Our mitzvah this morning: we saved a dog

[radfringe]

couple nights ago my partner took OUR dogs out to do their business. She heard this weird strange howling, kinda spooky. She had a big flashlight with her so she checked out the edge of the woods as far back as she could - didn't see anything.

Yesterday morning she said she heard the same sound, but still couldn't see anything in the woods.

This morning I had to bring my car in for new tires and inspection. As I was leaving the house I heard some barking and howling, sounded like it was coming from somewhere in the woods.

So I get to the garage, it's going to be a couple of hours - and here I was thinking it would be a quick visit.... I call my partner to come get me

She picks me up, we make a quick run to bank and head back home. We're about 5 houses down from our place and we see what looked like a wolf or a very big coyote in the road. My partner says - it's a dog, looks like a malamute.

We stop, the dog is pacing and circling back and forth the road. My partner gets out and tries to coax the dog. It had a collar on and tags -but we couldn't get close. The dog starts barking and howling. My partner says "well, now I know what that spooking noise was the other day."

the dog is not growling or menacing, just very cautious. It looked like it had been out running for couple of days. I hop into the truck, race home, grab some dog cookies and a leash, figuring if we can capture the dog we can get some sort of ID or phone number off the collar.

When I get back, my partner says "he let me pet him, and I got a phone number from his tags, but I can't get close enough to grab him. Give me my cell phone."

She's on the phone with the owners "yes, we lost a dog - where are you? we'll be right there - he's been missing for 2 days - we thought he was dead."

meanwhile, I'm in the road coaxing the dog to the shoulder with cookies.

about 10 minutes later my partner's cell phone rings - it's the owners they are lost - my partner says "Are you in a white SUV that just turned around in the road?" "YES" "then turn around we're a few hundred feet down the road from where you were"

a minute later they pull up, father and son hop out of the SUV, and the dog goes right up to them, gets some pets and jumps into the SUV.

The father thanked us profusely, offered us some money. We said no to the money. He told us he has two dogs, they both have the invisible fence collar on. The other dog's collar battery had died and that dog went through the fence. This dog's battery was still working, so they surmised that he followed his buddy, got a zap and then freaked and ran off.

[WillParkinson]

1. Good for you!

Sucks they were driving an SUV, but you did a REALLY nice thing. I'm proud of you.

[Wcross]

2. Bless you for your concern!

I agree with the "reward" money thing. I would NEVER accept a reward for doing the right thing.
About a year ago I was driving home and came upon a traffic jam. It was on a county highway and there were two dogs standing in the middle of the road. One was an English Bulldog and the other a weinerwhimer (sp). I parked the truck and coaxed them to the side of the road so the traffic could move on. I was trying to figure out how to get both of them into the truck so I could drive them home. The bulldog was lying on her back wanting a belly rub when their owners came driving up. (thank god!) The woman was a wreck, she thought the Bulldog had been hit by a car, she was totally losing it. Luckily both the dog sprang up and ran to the owners. It turns out the meter reader let them out when he checked the meter. They offered a reward for helping and I told them if they really wanted to reward me they could donate to the local spay and neuter program.
I never pass by an animal in need of help.

[I Have A Dream]

3. Blessings to you both!

I've recently experienced the trauma associated with losing a beloved animal when a friend lost her dog when it got lost in a deserted area. She's absolutely heartbroken.

I wish that I could help her.

[driver8]

4. That is so cool!! Yay for you!!

My wife and I were driving down the street one night -- it was late, about 11:30. We saw a car stopped in the middle of the street and there was a group of teenage girls trying to coax a Golden Retriever into their car. They told us she was just wandering along the street and they didn't want her to get hit. My wife and I managed to get the dog to jump in my car -- there was a license tag but no name tag or phone number.

We took the dog home with us for the night and figured we would call in the morning and find out, based on the license tag, who the dog belonged to. Well, the next day was Sunday and we called and left a message. We figured we wouldn't hear back until Monday. We had planned on going hiking so we took the dog with us. She was great -- it was like she had been our dog for years! She led the way and would stop to make sure we were following and, she was just the sweetest girl. I told my wife, "If no one calls about her, we're keeping her!"

Well, when we got home we had a message on our machine from animal control. They had the owner's number. We called and eventually returned this sweet girl to her family. I guess she was an escape artist and belonged to the daughter of the family. The daughter was in Europe for the semester and would have been crushed if anything happened to her dog. I felt better after that...but I really wanted to keep her!!

[China_cat]

5. That's one of the biggest drawbacks to those invisible fences

Dogs will take the zap to go after something they really want (like a female in heat or a rabbit, cat, etc) and then get freaked out by it when they try to come back.

Not to mention that those 'fences' do absolutely nothing to keep other animals out of your yard or to prevent people who might want to steal your pets from just walking up and doing so.