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Topic: CORRIE Black lab female Killyleigh,Crossgar area Downpatrick , Ireland (Read 331 times)
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mandxx
global mod
Full Member
Posts: 220
Zara My best friend RIP my love xx
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Yes poster has been sent.
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mandxx
global mod
Full Member
Posts: 220
Zara My best friend RIP my love xx
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I have also emailed a copy of the poster to as many rescue centres as I could find in N.Ireland. 
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mandxx
global mod
Full Member
Posts: 220
Zara My best friend RIP my love xx
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BT309TW Postcode for TULLYKIN ROAD, KILLYLEAGH
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mandxx
global mod
Full Member
Posts: 220
Zara My best friend RIP my love xx
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Not yet will email her owner and check.
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mandxx
global mod
Full Member
Posts: 220
Zara My best friend RIP my love xx
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I have tried a few times to get response but nothing so far.
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secretldyuk
Site Manager
Hero Member
Posts: 1747
SITE MANAGER
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reply from owner:-
Thank you very much Mandy, yes we got her back, will sent you the
story...it's very long but quite fun with a happy ending
Dearest All,
So many people are asking us "How did you lose her, where did
you find her, how did you find her?" that I decided to write it down.
It's a lovely, happy ending story anyway about our young black lab.Of
course Corrie, if she could talk, would be saying " No Mum, that's not
how it happened! Sadly we shall never know her version of events but
here is ours.....
Wednesday 13th Feb and the forecast, for once, was brilliant
for the weekend. Darling Bobby, home from work suggests that we go
North and up to the Giant's Causeway which he has seen on one of his
golfing trips .We duly make our plans and arranged to stay with
friends in Co Down on our way. I had heard of the wonderful walks
along the Antrim coastline and was quite determined to bring the dogs
but as we were packing and deciding that we would take our new- to- us
Golf I started getting doubts that they should come, but they came,
Corrie our 3yr old lab and Mini, our terrier, who may be the smallest
member of the family but is by far and away the most important.Twenty
mins up the road and I'm like " This is a mistake, we shouldn't have
the dogs".Husband; "Well, what do you want to do about it?"Me; "Turn
back, take them home, we shouldn't have them" Husband" It's a Friday
night, we have a long journey, we are expected to dinner and we have
to get thought the traffic on the M50( which is notorious any night of
the week but on Friday evenings it's gridlock), "You wanted to bring
the dogs, they are in the car and the we are not turning back"
His arguments were pure logic, mine made no sense at all so on
we went, me still whining on about how this was all a big mistake.
After a lovely evening and as a dinner guest was leaving as
fate would have it Bobby decided that he would let the dogs out. He
knew that they had already been let out but thought well, another leg
stretch won't hurt.He told us later that as he opened the boot door of
the car Corrie somehow got caught up in the string that should hold
that shelf in place and she pulled it out behind her. Well there she
was,in the dark,in a totally strange place with this huge black thing
attacked to her.She panicked and raced across the yard before she came
tore loose and then, with her tail between her legs darted up the side
of the garden, though the hedge and into a field, not to be seen for
the next 23 days.
We called, we drove around and called but nothing. I reckon
that if we left the boot open there she would be, sitting in the back
so I went to bed. Any time in the night that I reached over the bed
was cold on Bobby's side and I realized that he, bless him was walking
the fields looking for her. Dawn broke and no sign, either in the car
or out of it, despair.
We spent most of that day looking for her. As we were to
discover in the weeks ahead Co Down is a beautiful and rural place
with caring people and well minded dogs.It was pointed out to us that
some one had more that likely taken her in, had given her a good meal
and was keeping her warm by the fire til Monday morning when they
would then notify the dog warden and why not wait til then and see if
she turned up, so we traveled on to see the Giants Causeway but as you
can imagine our hearts were not in it.
The weather was all it was meant to be, cold but blue and the
coastline was magnificent. Monday was my birthday so we thought that
we would go back down to Belfast and spend the afternoon there and
wait to see was any female black Labrador with a small round black
growth on her paw brought into the pound. Nothing and then things got
worse.
To avoid the traffic in Belfast and then again on the M50 we
planned to leave around 7ish but after a delicious Beef and Guinness
Pie in The Crown we didn't get back to the Multi storey car park til
7.40, and yes you have guessed it; it was as silent and closed as a
grave.Mini was in the car locked in and we were on the outside with no
bell to ring and no number to phone.When I was small I was always told
If ever you are in trouble go up to a policeman, they will help and so
it turned out. They were fantastic and traced down a key so finally we
were on the road home, but four of us had set off on this birthday
treat journey and only three were going home, it felt very odd and not
at all right.
