To kick off this year's summer research I took two of my students to DAMOP, which was in Madison, WI, this year. The conference center was beautiful. A great choice!
Our hotel was located right across the capital building, maybe 7 minutes away from the conference center.
It was great seeing old friends and colleagues again, to catch up with what they've been up to these last two days, and to listen to the awesome physics that's being done across the world. My students were also definitely impressed and are eager to get started.
On Friday, the day of our return, I got a message from Jan early in the morning session: The cats had escaped! One of the windows in the dining room had been left open over night, and the cats (probably George) had clawed their way out and had gone on a walk outside. When Jan opened the patio door, Abby was easy to get back inside. After all, it was breakfast time! But George was spooked and ran.
Jan spent the whole day observing the yard (together with his parents who had arrived the night before), checking under every bush and shed not only in our yard, but in all neighbors' yards in a good 5 house radius, printing fliers that he posted in the neighborhood, talking to people to help him search. All I could do from Madison was inform the local vets... I felt so helpless.
George remained hidden the whole day. Not too surprising, he was scared and in hiding with all the chaos going on around him.
At 9 pm Jan saw him outside the house, but he ran away, and Jan couldn't find him again afterward.
When I got home at midnight, Jan was exhausted and I took over the search for a while. I ran around the neighborhood and sat in the yard, calling his name and trying to coax him out of his hiding place. Nothing.
Then, at 1, I went up to see Pepper who had started whining since he had heard me call George over and over again. I sat with him by the window, we both looked out, and I called George one more time. And Pepper's ears perked up. So, out of desperation, I asked him if he'd like to help me find George. Luckily, Pepper knows "go find" and "George", and he has done things like "Go find Jan!" and "Go find ball!" before, so we know that he can combine two keywords and make sense of them. So I said "Wanna go find George?" and he got super-excited. So off we went. His nose on the ground, he first lead me to where Jan had seen George disappear earlier today (and ate some cat poop as reward - my guess is, it was George's!). Then on we went. And all of a sudden, I saw cat eyes in my flashlight. George! Poor thing was scared out of his mind, he didn't recognize me, and kept running. George was dashing from bush to bush, me calling him and trying to gain his trust back. All the time Pepper kept a close eye on George, and at one point, he and George actually touched noses! But George was still too scared to let me come close and hid in yet another bush. At least he was talking to me by then. Progress!
So I was talking to the bush, George talking back for a while. Then - silence. And I didn't see George anymore. Pepper of course knew exactly where he was. He got very excited and started pulling toward a parked car. And guess what - George had run from the bush and was now underneath that car. Without Pepper, I would have lost sight of George again, I'm sure. So we again followed George across the street and to some more bushes. Finally, I saw him hiding underneath a neighbor's bush. And while looking at him, I just talked, and talked, so he could hear my voice. And finally (FINALLY!), he started rolling over on his side, started relaxing just a little. So I praised, and praised, and called, and extended my hand. And slowly, slowly, he made his way toward me. When he finally reached me and sniffed my hand, and thus got final confirmation that it *was* in fact me, he brushed up against my hand and started a big, big purr. I grabbed him and held him *really* tight all the way home. He was tired but otherwise unharmed. Thank goodness!
Back home he got a big dinner/breakfast (it was 1:40 am), which he devoured. And Pepper, the hero of the night, got a big spoon of peanut butter and pumpkin. He did so well, and I am sure without his help I would not have found George. Amazing dog!
Here's George the next day, clearly happy that he is back home again. What a horrible day, but what a great, great ending!
