Forums >Look What I Can Do!>Being chased by a dog (in a good way?)
Today's run was in really crap weather. Just under 40F. Wind. Rain. My otherwise-loyal running companion (see picture to the left) wouldn't come with me. She's not a big fan of the wet.
The run was otherwise uneventful, but around two miles from home, I noticed that I was being followed.
By a St. Bernard. In the rain, and the wind. With a leash attached to him, but no humans in sight.
I slowed and tried to get him to trot close. He would, but not closer than 20 feet. He seemed a little apprehensive, and he backed up if I approached closer. He did not seem aggressive though, and I knew I'd seen him before out running and walking. I was kind of at a loss, and I almost panicked when a car came by, worried for the worst.
Not knowing what else to do, I tried leading him to the neighborhood where I knew there was a St. Bernard. He followed me tentatively, on the other side of the street after a while. I finally someone outside, bringing his trash cans in, I think, and shouted "Do you know if a St. Bernard lives in this neighborhood?!?!?!?!"
He did. It was his dog.
It was worth getting out in the rain and wind for that.
"When a person trains once, nothing happens. When a person forces himself to do a thing a hundred or a thousand times, then he certainly has developed in more ways than physical. Is it raining? That doesn't matter. Am I tired? That doesn't matter, either. Then willpower will be no problem." Emil Zatopek
Not dead. Yet.
Awesome! Good job, human. We animal lovers need to look out for our own.
How can we know our limits if we don't test them?
Refurbished Hip
I'm glad to know there are other fellow dog rescuers while out running. Thanks for the story!
Running is dumb.
I've had a couple of found-dog experiences while out running. Both wearing tags, both with a happy ending after a quick phone call. Always a good feeling.
Feeling the growl again
Nice to hear a happy ending. Very curious how the dog ended up running with a leash attached, but the person owning it did not know it was out (perhaps wife was out walking it when she lost it and was still looking?).
Not out running, but 5-6 weeks ago we had 2 loose dogs come through...well-kept, no collars. We managed to lure the beautiful black lab into our kennel with hot dogs and catch him, but the setter with him took off. We took him to Animal Control but after a week nobody claimed him, so we took him home (had to pay for a dog we could have had for free!). The setter was never heard from again and nobody brought it in. The lab was had clearly come from a suburban one-story house (clear he was not familiar with either stairs or the wide open spaces of our property). As best we can figure some idiot brought them out, took off the collars, and dumped them in the country.
"If you want to be a bad a$s, then do what a bad a$s does. There's your pep talk for today. Go Run." -- Slo_Hand
I am spaniel - Crusher of Treadmills
Our current dog (my profile pic) was a dumped-in-the-country rescue. If I met the person who did the dumping I wouldn't know whether to thank them or punch them in the face. Maybe both?
+1. Our rescued lab is a wonderful dog but initially he had regular nightmares when sleeping. Now it is very, very infrequent. He wound up in a better place than where he came from, for sure. But I still feel bad for the setter.
Now if he would just quit eating every package delivered to the front porch....
I love happy endings like that! My dog escaped only once and it was the worst 5-6 hours in a long time. Thank goodness you found the dog for that person
5k = 19.48 10/1/13
10k = 45.28 4/16/13
Half Marathon = 1:38.53 Summer Sizzle 7/13/14
Operation Jack Marathon 12/26/12 4:39.11
Solo O Marathon 06/02/13 3:52:10
Operation Jack Marathon 12/26/13 3:40.34
Out in another neighborhood, I found a dog running in the street at 6AM. It had a collar with phone #, so I called, but only got answering machine. There was a senior lady out walking who said she would take the dog to her house and try the number again.
I continued running for about 3 blocks and then saw a frantic lady calling out "have you seen a dog?'
Turns out she was dog-sitting, and did not know it had left the yard. So then I walked her over to the senior lady's house to pick up the dog.
She was so happy and thanked the both of us.
"dancing on the path and singing, now you got away,
you can reach the goals you set from now on, every day"
Sonata Arctica
rgibert
of course the best part of your story is that you helped get the dog back home safely. but very strange that the owner was bringing in his garbage cans while his dog was running around loose with his lease attached. very strange. it really was his dog I hope
Based on the dog's reaction, the dog at least knew the person very well. Considering how trepidatious the dog was with me, it was profoundly different a reaction (like a tail-wagging love-tackle, whereas he wouldn't come closer than 20 feet of me), so I'm not worried about it.
I'm pretty sure the dog got away from wife + kids and bolted (yards in that area are not fenced in). I admit I didn't hang around too long, as the drizzly weather and shorts were a bad combination.
rgibert of course the best part of your story is that you helped get the dog back home safely. but very strange that the owner was bringing in his garbage cans while his dog was running around loose with his lease attached. very strange. it really was his dog I hope
I thought my fellow dog-lovers would enjoy the story. I know I'd be in panic if mine ever got loose, so trying to wrangle loose/wandering dogs just seems like something to default to.
Good story with happy ending. Glad to see you were able to help.
Maniac
A few months ago, I set out on a 20-miler....I got about 3 miles in and a couple of ladies ran past me the other way and said "There is a pit bull puppy up ahead that's loose....don't pet him." I kept running....About another half mile into the run, I see the dog. He trots up to me, happy as can be....I keep running....A mile and a half later, he's still following me. Not aggressive at all....Trotting along behind me about 2 paces back....I finally stop and check out his collar. It has a phone number....I call....No answer, voicemail not set up......I keep running. And running. Instead of my normal route, I keep running back and forth along the "wash" where I originally picked the dog up....I keep trying to call.....I stop a couple of times to give the dog water. He seemed grateful.
At Mile 14 I gave up.....I couldn't fathom making the dog run 20, and it was clear he wasn't going to leave me. I finally ran home with him. He hung out with us for awhile until the drunk idiot who was his owner answered his phone. He was clearly still in bed and said he'd call me back. A couple hours later, he finally called back. At that point, I was pretty sure my wife was ready to keep the dog, so I volunteered to take him home (we just got a puppy...didn't need another one).
The house was like a stereotypical redneck abode, except for the fact that it was in the middle of suburbia (on a county island if you guys know what that means). There were dogs running loose EVERYWHERE. I felt bad leaving him there, but he didn't look too upset to go with the owner.
Marathon Maniac #6740
Goals for 2015:
Run 3 marathons (modified: Run 2 marathons--Lost Dutchman 02/2015 and Whiskey Row 05/2015)
Run a 50-miler (Ran a 53.8 mile race 11/14/2015)
Run 1,500 miles (uhhh...how about 1,400?)
Stay healthy
One morning some punk kid opened all the gates in our downtown area. While I was running, I had a pack of gleeful, recently freed dogs following me. I didn't get my mileage that day, but I met all of my neighbors!
5K: 23:45 10K: 49:50 Half:? Longest run: 20 miles