Runaway Cody
I did a really stupid thing yesterday during our run. Let me just tell the story.
Cody and I had just run/walked 5 miles on the trail, and entered a business street that didn't have any traffic. This was our first long outing since I came back from vacation, so I had him on a pretty strict heel (with the Gentle Leader) the whole way. He was really antsy, so I thought he should exert some "free" energy. I took him off the trail onto the business area so we can get to the dog park.
I thought he should be sufficiently tired, so I thought it would be a good time to test Cody being "off-leash" (beginning of really bad idea). I left his leash on (so I can grab him quickly - or so I thought), but dropped my grab of it. He pretty much went wild (as I should have predicted given his antsy-ness at that time), and took off. Mind you, we were close to a large park and pretty much a big area where he could have run anywhere. In the beginning, he would run and turn around to make sure he kept sight of me. I moved out of his line of sight to see if he would return. (Bad idea #2). Of course, this meant I lost sight of him (which is really bad since he didn't seem to return).
This is when I mildly started freaking out/thought about making promises to God. I had mentioned "dog park" to him earlier and we were close enough that he should have recognized the path to the dog park. I went to the dog park (which was about half a mile away) and he wasn't there. Begin big panic time. This is when I started actually making promises to God and feeling really stupid about what I had done.
Oh, let me point out a couple of things:
1) I was 5 miles away from home with no mode of transportation other than my running shoes
2) I left my cell phone at home
3) Cody's tag had my cell phone number on it
4) All the people I could call for help required me having my cell phone with their numbers in it.
I went back to the intersection where the road to the dog park and the business road intersected and basically asked anyone I saw if they saw a roaming dog. Of course, I felt ashamed of what I had done so I left out the part where I dropped his leash and just said that "he ran away from me" (which is true).
My office was about half a mile away so I had thought about going there as my base, but since I was alone, I would miss it if Cody reappeared nearby. There was a small chance Cody went to the office, but I thought it was unlikely since the dog park would probably entice him more. I went back to the dog park and asked if anyone had seen Cody and if they can look out for him. I went back to the intersection. My other thought was to go over the trail to see if Cody went that way, but it was half a mile away from the intersection and I wanted to be between the trail and the dog park in case he showed up.
Luckily (this is the good part as you can tell), a few cyclists were come down the business road from the trail and I asked them if they saw Cody. I didn't actually expect them to respond positively since 1) I had been yelling for Cody and had the cyclists seen him, they probably would have told me so proactively and 2) I had been yelling for Cody for half an hour. The area was very wide and my voice can carry. Cody should have been in hearing range and should have come when I called (This is my assumption that he would hear the distress in my voice and come. Also, I had his squeaky toy which I was squeezing so even if he didn't want to be obedient, he should have at least wanted to play with his favorite toy).
Well, anyways, when I asked the first cyclist if he's seen a dog roaming around, he said "Absolutely". I didn't really believe it so I asked him "a brown dog"?. He said "yes". And then I asked him where (though I think any normal person would have figured out where I was going with the first question - or even just by me calling Cody's name- that he could've just told me where Cody was. It was fairly obvious that I was looking for a missing dog). Anyways, he said that the brown dog was about 200 yards up the road, towards the trail.
I ran up, thinking he was still roaming around and being a brat. Instead, he was just lying lazily in the shade, exactly in the spot where he last saw me. The whole situation was pretty ridiculous, but at least Cody realized that there was a problem because he started running towards me when I got closer. I'm not sure why he didn't come when I called (the brat!) but he was very excited to see me as I was coming closer. I was in tears and very very grateful that he was found. In hindsight, it's also good to know that he wouldn't just roam off too far without me and that he at least went back to where he thought I was.
Needless to say, we aren't going to try an off-leash experiment like this one again. And it looks like I'm indebted to go to church for a long time to come.
I did a really stupid thing yesterday during our run. Let me just tell the story.
Cody and I had just run/walked 5 miles on the trail, and entered a business street that didn't have any traffic. This was our first long outing since I came back from vacation, so I had him on a pretty strict heel (with the Gentle Leader) the whole way. He was really antsy, so I thought he should exert some "free" energy. I took him off the trail onto the business area so we can get to the dog park.
I thought he should be sufficiently tired, so I thought it would be a good time to test Cody being "off-leash" (beginning of really bad idea). I left his leash on (so I can grab him quickly - or so I thought), but dropped my grab of it. He pretty much went wild (as I should have predicted given his antsy-ness at that time), and took off. Mind you, we were close to a large park and pretty much a big area where he could have run anywhere. In the beginning, he would run and turn around to make sure he kept sight of me. I moved out of his line of sight to see if he would return. (Bad idea #2). Of course, this meant I lost sight of him (which is really bad since he didn't seem to return).
This is when I mildly started freaking out/thought about making promises to God. I had mentioned "dog park" to him earlier and we were close enough that he should have recognized the path to the dog park. I went to the dog park (which was about half a mile away) and he wasn't there. Begin big panic time. This is when I started actually making promises to God and feeling really stupid about what I had done.
Oh, let me point out a couple of things:
1) I was 5 miles away from home with no mode of transportation other than my running shoes
2) I left my cell phone at home
3) Cody's tag had my cell phone number on it
4) All the people I could call for help required me having my cell phone with their numbers in it.
I went back to the intersection where the road to the dog park and the business road intersected and basically asked anyone I saw if they saw a roaming dog. Of course, I felt ashamed of what I had done so I left out the part where I dropped his leash and just said that "he ran away from me" (which is true).
My office was about half a mile away so I had thought about going there as my base, but since I was alone, I would miss it if Cody reappeared nearby. There was a small chance Cody went to the office, but I thought it was unlikely since the dog park would probably entice him more. I went back to the dog park and asked if anyone had seen Cody and if they can look out for him. I went back to the intersection. My other thought was to go over the trail to see if Cody went that way, but it was half a mile away from the intersection and I wanted to be between the trail and the dog park in case he showed up.
Luckily (this is the good part as you can tell), a few cyclists were come down the business road from the trail and I asked them if they saw Cody. I didn't actually expect them to respond positively since 1) I had been yelling for Cody and had the cyclists seen him, they probably would have told me so proactively and 2) I had been yelling for Cody for half an hour. The area was very wide and my voice can carry. Cody should have been in hearing range and should have come when I called (This is my assumption that he would hear the distress in my voice and come. Also, I had his squeaky toy which I was squeezing so even if he didn't want to be obedient, he should have at least wanted to play with his favorite toy).
Well, anyways, when I asked the first cyclist if he's seen a dog roaming around, he said "Absolutely". I didn't really believe it so I asked him "a brown dog"?. He said "yes". And then I asked him where (though I think any normal person would have figured out where I was going with the first question - or even just by me calling Cody's name- that he could've just told me where Cody was. It was fairly obvious that I was looking for a missing dog). Anyways, he said that the brown dog was about 200 yards up the road, towards the trail.
I ran up, thinking he was still roaming around and being a brat. Instead, he was just lying lazily in the shade, exactly in the spot where he last saw me. The whole situation was pretty ridiculous, but at least Cody realized that there was a problem because he started running towards me when I got closer. I'm not sure why he didn't come when I called (the brat!) but he was very excited to see me as I was coming closer. I was in tears and very very grateful that he was found. In hindsight, it's also good to know that he wouldn't just roam off too far without me and that he at least went back to where he thought I was.
Needless to say, we aren't going to try an off-leash experiment like this one again. And it looks like I'm indebted to go to church for a long time to come.
posted by Phoebe @ 4:33 PM
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