Well, that was fun!

[Janah]

Pulled up in a car park to see two distressed owners trying to recapture a runaway Jack Russell dog.

leapt out of car as dog was heading for main road. Headed it off. Owners yelling at it. Male owner, very overweight sat heaving on a wall and I suggested getting medical help, he brushed me aside so continued on after lady owner who was still chasing dog and yelling at it.

Having run through several car parks and thankfully away from traffic, coopied down, clapped my hands and called dog by name, came straight to me. Dog owners very grateful.

Male owner still in distress and saying forgotten angina tabs but refused medical help.

When will people learn not to yell at dogs (hard in emergency circumstances) but make coming back fun.

Suggested they get professional help and treat dog when it does come back even at home in the garden or anywhere else for that matter. Young dog from a rescue centre and a lovely little bitch with attitude. Had done it before not a new habit.

Accident waiting to happen.

All well that ended well.

 

[CorvusCorax]

Well done for helping out - it's the hardest thing to do in the world sometimes when you're scared and panicking about what terrible thing might befall your dog but you're right, charging after it yelling FIDO GET BACK HERE NOW!! is not awfully enticing.

 

[FinnishLapphund]

The thing is, that only heading towards a heavy trafficked road, usually doesn't create the right amount of panic in our voices. Someone I went to puppy class with once, came to one meeting and in the "after class" talk, asked the trainer if she had any idea about how she had managed to stop her young puppy, some days earlier, when the puppy hadn't learned the stop command yet?

Turned out that he had somehow gotten away from her, and he wasn't only heading towards a heavy trafficked road, he was just a few steps away from running out in front of some cars when she stopped trying to shout his name, come and sit (things that he had learned) and just screamed
STOP!

And he froze, didn't dare to move a muscle until she came up to him and put his lead on him. She had still not understood how she had managed to stop him, but the trainer explained that considering his reaction, she must have managed to get just the right amount of panic in her voice, so that he didn't respond to the word "Stop", he simply responded to the tone in her voice that told him "Your life is really, truly in danger!" Which made him freeze, and not dare to move until she came, and got him away from the danger.


I know about one other time when someone managed to scream using just the right tone in their voice and stop a puppy, but the problem is that there is no guarantee that anyone will be able to get just that right amount of panic in their tone, at the right moment. So the owners of that Jack Russell bitch was lucky that you were there, and could help them catch her. Ditto CaveCanem, indeed well done.