Do you have a favorite sweater or jacket you wear when you walk your dog? I do.
Here's a funny story about that sweater.

It is light-weight, and it is my standard attire in the warmer mornings of summer.

A few weeks ago, I looked all around the house for it.  It wasn’t in the closets, on the leash rack or on the back of a chair.  I looked everywhere. The dogs were not amused watching me go up and the down the stairs over and over as they waited patiently for their walk.

I gave up and grabbed a different sweater.  As I opened my front door and walked out with the dogs, I saw that it was sitting on the porch.  The dogs lunged right for it.  They knew something I didn’t’ know yet. 

“There you are,” I said and I picked it up.  It was heavy.  It wasn’t the lightweight sweater it’s supposed to be.  What the heck?  I lifted it up and down trying to guess what was giving it weight.  Then I noticed a big mass.  I squeezed it.  It was soft and squishy and alive!  OK, who is in my jacket?  It could be a baby raccoon maybe. We have those in our neighborhood, but would momma raccoon leave baby behind?  It could be a rat.  Oh man.

Great.  Well, I wasn’t going to deal with it at that very moment.  I had dogs to walk.

After our walk, I put the dogs back in the house through the  garage so I could deal on my own with whatever was in my jacket.  My plan was to take a rake or some other garden tool with a long handle and shake the jacket out in the street so whoever was in there would run off.  I came around to the porch and there, sitting on top of my sweater, was a ferret.  

Yes, a little brown and white ferret. It just sat there looking at me and was probably exhausted from fighting free of the jacket.   We just stared at each other, both of us wondering what our next move would be.

I remembered reading a lost-animal flier on a lamp pole not far from my house.  I always read those notices and feel for the owners and the pets, usually cats and dogs, which have gotten separated.  I often times think the cats and small dogs that are not recovered quickly meet a terrible fate with the coyotes in the nearby open fields.

I had remembered this poster for sure because it’s not the typical lost pet.  I took off quickly to see if I could find the poster. Sure enough, I did.

I called and the woman was ecstatic when I told her I was pretty sure this was her ferret.  I barely got back to my house when she arrived.  She swooshed up her ferret that was still attached to my favorite sweater.  

“Oh Bella!” she said. “You are so skinny.” 

Really?  I thought Bella felt pretty chubby when I squeezed. 

It seems Bella had escaped through the kitty door and had been missing for over two weeks.  She had found my sweater with dog cookies in the pocket and went for it but got tangled up in the sweater and couldn’t get out.

The woman left the porch kissing her ferret and giving me appreciation for the phone call.  I took my favorite sweater straight to the washing machine.

I’m glad the owner found her ferret, however they are illegal in California and you can see why.  It was able to survive on its own for over two weeks, something a cat or a dog could never do. 

Department of Fish and Game worry that lost or abandon ferrets could cause havoc on native species.  So if you own ferret please be careful not to let them loose.

The other thing I want to say is that lost posters can work.  If you lose a pet, posters can help you get them back.   Post your fliers with as much information as you can and date them. When you find your pet, please go back to all the places you have posted and remove your flyer.

Also, you can post a version of the flier as an announcement on Patch, and share it online as well. Like Davis Patch on Facebook for more videos. 

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Dolores Blake is the owner of The Cultured Canine, a dog training and petsitting company in Davis. You can reach her at 530-574-5689.