Page 65 - Chow Life - 2025 01 Spring
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him- and that’s when Danger stopped in his tracks there carries anything across the river so he was
and turned back toward the car. That, and Robert probably swept downstream and across at that
getting out of the car and singing while doing some point until he found a shoreline he could crawl
sort of Hoochi-Koochi dance and all of the sudden, up. Once there, he would have been in the middle
Danger was there and Joyce had a leash on him of a 2,000-acre wildlife refuge. The creek there is
and he was in her car and headed home!! known for its large alligators, and the remaining
area is home to coyotes, bobcats, panthers and
Robert later revealed this is what he does every bears. But he was found about three miles in-land.
time he feeds them when he’s dog siting at my I can only guess that on the day he fell in, when
house. I decided to count my blessings and not it was still warm, perhaps there were hikers and
ask any more questions. Except for one: How did then maybe he followed them until they reached
Danger end up across the river? the parking area and drove away, leaving him all
He could not have gone around; it was at least 15 alone. He would have been all by himself as it grew
miles that would have involved crossing multiple dark, or the next day during the torrential rains,
properties and a long bridge. I hadn’t even gone and even the next day when we saw only the one
that far in my flyer posting. Instead he had to have couple, as it was really way too muddy to hike.
crossed the river. Although he’d had swimming I know three days is nothing compared to the
lessons in my pool, he was not a willing swimmer weeks, months and even years other have lots and
and would not have gotten in the river voluntarily. recovered their dogs. But it felt like forever. I was
He had to have fallen, probably off the very same also reminded of several things I did wrong and
cliff I’d come to the day before. He had scrapes on several things I need to do better. So I made this
his chest consistent with clinging to it or crashing list:
down it on his way down. And then he would have
landed in the river. Maybe he clung to the side HOW TO FIND A LOST DOG
of the cliff for as long as he could, or maybe he
landed out too far to get back. I’m told the current Be Prepared:
Fit your dog with a GPS tracking device such as
Tractive, which seems to be the most popular.
Tractive switches to whatever cell phone provider
is available wherever the dog roams. There’s no
doubt that this is the best precaution you can take,
but it only works where there’s phone service. It
also needs a separate subscription for each dog
wearing it.
Microchips and collars with tags, of course –
they only help if somebody has your dog.
Join local social media groups like Next Door
and various local Facebook groups, especially
local Lost and Found groups. Do this now,
before you lose a dog. Otherwise, you may
have to wait a day until an administrator
approves you.
The more posters the better, even if they This article was reprinted with permission from The
looked sloppy. We used both sides of our Canine Chronicle, March 2024 issue, page 98. www.
kennel club show signs to mount some. caninechronicle.com.
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