On Swedish territory and an all-night vigil--February 20-21

NOTE: Since this is a blog, chapters will appear in reverse order. This is part 5.

Now that we knew where Gigi was staying, her foster Mom from Charlottesville returned early on Saturday. While Nancy H managed the flyering campaign from our home, Nancy T, her friend Kay, and Scottie, one of Nancy T's three Shelties, and I went to the Swedish residence. We had alerted Eva Hafstrom, the Ambassador's wife. We rang at the gate, and a man in track-suit came out and opened the door for us and waved our SUV in. We were surprised when he introduced himself as Jonas. It was the Ambassador himself. He was incredibly warm and welcoming.

Based on expert advice, the plan was to see if Nancy T, Scottie and chicken could lure Gigi out of hiding. Jim provided Nancy T with an arctic-rated sleeping bag and chicken. Gigi's foster Mom trudged down the hill from the house, in snow that was still more than two-feet deep. The skies were blue and sun intense, reflecting off the bright-white expanse. Nancy T laid out the sleeping bag near the tennis courts. She sat down, scattered chicken around, and proceeded to love on and sweet talk Scottie, feeding him chicken as well. Nancy kept this up for an hour. It was around eleven AM. Nothing. No sign of Gigi. So we packed up, and met Eva, who had been out. She is an exceptionally nice person, who worked for the national police of Sweden. She introduced us to her dog Nalle (Swedish for Teddy Bear), a Swedish Jack Russell (he looks like a Jack Russell with wiry hair).

Nancy, Kay and I joined the flyering campaign, with the three us of focusing on areas around the embassy. Before we left, Jonas and Eva gave me access codes to their property so I could enter at any time. I couldn't believe how generous and trusting they were.

Later that afternoon, Sam Connelly, of Pure Gold Pet Trackers, arrived with a humane trap, which we placed within the residence grounds just near the gate at 44th and Van Ness. To be clear, a humane trap is like a dog kennel with a door that closes once an animal steps on a trip plate at the back of the trap.

When Gigi first began her great adventure, we were most worried about the cold. We quickly learned in our heads if not our hearts that cold was not a threat. Dogs have an instinct for survival. If they get cold, they get up and move, which raises their body temperature. In addition, the residence grounds include conifers which had branches which reached to the ground. These branches served as a tent--underneath, the temperature is 15 degrees warmer and dry. Needles can be burrowed in. Sam also explained that humans who are lost worry about being lost. Dogs don't. They focus on survival. They seek three things. Food, water, and shelter. The residence grounds has shelter--the trees just described. They also had water--there was a flowing sream, plus snow. To our knowledge, there was no food. So that is what the trap provided. But let me go back to that moving to stay warm thing. Sam let me know (I had no idea), that with temperatures in the twenties, the trap would have to be monitored every hour, since a dog that can't move can quickly die from hypothermia. So I hired Sam, who spent the night watching, with an occasional visit to our house.

When Sam came to our house at 7:00 the next morning--Sunday--she let us know that Gigi made her first appearance at 5 AM. She smelled the chicken and wanted it badly. But Gigi had been abandoned in Virginia and caught in September 2009 in the same type of trap, so she was hesitant. She crouched, approached, then ran off. She repeated this pattern several times, before running off on the residence grounds.

On the plus side, we knew where Gigi was. We had permission to be there. But we needed to know more. What was Gigi up to? What were her "hours"? The answer to that in the next blog...where Dr. Monsein plays the most critical role. A cat, raccoon, and a fox also figure in the next chapter of this tale. And after that, the happy ending, when we reveal the stunning secret ingredient that led to Gigi's capture.

Prep, focus, and access--Friday, February 19

NOTE: Since this is a blog, chapters will appear in reverse order. This is part 5. Arrow on satellite photo points to Swedish residence. You can get a sense of the size of the "backyard." The large building to the right is the Japanese compound. Also included is a photo taken by Eva Hafstrom of Gigi poised to enter the Japanese property.

Nancy had to work Friday, and Jim worked half a day. In the afternoon, he printed Gigi flyers, bought plastic sleeves to put them in, prepared directions for volunteers, and bought stuff (staplers, push pins, duct tape, clear tape) to fasten them to poles, stop signs, and random other public objects. Later that night, we stuffed flyers in plastic sleeves, confirmed volunteers, and Nancy printed a map of the AU Park area, divided into 24 areas, and highlighted those. So when each team arrived on Saturday, they would have a specific assigned area and almost everything they would need. It is critical to assign areas, so folks don't duplicate efforts.

At 10:30 PM, we received a call from Larry Miller, who was walking his Labradoodle Chloe. He was at the corner of Van Ness and 44th--the exact place Gigi was seen two nights earlier. She was headed south on 44th, and ran across Van Ness. She narrowly escaped being hit by a car, and darted through the same fence, into the property of the Swedish Ambassadorial Residence.

Since we had known that she was spending time there (and we believed in the adjacent Japanese property), Nancy had called both the Japanese and Swedish Embassies, to see if we could get access to both properties. The Swedish Embassy quickly provided us with Eva Hafstrom's personal cell number. Nancy left a message, and Mrs. Hafstrom (who told us to call her Eva), said to just call whenever we needed access. The Japanese staff were polite to Nancy, but made it clear that we would not be allowed on the property. Although we were not surprised, we thought it a little ironic since we both lived in Japan, Jim has Japanese relatives, and Nancy speaks Japanese. But let us say right away, that Eva soon called Yoriko Fujisaki, the Ambassador's wife, who alerted her staff, so that no one would inadvertently scare Gigi off. The Amabssador and his wife have a dearly loved black labrador named Skipper. Skipper receives prominent mention in the offical biography of the Ambassador and his own story is fascinating. We really knew we were in the nation's capital, and Gigi had discovered one of the largest, safest and most beautiful parcels of land in city.

Everything was now ready for the what turned out to be seven days of knowing where Gigi was, but not being able to get her. We called it the Big Wait.