Tuesday, back at home in Co Kildare and 150 miles from where we
had lost her. The day was spent on the computer and on the phone. I
contacted everyone I could think of from dog wardens to local vets.
Lexy, our daughter had already contacted the regional papers and radio
stations so the word was out but we were getting no feed back.
We are lucky to have Tracy living in our Mews and she too has
a dog so between us we share doggy duties, actually it's very one
sided and in our favor but she doesn't seem to notice!. Well Tracy
printed out over 200 flyers ( I had thought 10 would do for local
shops etc) with a picture of Corrie with Mini and an appeal to anyone
who had seen her with reward offered and on the Thursday, 6 days after
she had gone missing I headed North again full of hope with a roll of
sellotape and Tracy's flyers . Where to start, no idea; so about 30
miles away started to hang them up,shops, libraries, schools,
hardware's, anywhere's. Our friends , from where we had lost Corrie,
put me up again, gave me tips and hints, food and encouragement.
Friday evening, tired and with all my leaflets gone I headed back
home.No one had seen a black lab fitting Corrie's description.
Monday 25th, now missing for over two weeks, back home, feeling
useless, more phone calls, the usual, back in the papers ( all free by
the way ) and back on the radio stations. At this stage the whole of
Co Down seemed to know Corrie was missing but no sightings. Where is
she...she has to be out there somewhere. We were well aware that this
is the lambing season but in the North if you are a farmer who has
shoot a dog worrying sheep you report it to the Police ,a deterrent to
other dog owners who might not have their dogs under control.I was
also amazed travelling around how easy my task was made.There are no
stray dogs wondering around. Even driving around towns late at night
the streets are empty. Driving into farm yards I wasn't attacked by a
pack of barking, threatening dogs like you might and probably would be
down here and knocking on stranger's door's (often in the dark), the
light would come on and the door would be swing wide open and I would
be invited to step in out of the cold and rain to tell my story.
Friday, the 29th, a break through. Bobby had gone to Mayo to
forfill a long standing arrangement and my good friend Caroline had
come to stay. We were over viewing the house sale at Tynte Park,
outside Dunlavin when I got a message on my phone. A couple had seen a
lean black Labrador running along in a cemetery. When it couldn't get
out it had leapt over the wall and gone though a hole in the hedge.
They had got out of their car and called "Corrie" but the dog just
turned and flew up the field. Could this be our dog? The clue was in
their description that she had flown over the cemetery wall, Corrie
was a great leaper, had she been a horse she would have had a few Gold
Cups tucked under her belt. Well Caroline and I decided to head
straight up, she had her bag so was sorted, I just had my pull ups and
wellies, Friday evening again and we didn't get there til quarter to
seven where this lovely couple were outside on this wild night to show
us exactly where they had seen this dog. Wind and hail but across the
fields we went calling all the way, nothing. Only a herd of cattle
that Caroline was convinced were going to charge us any minite. Wet
and cold we decended on our friends again. Poor things, little did
they think that when they invited us up for the night initially they
would get me back three times. By the way they have since left the
country on a prolonged holiday!
We were up again at 6.30 the following day and walked across
and around the area that the dog had been seen but to no avail.
Nothing.We then dropped leaflets at the small golf course that was
across the way, called in to our friend Mark who runs "Paw Marks" pet
shop in Crossgar, gave more flyers to anyone we saw and headed back
down south again having left a small rug and Corrie's dog bowl with
our new friends so that they could leave it out near by to the
cemetery in case this black dog came by again and it was Corrie.
Another week at home and again Nothing, just like she had
evaporated into thin air. Bobby came home and said "right up we go
again at the week end." We knew that Paddy's Day was looming up and
after that Easter so unless we had positive news this had to be the
last throw of the dice .
