One morning, some years ago, my dad let our pack of six dogs out for their morning business. I grew up in a house that always had two things — lots of dogs and a fenced-in backyard to contain them all. Well, that memorable morning the thing that none of us thought would be an issue became one. As Dad went to get the dogs in from their morning constitutions, instead of six pack members greeting him at the door, there was only one. This caused some confusion initially, and then panic ensued, as he discovered that the backyard gate which was constantly closed was, in fact, swinging wide open. The latch hadn’t broken. There was no burglar. There was no massive storm the night before. No, instead it was the day that the meter reader had come to do his work in the backyard. And he had managed to forget to pull the gate closed behind him.
Luckily, after several minutes of frenzied searching, Dad had single-handedly wrangled three more of the six dogs to safety. Oberle, the Mastiff, had only made it as far as the next door neighbors’ backyard. BeBe, the beagle, had gone chasing rabbits but was caught with her nose to the ground and miraculously had only made it to the other side of the fence. Horton, the Newfoundland, came traipsing home all by himself after a quick trip to the end of the block and back. While Gracie, another Mastiff, was the lone “goody two shoes” who had stayed faithfully on our porch. The adrenaline rush that came with that frantic search must have put my father’s health through the ringer that day.
Buck, the mutt, had hitched a ride with a kindly lady who was on the way to drop him at an animal shelter when Dad passed her on the street and recognized the escapee in the back seat. By the time Dad had finally left for work (late and all in a tizzy,) Irwin, the dachshund, was the only one still missing. As Dad informed everyone else in the family of the excitement of the morning — we all experienced varying degrees of high anxiety and concern for Irwin’s whereabouts and safety. Had he been hit by a car? Had he managed to find some kindly soul to take him in? Would we ever see him again?
Mom had done her due diligence and had visited our small town police department, and she had called the local vet offices and shelters to inform them we were missing a wiener dog. Around 3 in the afternoon we got a knock on our door from a policeman who had an unusual prisoner in the back of his patrol car. It was Irwin. A dog who a few hours before had never been in trouble with the law in his life had managed to make himself a felon by biting the hand of the policeman that had reached under the parked car to retrieve him. Because the little stinker had bitten the nice officer, the policeman was not willing to let him out of the patrol car until we showed proof of current rabies vaccination and a valid license. Thankfully, Mom had both. Irwin got off with a warning instead of doing hard time.
Keeping our dogs up to date with rabies vaccinations and fully licensed is not only a legal concern on our part, as dog owners, but can help keep them out of real trouble. If Irwin had had his rabies tag and his license on his collar he wouldn’t have had to be held prisoner until the officer verified his legal status. Identification is vital in getting our dogs home quickly should they fly the coop. If Buck had had our address and contact number on his tag he wouldn’t have had to risk a stay in the pound.
Another wonderful way of getting our runaway pets home safely is having them microchipped. A microchip is placed under the skin using a large-bore needle and will register a specific number for that pet when scanned by a microchip reader. The facilities people turn to when they have found a pet (such as veterinary offices, shelters and dog wardens) will generally use universal microchip readers.
You can never anticipate every situation in life. Sometimes, meter readers and visitors don’t close the door all the way. Most dogs when given the chance, and an unattended open door, will take it and run. It’s our job to help them find their way home any way that we can.
Author: Dr. Marisa Tong
Image courtesy of patrisyu at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
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