He went out to the field early in the afternoon, and stayed till 10:00pm. When he returned home, Kendra texted and asked if he had seen the dog. He checked all the buildings and every room in the house, with no luck. Froese jumped on the Gator and took a drive around, also coming up empty.
Froese remembered he had a customer, Delory Nestibo, earlier that morning and wondered if Oats could have climbed in the covered trailer. It was fairly late, but he called Nestibo, whose family farms in the Deloraine-Goodlands-Waskada area, to see if his dog could be there. He looked in his trailer and he was not to be found. Froese said he feared the worst.
“I thought maybe he was eaten by a coyote. I thought he was probably a goner.”
About noon on Sunday, they were notified that there was a picture on Deloraine Swap and Shop of a little dog on the highway. Froese thought maybe that was Oats. There were reports of people trying to catch the little brown dog with no success. They posted an “Oats missing” note on social media, and there were a lot of responses from people in the Deloraine area. They went out looking a couple of times on Sunday, looking on #3 Highway, Old #3, some of the roads in the area, but there was no luck. They had plans to have company for supper, so they had to return home.
Just as they sat down for the meal, Kendra received a message that people from Boissevain were out searching for Oats, driving out to Deloraine. People from the Deloraine-Waskada area were also out looking, running around a field. By the time Ian was ready to drive out to Deloraine, they received the message he was picked up. Friends Mike and Kendra Whetter and Chelsey Halloran were key in getting Oats back home to Boissevain.
Froese said he was still curious about how his furry friend made it to where he was. Talking to Nestibo, he found the customer had made a stop to check his load on the north-south Highway 21. Everyone figures Oats, a little frightened at being cooped up in a dark and strange place, bolted. He hung around Highway 21 and one of the smaller roads off of it the whole time when he was later picked up.
“He was so excited to get back home,” Froese said. “The kids waited at the driveway and he had a nice welcome back.”
He said Oats is well and happy to be back, and he was impressed by how many people were interested in helping out. Social media definitely helped the situation, allowing people to quickly exchange information. However, they had to take an interest, and people were willing to drive around looking for the dog.
“It gives me a new appreciation for people. A lot of people helped find him. It gives me more faith in humanity. It is just our pet, but we are so thankful to have him back.”
by PAUL RAYNER, Recorder staff