Heart Like a Dog

The Good, the Bad, and the Oh My God of living with dogs!

What Would You Do For Your Pet?

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I had a totally different post planned for today and then I came upon this article on Yahoo, and the title caught my eye, Experts: Don’t attempt to save swept-away pets.

You can read the article for yourself AFTER you finish this post (apparently I have to be concerned with something called bouncing.)

I’ll give you the down and dirty.  Apparently five people have died in California in the last five months trying to rescue a dog being swept away.

The article says that most dogs are better swimmers than humans and by using their fight or flight instincts will work with the currents and find their way to shore.  Of course it might be a bit farther away than where they started so microchips and collar tags are highly recommended.

We all know that certain dogs are better in the water than others.  Labradors, German Shepards and Pit Bulls are designed for swimming. Their strong bodies, heads that stay above water, thick/and or waterproof coats not to mention the four feet vs two for humans, (with some of them being webbed) give them the advantage over two footers who can experience hypothermia due to the cold ocean water.

Animals have far better stamina than most humans and are capable of keeping themselves alive in the water by remaining calm and focusing on the task at hand vs humans who tend to panic and become confused.

And what if your pet manages to stay alive, turning up two or three miles down shore and you have died, where does that leave him/her?

Logistically this all makes sense to me, but the reality of seeing your dog struggling and being swept away is far different.  I can’t imagine the guilt I’d feel standing helplessly by.   And God knows I have enough guilt I carry right now.

Delilah-1

Sampson-1

How could I let either one of those sweet faces just drift away without trying to help?  What do you think?  What would YOU do?

I’m Not Mad at You, I’m Mad at Me.

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I lost her, I said as soon as Hubby answered the phone.

Where are you? He asked.

We talked and came up with a strategy, he would come to the park from the other direction, hoping she would hear his jeep and go to him.

She’s been on leash for the last two weeks, and returning promptly with every recall.  The beauty of the spring day tugged at my heart and I wanted her to have a few minutes of running.

I made sure we were far away from the field where she had run off the last time and I unclipped her leash.

I called her, she returned.  I repeated the process, so did she.

And then she took off.

I called with no results, then Sampson and I turned and ran the other way with me shouting Run Sampson run.

Nothing.

We started following her and then we got to a point where she could have gone down the cliff, back towards the neighborhood or on.

That’s when I made the call to Hubby.

We were in the woods behind some houses and I thought, I’m going to turn around, maybe she headed towards the houses.  If not, I was determined to knock on doors and spread the word.

Sampson was leading the way when he abruptly stopped and stood still listening.

Suddenly there she was running towards us.  I clipped the leash on.

Never again.  It was the worst eight minutes of my life.

A short time later she sat at the edge of the kitchen waiting as Hubby and I did the dishes, every now and again her eyes closing.

I’m not mad at you, I’m mad at me, I said to Delilah looking her square in the eyes.

Sleeping Delilah She wouldn’t let me get a photo, I had to use one from the files.

My year of HEART has officially ended where Delilah is concerned.  She’s proven time and again that she can’t be trusted.

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