My Pug Is Missing, I don't know how to cope Options

[pughug2010]

I'm new here and can't believe how hard it is to find a forum for people who have missing pets, not pets that have passed. I had a Doberman, he was my baby, he was 8 years old and I woke up one morning to find him dead of a heart attack. That was two weeks before I found out I was pregnant. Well, my son is three and a half now and all I had left was my cat of 16 years and Pug (Chloe, we call her Chloe Bea), she is now 8 years old and disappeared Saturday night. August 28, 2010. She got out the gate while I stood and talked to the neighbors, I looked right at her and said "come here" and she just stared at me. So I turned my back because she has never in 8 years left my side or strayed. She too timid and afraid to go very far. Well, about 20 minutes later I just happened to look around to make sure she was okay and she was no where to be found. Me and the neighbors began to walk the very urban neighborhood for four hours, nothing. I was sick. I drove around some more then went to sleep for a couple hours then walked the neighborhood for 12 hours the next day. I have posted on craigslist lost and found and Pet FBI, went to the animal shelter today, posted signs with my number and her photo throughout my neighborhood and at all surrounding bus stops, talked to as well as gave my number and her photo to about 20-30 people in my neighborhood, gave her photo and my number to the police that patrol the area and I have walked the streets and alleys as well as drove the streets and alleys for two days now. I stand at my front gate late at night yelling for her since it's quiet at night hoping she'll be able to hear me. I think everyone within a quarter mile radius by now knows her name and that there is a pug missing. I even put her photo and a missing flyer on my mailbox for the mail person to see since he/she canvases the neighborhood. Nothing. I keep going to my door hoping she'll be there. I think about her and it feels like a gut punch night and day. I want to burst into tears at work but I can't. As soon as I got in my car from work today I started bawling and cried all the way to my son's daycare. He's 3 1/2 and just thinks she's coming back. I don't think she is. Both of my dogs left me at 8 years old. But I can't bear not knowing if my Chloe is scared, hungry, thirsty, being treated properly...I don't know how to do this.

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[pughug2010]

Still no sign. Unfortunately she did not have tags. They bothered her neck and since she had a wide neck and little head it didn't work well. Tags and pugs do go well together. Plus, she was always in the house or on the porch so we never needed them. I never considered microchipping, again because I protected her so well and she stayed so close to me. She never wanted to be more than ten feet away from me so I didn't have to worry about it. I have taken her to parks all over the city for years without a leash and never had an issue. We have gone for long walks in the woods for hours and she has always stayed by my side. My family and friends seem believe someone has taken her in and made her a family pet because she is so loving and child friendly. I don't know what to think. I guess I would be more comforted knowing she was being loved and cared for rather than roaming the streets needing food, shelter and water. That thought kills me. We went to the city animal shelter again tonight. No luck. They told us we have to show up every other day because animal control takes strays off the streets everyday and they only keep them for three days and then they can adopt them out. So every other day we have to drive across the city after work and walk through numerous rooms of lost dogs hoping to see ours. It's sad. My son cries because there are so many dogs barking, hundreds of them, mostly pitbulls. I try to explain to him that they just want attention and someone to take them home but he doesn't like the barking. He did great the first time but the second time all the barking got to him. I don't have a choice. I have to take him. I'm a single mom and if I wait she could be gone for good. Hopefully he will do better when we go back Friday. I don't know how long we should keep going back though.