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| Photo courtesy of erinvey.com |
We were puttering down Auburn Bay Blvd. and I noticed a
little Scottie Terrier running free right on the main boulevard. There was lots
of traffic on this busy road, as well lots of people were about. The dog was
bounding from one group of people to another and in his haste was almost struck
by passing cars twice!
We had stopped our car in order to prevent the traffic on
our side of the boulevard to continue moving through in an effort to decrease his chances of
getting hit by cars from this side of the road. Eventually he caught up to two
kids crossing the street right in front of us. He was jumping up at one of the
kids in total excitement and the kid didn't look too thrilled about being
accosted by this strange, overly-excited pooch. Eventually the Scottie ran up
the side street, I wheeled my car forward to follow him.
He stopped to run up to a porch of a strange house and we ended
up passing him. I immediately made a U-turn and saw another car had followed us
in the side street and had stopped behind him. Now the little guy was between
their car and ours. Mrs. Nate jumped out right away. He was just so
excited to be out and meeting new people, he ran right into her arms. She
picked him up and immediately started to look at his collar hoping to find some
ID tags. There was a City of Calgary dog tag, so he was registered. That was
good but if he had a custom tag with his name and a phone number, that would be
even better! We would rather call the pet parents directly on our cell phone
while we’re standing there holding the dog. They could come get him right away,
while we’re in the area. Instead with a City dog tag we’d have to take him home
and call the City to pick him up. The dog gets stressed out by the whole ordeal
and the guardians get a big, fat fine on top of it.
So I suggest everyone do what we did, go to Tail
Blazers and get custom tags made up for all your pets!
After a while of wondering what to do, Mrs. Big Nate saw a
rather large and grumpy looking gentleman approaching her and she asked if he
knew whose dog this was. He replied that it was his. She was extremely relieved
to hear this and eagerly handed the escape artist over to his “Dad”. She told
him that his Scottie almost got hit twice out on the boulevard; his most
awesome reply to that statement was “I wish he had”.
I wish he
had!? Are you kidding me?
I can understand the portly gentleman was probably annoyed that he had to
get off the couch to go find his dog and was probably embarrassed by the
situation after seeing two cars chasing his dog down, but a “thank you” would
have been a little more of an appropriate response! No?
I almost wish my wife had taken him back. We could have
provided him with a nice home where the pet parents don’t wish for his ultimate
demise.
This is not the first time Mrs. Nate had rescued a runaway
dog. We have found and returned three dogs over the past couple of years. Every
time we had to hold the dog and call the City. Each dog had city dog tags so
thank goodness for that but what a stressful experience for the poor dog.
When we first adopted Oscar from a pet
rescue, he was three years old, never neutered and rarely socialized. He had
bad manners, pee marked all over our house and we were told historically he was
known as a runner. Shortly after adopting him I was mowing the lawn and accidentally
left the gate open, forgetting we had a newly acquired runner in the family.
Well Oscar saw an opportunity and took it, off he ran! For a chunky, little
Japanese Chin he could move, I actually had to grab my bike to catch up to him
and bring him home.
Here we are four years later, now Oscar won’t even leave our
property without his leash on. He will sit in the garage with the door wide
open and will not leave even if coaxed to do so. Why? Well I believe one reason
is it that he gets walked twice a day. I tend to think conditioning taught him
that the only time he leaves our property is by walking on the leash or by a
car ride. Secondly, not only do we walk him and Mojo every day, we spend time playing
with them, petting them and talking to them. As for his bad manners and
pee-marking, we take him to the dog parks to mingle and make him wear a belly
band we purchased from Pawhaus Pet Boutique. We never could break him of the
marking behavior.
Having a dog isn't just about feeding them and hiring Poooh Busters to clean up after them.
It also means spending time with them and making them a part of your family
activities.
Maybe, just maybe they won’t look for any opportunity to
escape and run free if they are made to feel like family members rather than
prisoners.