Friday, 3 wks now since Corrie disappeared. Bobby and I planned
to leave the next day but we get another phone call from our friends
who had seen the black labrador before..When we had been up the
previous weekend Caroline and I had left flyers with them and they
bless them, had been distrubuting them around and the night before
they had called in to some neighbouring farmers to tell them about the
missing dog and he had said "Funny that, at 7.30 on the previous
Monday morning I had been down the fields with a friend checking on my
cows that were calfing out and we saw a fox and a labrador that had
torn up the side of the field".I was given his number, phoned and
arranged to meet him the following morning at 7.30 and also then
tracked down the number of a house that bordered right down to where
this dog had been seen. The very helpful lady in this house agreed on
my requst to leave some dog food near where the dog had been spotted,
though we were aware that it could be taken by badgers of foxes of
which there are many in the area. Our hopes were high,another sighting
and in the same area,we left home with a blanket and a bottle of
whiskey in case she was weak and suffering from hyperthermia, after
all this was 5 days later and the weather was bitterly cold.We
reckoned if it was Corrie she might need the blanket but we would defo
need the whiskey! Again it was Friday and again the M50 was jammers
and again we arrived around seven. It was too late to look for her but
we drove and walked with little Mini around the roads in the area
taking in the cemetery, the golf course and the farmers land where she
had been seen. The idea behind this was to leave our scent in case she
was in there somewhere.
This time we booked into a wonderful guest house between
Killyleigh and Crossgar, our centre of operation, where over the
course of the evening we meet many of the locals including a gentleman
who had been twice Mayor of Armagh and who has invited us to a tour of
the Palace of Armagh, a trip we shall now have to take.The propritor
and staff were amazing and got heavily involved in our mission.
We got up early for us and certainly for us on a Saturday
morning and met the farmer who had seen the fox and the lab. He showed
us where she had been seen bolting up the hill. It was a wonderful
spot with a small river and lots of cover and bordering on a small
golf course with lots of gorse and groves of trees and a view of the
mountains of Mourne behind.No time to stand looking at the view,we
called and walked, walked and called, Mini at our side but nothing, no
sign, we were by now getting well used to this.The bowl of food that
had been put out was untouched. We did though dicover that a "black
labrador "faster than a greyhound" had been seen by a golfer the
previous weekend which was the time that Caroline and I had been
up.That was all, the rest of Saturday was taken up with false
leads.Before we went to bed, walked off our feet and very despondent a
lady who worked at the guest house told us that a man who had a yellow
lab had been seen in the last three weeks walking a yellow one and a
black one, could this be our missing dog? We only had the next morning
then we knew that we just had to get home and on with our lives. We
figered out that if there was a man walking an unknown black lab then
the chances are he was feeding it too so we made the discision to go
back to where there had been the three sightings of this phantom black
dog; one leaping the wall, another darting away and the third faster
than a greyhound; this did sound remarkably like our crazy dog! Up
early again and out to the golf course before the golfers came out to
play. Another tour round with Mini being useless, obviously, like her
dad not a mornings person. Then at the far end of the golf course in a
grove of trees her little nose, that is longer then her legs, went
down and she started running backwards and forwards, maybe a rabbit,
but then generally with a rabbit she will make a straight dash across
in a straight line, this she didn't do but just seemed to be going
round in circles. We then went over to the dog bowl that had been left
out full of food and lo and behold it was empty, badger, fox or
Corrie, who knows. Mini though sniffed the bowl, and then she half
turned and marked it with a few drops; her calling card, her text
message.Back then to the car to return for breakfast and Mini did not
want to get in. Three times I put her in and three times she jumped
out.....No, no she seemed to be saying, we can't just leave now when
we are so close.
Just tucking in to our Ulster Fry when the phone rings, it's
the golf club and a black lab has been spotted 5 mins ago down the far
end of the golf course, jubulant and excited we raced back, of course,
needless to say she wasn't sitting there waiting for us in the car
park. Golfers were shouting "she was up there to your left 5 mins
ago," " She flew though that gap two mins ago"We split up.Bobby walked
back down to the lady's house who had put the food out and knocked on
her door. She told him that her daughter had heard a funny noise at
the bottom of the garden that sounded like a dog and yes he should go
down and see. He walked down to the bottom of the garden which was
very wild with trees and dafidils. He stood only feet from the bowl,
and gave one call "Corrie" and with that a young,black female labrador
with a round black growth on her paw came flying out of the hedge and
straight into his arms. 23 days after she went missing, 150 miles from
home and approx 5miles from where she had dashed with fright into the
night.
Isn't that a lovely story. She looks remarkably well, But
How? Well, she was in a sheltered spot away from people and maybe she
had found the odd sandwich or chocolate bar left behind by golfers but
better than that she was holed up in a field full of cows calfing out,
and as was pointed out to us by the farmer what can be more nourishing
than the afterbirths that were readily being provided by those cows
and calfs. A great story, but maybe Corrie has a better one...we shall
never know!!!!
Carolyn Ashe, with love too from a relieved and happy Bobby
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"dogs don't have voices, so I speak for them."
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