Our dog walks have gotten even crazier.
With foster dog Molly on quarantine , we couldn’t walk her with the guys. Thankfully John had time off over the holidays, so four walks a day weren’t impossible. Now she’s past her quarantine, and we’ve been doing paired walks to introduce her to the boys. She is VERY nervous about meeting new dogs, so we stuck her with Emmett for the first few days. He’s so calm and serene, she relaxed right away. Then we walked with Cooper, and they pretty much ignored each other, which I consider a victory. Then Lucas… we kept them about 10 feet away from each other, switching off who led and who followed. After a couple walks, we inched them closer together until they were nearly side by side (Molly-John-Me-Lucas). Still, though, that only cut us down to three walks a day.
Yesterday John took Lucas on his walk (without Molly… we wanted him to get the exercise without the stress…), and he called me about 15 minutes in. “There’s a loose dog running down the street in front of the yellow house,” he said. I grabbed a leash and some treats and started toward the yellow house to distract/catch the dog while John high-tailed it with poor Lucas. “Wait,” he said. “There are two dogs.”
Sigh.
The play-by-play is too stressful to relive, so here’s the gist:
I called the two dogs. They were super friendly, so I directed John which direction to run home with Lucas while I distracted the dogs. He got home, put Lucas inside, then came out to help me catch the dogs.
Which we did about a block away, but just as we were leashing them, a fluffy red dog sprinted down the next street. We reunited the first two with their owners – one of the dogs lives a few houses down from us, the other dog belonged to a guy who was doing work on her house – though they didn’t even realize the dogs were missing and then had the NERVE to ask us if we wanted the lab (she was so old… her face was completely gray… I wanted to punch the guy). “Free to a good home,” he said.
While we were standing in the street handing them over, a guy pulled over in a Jeep and asked us if we had seen HIS dog who was running loose. It was the little red dog. He was driving around looking for her. So, John took a leash back from the first two people, I went inside and got Emmett (bait…) and we walked in opposite directions.
No luck. We never found that little dog, but we’re hoping the guy did because we didn’t see him circling in his Jeep after a while.
I’m thankful we were able to get Lucas out of a potentially dangerous situation.
I’m thankful we were able to catch two of the dogs before they got hit by a car.
I’m thankful we found their people (even though I think the lab owner is an a$shole).
But incidents like these make me crazy, and I am so stressed about finding Molly a family! (That link opens a PDF flyer if you know anyone…)
That was our weekend! How was yours? Any fun walks or adventures?
Gosh, I hate to hear that you are still having these issues with loose dogs. People just don’t get it, do they! Ugh! Thankfully, it appears most of the folks on my side of the neighborhood have caught on and are now using leashes. I feel your pain gf!
I’m so glad things are improving in your neighborhood! I’m not sure there will ever be any changes around here because it seems no one cares… We’ll just keep doing what we’re doing!
Adding to your thankful list, I’m thankful for people like Maggie and John. I “know” your frustation and stress. I appreciate your kind heart and generosity toward our animal friends. Thanks for all you do. We never know when something we do or say may influence the actions others express toward there own animals.
Happy New Year and keep up the good work.
That’s very kind of you to say! The thought that I always have is… what if no one had stopped to pick up Emmett when he was a little lost stray? We never would’ve had the opportunity to have him in our lives! Or, what if one of my guys got out? I’d pray someone would stop to help them! That’s my motivation, anyway. Happy New Year to you, too! I hope it’s off to a great start!
How stressful. I am glad there are people like you, willing to help out strange dogs. I would have smacked that lab owner…
I sure wanted to. Or, at the least, let him know exactly what I thought of him. Lost opportunity, I guess…
hang in there Maggie, it’s bound to get better? err….well at least you are helping them. maybe a community newsletter or bulletin board could have a posting about keeping pets contained and safe.
I can’t imagine loose dogs running around almost daily. we used to live in barrie, a city of about 120,000, you would get a loose dog every now and then but nothing to make note about. the city by laws carry a nice little fine so most people keep them leashed or in a fenced yard. Even now that we live in a rural subdivision we don’t have dogs running at large. you always get the odd escapee, (Cash being one of them) but in the 4 years we’ve lived out here we’ve only had 3.
as for buddy trying to get rid if his senior lab, what a freaken jerk!!!! how could you do that to a poor sweet old dog???
how is the search for miss Molly’s home going? anyone coming to Canada want to smuggle the sweet girl in their suitcase to me?
Yeah, it’s crazy. It’s totally an issue of values. Sadly, around here people just don’t value the lives of their animals the way that we all do. And I don’t know how that can change? Sigh.
The search for Molly’s family…. so far we had one woman who was interested, but she had an unneutered male and didn’t think she could afford to get Molly spayed. Then, the rescue worker who shared her info to their network shared it with the wrong phone number! We’re keeping at it, though! I have faith that the right person will come along for Miss Molly. Keep those fingers crossed!
I guess the one sign of hope is that at least one guy was actually looking for his dog. 🙁
Yes! Exactly! Focusing on the silver lining…
so stressful for you. I can’t imagine having to deal with dogs running loose. We just call the police department or animal control and the situation is taken care of immediately. So glad there are people like you who are responsible.
Thank you for the kind words, Jan. We’ve tried animal control, but they work banker’s hours so it’s not super effective. Haven’t tried the police yet, but perhaps next time? Thanks for the suggestion!
I spotted a hurt old boy limping around New Year’s Day near the dog park. I went after him with a leash but he limped away faster when he realized I was after him. I hope he found his way home. 🙁
The important thing is that you tried, Erik. I hope he found his way home, too, but he’s lucky that someone cared enough to try to help him!!
Ugh, like it’s not difficult enough just to walk your own dogs, never mind having to deal with everyone else’s. That lab owner really was a jerk (jerk might actually be a nice word for him). You and your hubby are so good to help all those dogs out though.
We have too much bitter cold/ice/snow to do much walking these days so we walk Kobi when we can and exercise the other dogs in the yard when it’s not frigid cold!
It’s way too cold where you are to be out there! Brrrr!!! Better to stay safe and warm, for sure!
And I agree… jerk is way too nice of a word, though the ones I’m thinking of have four letters, too.
Wow, I have a huge fear of loose dogs when I have a leashed dog with me. It sounds like a stressful area you live in and that poor old “free” lab is going to haunt my thoughts now.
Ugh, I know. That’s why the boys are getting so few walks these days. It’s too stressful and dangerous, especially with dog-reactive Lucas. He only gets walks when one of us is home or able to go with for these exact scenarios. It makes me so mad. But, I don’t think there’s anything to be done… it’s just the attitude around here. Make the best of it, I suppose…
I think Molly has already found a great home. Why are you looking for one? 🙂
I’d recommend you have adoption fee which could cover a basic background check. That way you know the people are serious.
Ha! Truthfully, we’re at our limit with three in terms of time and finances, so we want to find her a family that will love her as much as she deserves! Plus, it’s been really stressful on Lucas to have her in the house, and after 6 months of training him to behave around the cat, I’m not sure it’s fair to repeat that whole process for another dog. She is a truly wonderful dog, though, and will make her future family very happy!
She isn’t spayed, so instead of an adoption fee, we’re requiring that the adopter get her spayed!