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A DOG’S TALE AND A TALE OF COMMUNITY by Bill Lee

Our very new family member, Kleio, a rescue dog (ft note, a Jindo from Korea) got loose this evening (a worker had left our gate open. But it was essentially my fault for not telling them all to make sure they closed it on leaving.)

Kleio has had a very rough life (though seemingly a pure bread she was probably abandoned on the streets of a Korean city, nabbed by someone who planned to sell her for dog meat, and finally rescued by an agency with headquarters in Toronto, ending up here in Canada). She had been with us only about six or seven weeks, too short a period to bond with my wife and I. I’m sure when she found herself alone, she probably became disorganized and then freaked out and just started running. A neighbour across from us heard me calling for her and offered to help. Wendy (the neighbour) just jumped in her car and started driving around and asking anyone she saw about Kleio. Other neighbours also went looking on foot as did our son-in-law Darryl JG Newbury who biked all over the place, going north and our grandchild Quinn Lee-Newbury who walked the neighbourhood to the south.

In the end, it was our grandson, Keegan Lee-Newbury who was primarily responsible for actually getting her back. He put out an alert on fb with a description. At some point about an hour into the “dragnet”, he received a message that she had been seen heading west, some blocks north and west of us. He called us and we headed to the area. A group of five youngish folks saw the message and kept a collective eye out for her. Lo and behold they soon spied her and wisely managed to corner, rather than try to chase, her. She’s extremely timid (and given her experience who wouldn’t be?) and damn quick and agile as well. But when Kleio saw the jig was up, she simply lay down and allowed them to put a leash on her.

The lovely folks then contacted Keegan who called our daughter Barb who I had picked up when I saw her walking and looking for the escapee. When we got Keegan’s phone call with the address we headed over immediately, hoping it was not a false alarm, which it was not. The folks had her safe and sound on the leash, scared and shaking but unharmed. We thanked the five good Samaritans effusively (in a non-Covid time I would have hugged each and every one of the five of them). They were as gracious as they were clever, quick thinking and caring.

It was a scary time (well over two hours and by Barb’s calculations, Kleio had made it across seven or eight very busy intersections. But somehow it ended well.

It was a great night for the demonstration of community and neighbourhood caring. Barb called and told our friend Wendy about Kleio’s safe return and found that she had come back and had joined with Ceil waiting for the return of the prodigal - she told me she “ just had to see that Kleio was safe”. Then there are those other folks who I had to thank the next day for their concern and support. It eased the tight and sick feeling in my stomach that they were on the watch. Those five fab young people who saw the fb alert, kept eyes peeled, caught sight of and

caught her, were obviously a huge part of the happy ending. I think, most of all, Keegan deserves great credit for organizing things on social media. Instant community? That gang of people had always been there, but that evening it was obvious.

And as for Kleio, she waltzed into the house, received some treats from Ceil and settled down to doze in our sun-room as if nothing ever happed. And as for me, I heated up my cold supper and imbibed a couple of glasses of wine. Then I headed for bed exhausted.

Photo of Kleio the next morning, napping in her favourite part of the house.



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