Chapter 24--Taz on Whidbey

On September 9th, 2013, Komu and I drove to Oak Harbor on Whidbey Island to search for a lost cat.  The military family was scheduled to move in ten days, so they had a limited time to find Taz.  Komu actually found Taz very quickly, although it took a day to confirm it.  A neighboring house had a crawlspace with an open screen, and Mu said there was a cat in there.  We couldn't get premission to investigate further at that time, but the next day, they found Taz there.  Komu went on searching the areas where we did have permission.  Komu found the remains of two cats that definitely weren't Taz, and he also found a live cat hiding in the tall grass, another cat roaming the woods, and a black cat sitting in a yard, taunting him.  Komu does enjoy his work, intrinsically, just because it's fun to find cats.  Of course it's more fun when they are alive.  I try to make the work enjoyable in other respects as well.  We started our search early to beat the heat.  Mu got his treats and praise when he found the other cats.  And after our work day was over, we went to the off-leash dog park on Useless Bay to play fetch, splash in the waves, and chase other dogs around.  The pictures below show some of Mu's adventure while searching for Taz.  Almost every time, after the dogs search, whether we find the missing pet or not, we stop at a lake or a park or a beach to play.  It is critically important to have fun for the dogs, but I also need these happy memories to balance out the losses I deal with on a daily basis.