The pack had gathered round the table for a bit of soup and sandwiches, it was the beginning of a long quiet evening. I always think of the old James Herriot stories of how his hounds would race to the front hall at the sound of the bell, the dreaded bell. These guys are quite a site all 450 pounds of them charging the glass door & I must say I was impressed with the tiny lady who held her ground. When I stepped out to inquire if I could be helpful ( she seemed pretty distraught) she told me a person down the street had sent her to our door, another, at large, dog on Los Altos.....I thanked her for her kindness in following through and she waited til I grabbed my " dog gear" that would be a cell phone to call dispatch and a long leash and very kindly drove me to where the dog was running in and out of traffic. After a bit of manuvering we got the dog, nice fella, and hooked him up. For any readers who have faced down traffic going 45 at dusk, you know the dogs chances were slim, and a couple of times so were mine. I love sitting cross legged in the middle of a driving lane...... she put the dog in her car, lovely Lexus, and we began the drive through our neighborhood. We found the home and another dog loose with the double gate open. Nice lady, said the dogs were" always taking off, just couldn't keep them in. " I think my suggestion to close the gate fell on deaf ears. Her response to the dogs running all the time floored me. with an " Honest to God" straight face, she said " I am just going to have to surrender them. She didn't want to put a collar on because they might hang themselves, yet they could run and do mortal combat with 2 ton trucks.
How can you reason with a mind that thinks like that ? The dogs probably would be better off placed in another home if one were available , but there are 172 dogs at NHS tonight, most nice and most going to be there for a while. It was the cavalier way she said it, and the fact that her daughter might miss the dog. No sense that the dog had bonded with them, no sense of stewardship for the animal. It was an uncanny detachment toward the dog as a feeling being, who needed and deserved their protection.
So what do we focus on as we sip our cold soup and tepid sandwiches........ the nice lady who cared enough to go find help, the sweet ( still unknown) person who sent her on down to " the dog lady" or the confused owner with the open double gate ?? Oreo says, thanks to the Lady with the Lexus, she wins the caring award for the Vistas tonight.
Pictured is Burley Dog and Miss Priss having a well deserved nightcap., Oreo is a tee-totaler.
6 comments:
It read like a page from my book. You're lucky she didn't try to give you the dogs. But, yes, this is the attitude and this is the attitude that the Whino says is just fine to have. The public is not responsible. If this isn't an irresponsible pet owner, I don't know what is.
My dogs have never gotten out of my yard so I know it is possible to keep dogs safe. People such as this person "accidently" leave the gate open or the door open. Then the dog or cat is picked up as injured or dead but it is gone, gotten rid of, and that is all that matters to these people. Yet, these people are not to blame are they Whinograd?
Fantastic work Oreo, I would have lost it. Maybe she was just frustrated and didn't know what to say, although we got a lot of dogs for " running away' never thought about how many might be cases like this. It's good you are the neighborhood dog lady, somebody has to get them out of traffic and deal with the jerks later. I think the lady who put the dog before the upholstry showed integrity and animal welfare to the max. have you checked the cat numbers lately. huge.
We lost Lucy, to wrecked to write at this time, but did post on Greta's site. Go there for details. I hope the people who own the dogs mentioned take them to a shelter even if it's hard choice it's safer for the dogs. I think public education is the key and these people get dogs thinking the dogs will learn to stay out of traffic, somehow own their own. The best answer would be to remember to close the damn gate, but that requires thinking, sorry, i am sad right now.
Thank you for allowing me to visit. I was stunned when I went to check in and was locked out. Oreo is not an easy girl to get ahold of when she goes underground. Those of us in Austin are big followers because we have been approached. Lot of new stuff I hadn't seen, and hope you can go public again, there were several of us down here who read your blog daily. I don't think Texas will fall for his bs, but Nevada did and they are more sophisticated than we are. Where would the dogs like the one in this story find safety if the the whole world was one big adoption joint ?
Dogs running free are a danger to themselves and drivers. I did notice she seemed willing to let the dogs pay for her dereliction. there are two small poodle types that run all the time in our neighborhood, and now we are taking them to the pound. For the first few weeks after they moved in we took the dogs home, but after a time we started driving them to the pound. When you have large dogs, like our mastiffs, you get that running is not acceptable; the little dogs are a whole other story. Owners act like it's the dogs fault. Public education in the schools could be helpful, teach the kids to teach the parents. Don't let negligent owners place you in a position of responsibily, it is their dog and if it ends up in the pound it is the owners fault.
An update as of November 22,2008... the dogs ended up in the pound again and the bimbo didn't retrieve them, and the boyfriend/owner is a vet..... Glad he isn't treating my animals..... a vet that lets his dogs run in traffic.
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