Things are not always what they seem...

For those that are not familiar with our fury, four-legged family member Zoe (dog) let me give a very shortened overview…. More like, let me smash 6 years of Houdini, tomfoolery into one small paragraph (Zoe could have her own book).  We adopted miss Zoe Mae from our local shelter in Dearborn, MI after my beloved, friend Rocky (dog) passed away unexpectedly in Oct 2007.  Zoe’s shelter given name was “Blessie”, which I can’t help but respond to by saying “MMMHHhhmmm” with my best “Martin Lawrence, Big Mama’s House” impersonation.  LOL “Blessie” my foot! Houdini would have suited her better.  Since 2007 Zoe has climbed fences, jumped fences, gone under fences and even THROUGH fences.  NOTHING can hold this dog in for long.  She’s uprooted tie outs, broken tie outs for hundred plus pound dogs (she only weighs 35lbs), snapped dog trollies that my 180 lb husband could literally ride without breaking, she’s ran through high powered electrical fences with a smile on her face and some how by the grace of the powers that be, we always get her back! Somehow. Someway. 

Before moving to Poland we were sure to make a new dog ID with our Poland address and my new Polish Cell phone number.  We anticipated there might be a need (lol).  We looked at many homes and one of the qualifying characteristics it had to have is a yard that was Zoe proof.  HA! RIGHT!  The house we chose has a small back garden area that is lined by sunk cement walls that rise out of the dirt about six inches.  The chain link fence is at least 5 feet high and the posts that support it are within the cement walls.  Sounds good so far, right?  The back gate is small and made from steel bars.  This yard held Zoe Mae for about a month.  

Zoe is like a caged gorilla. She will try every single bar, fence link, and door for the weakest link.  When she finds it she will work at it until she is free.   Also, we never let her out for more than 5 to 10 min intervals because we can’t trust her so she finds this weak link and works it over time.  Zoe has realized that she can actually unweave the chain link fence with her paws here in Poland and then push her chunky self through like a rat.  She has done this twice, so we have zip tied up a plastic gardening fence covering the entire lower part of the back fence.  Then she learned how to work the gate handle to open the door!  Now the door is wired shut.  Tonight she ripped the plastic fence off, unwound the fence and went through while I was making dinner.  She was outside no longer than 15 min when I went to check on her... GONE!

Zoe LOST IN POLAND… GREAT!  :-P  I stop dinner, tell Burger we have to go look for Zoe and we set out on foot.  She is nowhere to be seen.  Burger is getting upset and I am gently preparing him for the worst.  We walked and called for her for at least a mile.  Burger is now exhausted and hungry so we started back home.  About a block from home my cell phone rings.  

The woman is speaking only in Polish and VERY FAST.  I know this must be regarding Zoe so when she pauses I say, “PIES?”  Meaning: “DOG?”  She says “Tak” (yes).  I ask in Polish if she speaks English to which she sighs and says, Nie (no) troche (little).  Now, I have been gone from Poland an entire month and have not spoken, read, or thought in Polish the entire time.  I am doing my best, but with the added pressure it is getting confusing for both of us.  We somehow get an understanding that Zoe is by Burger’s school and I catch the word rower (bike).  I tell her that Burger and I are on our way.  We hang up.  We make it back home and Brad pulls up from work with the car so we hop in.  After driving over we decide it is best to head out on foot again so we leave the car.   I call the lady back and explain we can’t find her location but we are by Burger’s school and a bike shop (Rowery Sklep).  She says, “I am not with dog.  Man with dog.  Man, use my phone.  I am not with any longer.”  I tell her where we are and that there is a bike shop here; is this close?  She is really confused and I sense frustrated too, so I thank her and let her go.  I get off the phone and look at Brad and tell him the news.  We feel like we must be close, but we don’t know what to do next.  My cell rings again.

