Runaway Dogs

Photo courtesy of erinvey.com

Last weekend, Mrs. Nate and I were cruising through our old neighbourhood of Auburn Bay in SE Calgary. We lived there about three years ago and have since moved to the community next door, in Mahogany. Anyway, we thought we’d drive through to see how much things had changed. Wow! There has been a ton of new construction going on.

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.