Stray Dog

Dropped the girls off on this beautiful fall day, before heading to work. Was luckily driving fairly slow due to (1) the speed limit, (2) wet leaves on the road, (3) and a leaf pick-up truck on the curb; because I had to hit the breaks pretty hard to avoid hitting a little dog that ran out in the road.

There were two moms walking the other way with their strollers and they seemed to be concerned and trying to catch him, so I drove past. But now I feel guilty, because as I looked in the rearview mirror I cannot say for certain that the dear dachshund made it back home.

My only hope is that the woman that was rounding the corning had some modicum of common sense, since she was accompanied by a well-mannered German Shepherd.

Here are my tips for Moms #1 and #2, if this situation ever occurs again:

(1) You have a “lick “em and stick ‘em” baby strapped into a stroller. You are on a side street in Hometown, USA at 8AM in the morning. Put the break on the stroller and step 10 feet away from it. A dingo is not going to run off with your baby. While you are at it, put your coffee down in the convenient cup holder.

(2) Mom #1’s warning to me may have been more helpful if I had actually seen her covering her mouth in horror and sticking her hand out prior to seeing the dog the size of a bread loaf and the very same color of the leaves he was running across.

(3) Mom #2 appeared to have the a similar type of dog on a leash, yet to prevent the “stray” from coming closer, she STUCK HER FOOT OUT at it while not dropping her coffee.

A. You have your own puny dog. I would think you could figure out fairly easily if this puny dog was friendly and could be picked up.
B. If you were still unsure…PICK UP YOUR OWN DAMN DOG. Situation solved.
C. This is nothing against puny dogs; I’m just more of a big dog kind of person.

(4) The “stray” dog had a harness around him and legs less than an inch long. It stands to reason he’s from the neighborhood or else he would have been dead from exhaustion. I am not encouraging people to approach strange dogs, but don’t you think in the case of something you can pretty much pin down with your foot, you could manage to at least read its collar and go knock on a person’s door?

(5) Attempting to “herd” a dog back to where they belong doesn’t work. They are the herders. To them you have just agreed to playing a game of chase. Congratulations!

(6) When it comes to you with its tail wagging, pick it up. If it tries to bite you, put it back down. (Exception: If it happens to be my dog, please walk away, because I would rather he take his chances with the traffic than you two idiots.)

And here ends the lesson for the day.

Yours Sincerely,
Woman who successfully rescued three Standard Poodles that escaped the mansion across the street. It can be done! Okay, Scott helped.