sounded pretty credible, both because of the location and because he said she was just walking and sniffing! I called Sam and told her, but we couldn't go check it out right away because she (and the dogs) were up in Vermont. When Sam got back, she called and told me to check petharbor right away. PG county shelter had a new dog, listed as a Presa Canario mix, who looked a whole lot like Olivia.
As soon as I saw the picture, I was pretty sure it was Olivia. I couldn't leave it there, of course - I obsessed over the pictures for the rest of that (Sunday) night, scrutinizing the one on the petharbor site in comparison to the few I have and the one Animal Planet had of Olivia. The shelter was closed, so we couldn't go see her until the next day, but they had told Sam that the dog didn't have any white on her at all (my usual elimination criterion). It was hard to tell from the single shelter picture, but what convinced me most was her expression and her posture. Anyway, I had a hard time trying to keep myself from getting too excited and didn't get much sleep that night.
When we got to the shelter, we found out that they had picked the dog (whom they called "Ellie") as a stray in PG county (obviously). What we think must have happened was that she left the human who had her - the one who was probably walking her on the path of the last track we did, which stayed within 6 feet of the sidewalk and even went to the dog park. The human may have let her go or maybe she ran away again, but either way, she went back to her most recent stomping grounds. We think someone was probably able to get her into a car and drove her to PG county. In any case, she was on her own and was picked up by PG county animal control.
As soon as I saw the dog, I could hardly believe it, but I knew it was Olivia.
to be continued....
