Have you hugged your dog today?
UPDATE: Tonight, Jason and I took the kids to Applebee's for dinner. As soon as we walked in the door, Alex shouted, "Mom, look at this!" It was a poster for a missing dog. A dog that looked a lot like the one we saw running down the road last night. It said that his name was Bubba, and he is a bit skittish, because they just adopted him from a shelter. I called the number on the poster, but only got a voice mail. I left my name and number, and explained why I was calling. That was about 3 hours ago, and I haven't heard back from them yet. I'm going to plug my ears and sing "lalalalalala" and assume that the lack of response from them means that they have their dog back, safe and sound.
Tonight on the way home from Boy Scouts, Alex and I had kind of a scary experience.
It was about 8:45, so it was completely dark. We were on a 2-lane road where the speed limit is 50, I think. We came upon a car that was frantically flashing its brights, so the car ahead of me and I both slowed down to see what was going on. I assumed it was an accident or something, until I saw the reflective leash bouncing down the middle of the road. Some poor little puppy had broken it's chain and had escaped. As I got closer to it, I slowed down more and rolled my window down and called to it.
Just then, a car came up over the hill from the other way. I flashed my lights like crazy at the car, but he seemed to not have a clue that something was going on, he just kept barreling toward the dog. At the very last second, the driver saw the dog, and swerved and honked. The dog swerved a little bit the other way. The car came ***this*** close to hitting the poor little loose dog. So close, that I actually shouted , "Alex, don't look!" It would have been bad enough for me to see that happen, but he would be completely inconsolable and haunted.
At that point, I had come to a complete stop and turned my hazards on. I jumped out of the van and started calling to the dog. "Here puppy, come here!" He seemed like he was going to come to me for a second, then changed his mind and ran down the embankment into a housing development. There was really nothing else I could do then. It was a pretty steep, snowy hill, and I couldn't even see him anymore.
Alex was still worried, and so was I, of course. We have no way of knowing what happened to him, but I told Alex that I'm choosing to believe that someone will find him tonight and keep him warm. It's pretty cold out tonight, about 7 degrees right now. I hope he finds his way to someone's door soon, because I'm sure there's someone out there who went to let their dog in, and was devastated to find only half a leash.
Tonight on the way home from Boy Scouts, Alex and I had kind of a scary experience.
It was about 8:45, so it was completely dark. We were on a 2-lane road where the speed limit is 50, I think. We came upon a car that was frantically flashing its brights, so the car ahead of me and I both slowed down to see what was going on. I assumed it was an accident or something, until I saw the reflective leash bouncing down the middle of the road. Some poor little puppy had broken it's chain and had escaped. As I got closer to it, I slowed down more and rolled my window down and called to it.
Just then, a car came up over the hill from the other way. I flashed my lights like crazy at the car, but he seemed to not have a clue that something was going on, he just kept barreling toward the dog. At the very last second, the driver saw the dog, and swerved and honked. The dog swerved a little bit the other way. The car came ***this*** close to hitting the poor little loose dog. So close, that I actually shouted , "Alex, don't look!" It would have been bad enough for me to see that happen, but he would be completely inconsolable and haunted.
At that point, I had come to a complete stop and turned my hazards on. I jumped out of the van and started calling to the dog. "Here puppy, come here!" He seemed like he was going to come to me for a second, then changed his mind and ran down the embankment into a housing development. There was really nothing else I could do then. It was a pretty steep, snowy hill, and I couldn't even see him anymore.
Alex was still worried, and so was I, of course. We have no way of knowing what happened to him, but I told Alex that I'm choosing to believe that someone will find him tonight and keep him warm. It's pretty cold out tonight, about 7 degrees right now. I hope he finds his way to someone's door soon, because I'm sure there's someone out there who went to let their dog in, and was devastated to find only half a leash.
posted by Character Builder at
9:18 PM
7 Comments:
Oh man. I think about this very thing every time Maggie's out in the dark. Sometimes I can't hear her moving around and I actually look at the leash to make sure it's still attached to the stake. In fact, I *just* let her in, and the thought crossed my mind--even before reading this.
I sure hope that little guy finds a warm place to spend the night.
By
Anonymous, at March 03, 2008 11:10 PM
Aw, you are so kind to try and help that puppy. I am about *this* close to adopting another. My hubby is totally going to divorce me.
By
Undercover Mutha, at March 04, 2008 3:55 PM
I'm so thankful we have a 6ft fence.
I'm glad you and Alex didn't witness the puppy getting hit, that would have been awful.
p.s. I have your house all picked out. Are you packed. 7 degrees?!?!? That's just WRONG!
By
mama biscuit, at March 04, 2008 7:26 PM
Oh how horrible and scary. I sure hope that doggy found his way home or into someone's warm house.
By
Anonymous, at March 04, 2008 9:50 PM
Sharkey - I know, I think about it too, when I get distracted and leave Zelda out for a while. When I realize she's outside and hasn't come to the door yet to be let in, the first thing I do is check to see if her tie-out is still hooked to the bench on the deck.
UCM - This is the 2nd time I've tried to get a wandering dog to come to me, though the last thing I need to do is have a strange dog at my house or in my van. But then I think that if it was my dog that escaped, I would be so grateful if someone made the effort to rescue her.
Tysgirl - I wish we had a fence. Although, in our case, the stupid little dog would probably crawl under it. We have a GSD next door (Sydney) and one day while the kids were home alone, our dog got loose and found a spot to crawl under to Sydney's side. Sydney was not out at the time, but she did get let out while Zelda was still in her yard. (The kids couldn't get the gate open to get to the dog right away.) Lucky for Zelda, and the kids witnessing the whole thing, Sydney was very kind to her, and just wanted to play.
I'm glad we didn't see it either. Seriously, Alex would have been absolutely haunted by that image forever. As would I, I suppose.
What's my house like? Is it close to yours? :)
Q - I updated just as you were posting your comment. I sure hope so too. I'm telling myself that he did.
By
Character Builder, at March 04, 2008 10:04 PM
I thought about that dog all day today. When I read the post last night, I didn't catch the part that he ran into a housing development. At least that's a good sign--he got off the busy road.
I hope if you hear from his family, it's good news!
By
Anonymous, at March 04, 2008 10:58 PM
Aww, man. That would make me feel even worse...NOT that I'm trying to make you feel bad or anything. I just know how sick to my stomach I got when I heard that Moto had been running the streets for an hour or so. I know he'd never come to anyone who tried to approach him either. Makes me feel terrible for the (scared) dog and the people who lost him. I sure hope that no news is good news!
By
Anonymous, at March 05, 2008 6:54 PM
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