Dog Tags

Last night I went out to a movie with my friend Blackie. I highly recommend "an education" - I also think this movie should be nominated for Oscars.

I came home via Elbow Drive and when I got to the top of the hill by Stanley Park, there were 2 dogs running loose and they were in the middle of the road. I pulled into an alleyway, jumped out of my car and tried to get the dogs to come to me.

One dog came immediately and I was able to get her into my car. The other dog I could tell was very afraid and possibly not the brightest dog in the world. I had some popcorn left over from my movie and tried to entice the dog with that. Ruh-ruh, she was having none of that and took off in the opposite direction.

Meanwhile, thanks to me, traffic on Elbow Drive has come to almost a complete stop, except for the few people here and there who were impatient and thought honking was an excellent way to calm down an excited animal. I know in my experience, horns have such a soothing sound about them and dogs respond so well. Idiots.

I followed her and ran into a guy with a dog on a leash - he had seen what was happening and tried to coax the loose dog with his dog. Nope, she kept on running, but she looked like she knew where she was going and she was off the main road which was the important thing.

Random guy and I ran back to my car to see if the dog I had secured had tags on her. Yup, her name was Ruby and she had a phone number on her collar. I called the number and her owner knew exactly where I was and came to get her. She just sat so patiently in the car and I think was so happy to be in a warm safe place.

The lady explained to me they were so excited to finally get out of the house they got away on her. I guess that's what happens when they don't get out for a few days because of the cold weather. I know what that's like - I've had Larry take himself for a walk and it's scary not knowing if your dog is ever coming home.

All's well that ends well (hopefully the other dog made it home, I'm calling today to check) but I just wanted to say what a good thing it was that the dog had a tag with her name and phone number on it. It made getting her home an easy task.

And for Pete's sake, if you see a dog loose on a road, try and get it off the street. Without your horn.