Dog Story
… or, How I Didn’t Go Jogging Today.
So, I went to go jogging in the nearly balmy 45 degrees that it is outside today. This may have been a little premature as there was a pile of ice still in front of the house that didn’t shovel, but not to worry, just jog on the street for a bit. Except that at the end of the street there was a massive pit bull staring at me. I didn’t really know what to do in that situation, since I didn’t have my cell phone, or really anything useful with me, and was going to keep going, except for the fact that the dog seemed really nervous. That is when I noticed that he had some weight hanging off of his neck (the base of a blender!?!). Well, that wasn’t a good sign.
Suffice it to say this was not a dog that I particularly wanted to mess with. (Having grown up with dogs myself, one would think that I am comfortable around dogs. One would be wrong. I knew a pit bull rescue worker once, and that didn’t help in this case.) Fortunately there was a concerned citizen who pulled over and called 911. After making sure that she had in fact called, we noticed that the dog was wandering into the street with oblivious drivers whipping by. After a small moment of panic where some girls from the local school darted after the dog, it came back to the side walk.
It seemed to like the girls more than me. After that it was just a matter of keeping the dog calm, and the girls out of the street. (I never really noticed that kids have a tendency to wander, oblivious to danger, when gathered in a group.) One of the smaller girls held on to the dog for a while (clearly she had a big dog at home!), but whenever I tried to hold on to it, it would become upset and try to get away. The woman who stopped offered to keep it out of the street while I ran back to my place to get some food, water, and a leash from a neighbor who I knew had a dog. Once the dog had some food, he was much calmer, and basically sat around until the police showed up.
Even on a leash (leash for a 2 pound dog hooked up to this 100 pound dog! Wish I had a picture.) the dog still didn’t like men, so the police had as much trouble coaxing it into the car as I did. I offered to run back home and get some more food to tempt it into the car with, and with that they were able to get it into the back seat of their car. (Gotta say, those back seats don’t look comfortable!) And they took it back to the kennels. And brought me back my neighbor’s leash. Now that is service!
Pretty exciting story, but seeing what clearly would have been an extremely friendly dog, so nervous and so excitable really brought me down. It never once growled or snapped, or even made a menacing gesture. It sat down for the girls, and after about 20 minutes was willing to sit for me. It was just scared and confused. When the police brought the leash back they said that it was even playful. They claimed that they are treating it as “lost property”, but I’m not entirely sure that I believe that given what it was being trained for. (Weights on dog’s necks trains them for fighting I learned today.) I just hope that if they really don’t just put it down, that it can find a home where it will receive the care that it needs.
Final comments: awesome job by the police (I don’t remember the badge number, but they were from 24th district). Reasonably quick response, and very patient with both humans and animal. Funniest moment: concerned citizen’s 1/2 the weight of the dog daughter, “mom, we might have to take it home with us!” Mom thought their two kittens might disagree. Saddest moment: I’m afraid the daughter and dog bonded, and the daughter simply wasn’t believing mom’s platitudes about how they don’t kill dogs at the pound any more.
All in all, my affection for humanity dropped a little seeing the dog, but now that I think about all the people who stopped to help, it makes me feel a little better.