Monday, December 7, 2009

Monday Me: The Little White Rascal

Thursdays, my twins go to Mrs. B’s house, where she teaches them preschool lessons in her basement classroom. Normally, I drop them off in the morning and pick them up after school without issue. Last Thursday was an exception.

As it turns out, Mrs. B lives directly across from the elementary school, so finding a parking spot is often a challenge. However, last week, that wasn’t the problem. When I pulled up, I saw a little white dog scurrying in and out of traffic on the snowy, icy roads.

“That looks like Mrs. B’s puppy,” I thought and rushed to her house.

Mrs. B greeted me with sad eyes and admitted one of the preschoolers had accidentally let little Sophie out of the house. Since Mrs. B couldn’t leave her class unattended, she had no choice but to let her puppy enjoy her new found freedom.

Well, I had a choice and I wasn’t about to let that little dog get hit by a car. So, even though I wasn’t dressed to be outside for long, I took off in the direction of the wandering white puff ball. Sophie recognized me and thought I was playing a chasing game with her.

My heart raced, not from all the running I’d been doing, but for fear the little mutt would get run over. I constantly rushed into traffic, my hands in the air, desperate to stop all vehicles until Sophie was safely on the sidewalk. My goal was no longer to catch her, although, that would’ve been a bonus. I needed to ensure her safety above everything else. I couldn’t let this innocent pup die, especially not in front of all the children leaving for home.

Fifteen minutes into the adventure, a man came to help me. We tried to gang up on her, but she was too fast. Then, we attempted to encourage her to enter the school, so she’d be caught between two sets of doors. She’d go right up to the entrance, turn, and take off again. After a few minutes of this game, she decided running into the street was more exciting. Great.

My assistant disappeared, so I was on my own for another fifteen minutes, freezing my butt off, but determined to keep Sophie safe.

Then, the school busses arrived. And one by one, I had to stop them, run between them, and chase the white dart back across the street. Not fun.

My ears felt like they were ready to fall off. My fingers were numb and I was no closer to catching the puppy than I was when I started, but I wouldn’t give up. That little mutt, whether she knew it or not, depended on me to keep her from danger.

Luckily, at that point, a boy who recognized Sophie, came to my aid. We cornered her. He quickly, scooped her up, and handed her to me.

What an experience. I shook for hours from the adrenaline rush. But, I’d do it all over again.

Have you ever tried to catch an animal on the run?

19 comments:

  1. Yes, I've tried to catch our cat who seems to have a sixth sense about when her vet visits are scheduled. It's an impossible task, and more often than not, we end up cancelling the visit. You're a hero for the effort! And wouldn't that make a fun picture book? :)

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  2. Ugh. I've had to catch plenty of animals like that. But it was worth it every time. I adore animals of any kind and I would hate for one of them to get hurt or killed if I could have helped stop it. Cats are worse to chase then dogs though. XD At least dogs can't climb trees.

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  3. That was so nice and very heroic of you! I had to catch my dog on the run many times. She thought it was fun to bolt out the door and run through the neighborhood, scaring the pants off of everyone by how big and excited she was. Our neighbors got a lot of laughs watching me scolding and dragging this huge dog back to our house!

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  4. You're quite the hero! Chasing down loose critters is probably one of my least favorite unexpected chores. The neighbors on either side of me have horses, and they've both gotten out at various times - which can be scary, since we live right off a major highway.

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  5. Glad the story had a happy ending.

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  6. Good for you. Sophie's lucky you cared enough to watch over her, even if she wouldn't cooperate (stubborn little thing)! :-)

    The last animal I "caught" on the run was a very playful yellow lab puppy who was running around on his own while I was walking one of my dogs. My Lucy slipped her harness to go play with him, so I spent a good 30 minutes chasing both of them trying to get my dog back. There are no sidewalks in our neighborhood, so we were all running in the street (thankfully little traffic). Finally some nice man stopped and helped me catch Lucy, but we had no idea where the pup belonged. He followed us all the way home, where I could finally corner him long enough to get the number off his collar. I called the owners to come get him while he played in the backyard with Lucy.

    That adrenaline rush is something else, isn't it?

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  7. Oh, good Lord, how stressful. Glad you were able to catch her. We had a poodle when I was growing up that would dart out the door at top speed anytime she could get past us. We spent many days chasing her. We finally figured out that she can't resist climbing in a car, so we started jumping in the car to catch her, then she would hop in. I still don't know how she managed not to get hit all those times.

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  8. YES!! Before we got an electric fence, our dog would sneak out the door every time it opened and take off down the street. It was a PAIN!! I was right there with you, Lynette. Been there, cold hands and all!

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  9. Wow, what a story! You did the right thing, Lynnette. I bet Mrs. B was so thankful.

    Have your ears warmed up yet? :)

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  10. Oh, my, yes!! When my golden was a puppy, she constantly ran off, and thought it was the biggest game to see how often she could get away form us. And we would get sooo mad!

    What a nice thing you did for Mrs. B.

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  11. I can so relate to the experience. With one dog and two cats, I've done my share of chasing. Lucky for us we are in the back of a neighborhood without much traffic.

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  12. How sweet of you! I've never really had a pet so chasing animals I cannot add to my resume. But I can imagine Sophie, and I would be glad to trapse all over the neighborhood to help another creature.

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  13. That's so awesome that you took the time to get Sophie. A lot of people would have just left her there.

    I've never had to wrangle any animals, really, but my two little brothers love to vanish as soon as you turn around, so I spend plenty of time chasing after them. And believe me, sometimes they're just as wild as animals.

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  14. With 3 critters I've chased many times. : )

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  15. That's the sweetest thing! I've never had to do anything like that before, but I would've tried to lure her with food:)

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  16. Oh, goodness, yes. But the scariest experience was when my mom's pug, Mickey, ran out on to the ice on a lake and fell into the freezing water. My brother and I went out in a rowboat, using the oar to break through the ice, to rescue the dog. Probably a stupid thing to do, but there was no way we could stand on shore and watch Mickey drown.

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  17. My husband once chased an elderly neighbor's dog for 30 minutes. I'm glad you got her!

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  18. Dog. I love them, but man, I have some moments. Mine used to run into a little creek that runs through the back of my house. It's fun running through thorn filled weeds and ice-water chasing a demented canine.
    love that dog though.

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  19. It's nice to see so many of you have chased after our innocent runaway pets. We're all heros to them.

    Lynnette Labelle

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