Now the story of Gigi's rescue can be told--the introduction

For reasons that will become clear, we were not in a position to share everything that we knew over the 10 days that Gigi was gone. I believe anyone would agree that her story is remarkable, with incredible elements of providence or serendipity, depending on whether you believe in a higher power or luck.

The people who contributed to Gigi's return include: the Ambassador of Sweden, Jonas Haftsrom and his wife Eva and their little Swedish Jack Russell; a pet tracking grandmother and her amazing scent dog Salsa; the two folks who gave us our first critical sightings of Gigi, one of whom was walking his Labradoodle Chloe, the other happened to be travelling down 44th St. NW in lieu of going down Nebraska; the wife of the Japanese Ambassador (who has been reading this blog); and, most importantly, Dr Lee H Monsein, whose house borders the estate of the Swedish ambassadorial residence. It was Lee (as my Nancy and I have come to know him), assisted by his 4-year old female boxer Rave, who used motion sensor detectors, webcams, night vision scopes and many sleepless nights to catch Gigi. Dr. Monsein did so at 3:30 AM last night, after watching Gigi for seven hours. Between Eva Hafstrom's repeated viewings of Gigi at one end of the residence's vast "backyard" and Lee Monsein at the other, we have known Gigi's comings and goings for a week. The trick was getting her.

But like any good story, before we say how that happened, let's start at the beginning.

Before I do that, my wife and I believe that by telling the story in full, we hope to offer hope to other humans who have lost their beloved animal companions and hope to everyone who doubts the goodness of folks here in the nation's capital. Many others not yet named above volunteered in many ways--from posting flyers, to helping Nancy and me create our first website, to connecting us with critical resources and help.

I also hope to share some pointers to others who have are searching for their dogs and cats, to supplement the resources already available online. These searches work best when combining hi-tech, social media, and old-fashioned shoe leather hitting the streets. Nancy and I knew none of this when Gigi slipped out our front door on Tuesday, February 16.