There is a new woman on the phone.  She speaks about as much English as the first.  I am trying SO INCREDIBLY hard to understand where she says she is with our dog.  The street name has changed and now she is nowhere near Burger’s school.  We think the first person must have just let Zoe go because we never came and Zoe ran on.  We hop back in the car.  I am trying and trying to communicate with this new person and desperately do not want her to get frustrated and hang up.  She says they are by the “Intel building” so I get excited because I think I know what she is talking about.  Me: “Tak, the niebieski i biały building (blue and white)?”  reply: “Nie, Nie” (no, no) it is gray and red.  Me: Sighing and shaking my head.   She keeps saying the name of the cross roads they are on but we don’t have a map with us.  The cross roads sound like names of streets by our home. We decide to get back in the car to drive back & we disconnect with this new woman.  As we are driving around we still cannot find this “Intel Building” or the streets.  Brad who has been driving where I have been directing stops the car on the side of the road.  We are frustrated and stumped.   

My phone rings… it is yet another new person calling about Zoe.  We are thinking, “What is going on?  Why doesn’t someone just take her home and wait for us there?  Why do they keep letting Zoe go?”  I am overly anxious now because it seems everyone who we have spoken to thinks we are not coming and eventually they let Zoe go again.  The woman mentions the Intel Building again & is frustrated that we don’t know what this building is.  She tells me to ask someone about this building, they will know it and give us directions.  I look out my car window and see a tiny party store.  I just jump out of the car and start toward it without saying anything to Brad.  As I am walking up to the door, I notice a Veterinary office right next door and I am shocked that it is still open at 6:30 p.m. I walked in to the office while telling the woman on the phone “please don’t hang up” as she is trying to end the conversation.  In Polish I ask the Veterinarian if she speaks English.  YES!!!!!!!  I tell her what is going on and give her my cell phone.  She gets off the phone and starts to try and tell me verbally where to find them.  Of course, I am thinking the entire time “Oh my, why am “I” the one getting directions… the directionally challenged should not be the one in charge of getting directions!”  I want to go get Brad but am too afraid to leave and this English speaking angel to disappear.   

I ask her about this “Intel Building” and she says, no it is the “Impel Building” on ul. Ślężna.  She could tell I was confused by the street names.  They sound incredibly different than they are spelled.  For example, Krzyki is pronounced Cheekie.   Wroclaw is pronounced Vroz-wov.  So even if I understand what she is saying I would never recognize these street names written on a sign because they look nothing like they sound… not to English speakers anyway.  Thankfully she had a computer and was able to print me a map with the names of the streets written out.  I thanked her about a thousand times and ask for her business card.  She explains she doesn’t have any cards yet because their office just opened three days ago!  At this point I know we will find Zoe safe and sound because clearly there is some divine intervention going on here. 

We set out with map in hand.  As we are driving we are in shock at how far we are heading.  We can’t find the right street so we pull over to start the GPS.  I ask Brad if he has any money on him because I have none and want to give something to whoever has Zoe.  He has 30 złoty and gives it to me.  We are looking at the GPS now and are surprised to find we are only a couple blocks away now, but at least 5 miles from the house!  We set out again.  Finally we see a man bent down holding our dog by a major, six-lane road and a woman with a cell phone standing over them.  Now I am bracing myself and tell Brad and Burger to stay in the car.   I don’t know what condition we are going to find Zoe in.   

I walk up to them and see Zoe looks fine.  I get a leash on her and thank them over and over again in Polish.  The woman starts to leave so I try to give her some money to thank her, but she will not take it and points to the man.  I give him all of the money I had in my pocket (about 30 zł… $10 US) and he starts speaking Polish very fast & is reluctant to take the money.   I say please, please take it (proszę, proszę!).

He is now pointing to his bike and the make shift leash he put on Zoe.  Explaining from what I can make out that she was going to be hit by a car so he used a bit of rope from his bag to make a leash.  I am starting to take in the scene more completely now.  His bike is very old and it has a tattered bag tied to it with his belongings.  I relook at him and am now seeing his clothing are also very worn and tattered too.  This man is the original person who caught Zoe and he wasn’t by the bike shop he is on a BIKE (Rower)!   This is why the street name kept changing.  He would wait for us and eventually the person with the cell phone would get impatient and would leave.  So this man would also leave with Zoe and find a new person with a cell phone to call us again.  This went on for an hour and a half and he never let her go.  This man we have never met and will most likely never see again, went out of his way to save our dog from herself.  He couldn’t take Zoe home to wait for us because the street is his home.  He is homeless… suddenly I wish I had more money to give.