Impromptu Dog Rescue
Nov. 13th, 2015 02:29 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
stormdogI was a little anxious about taking the time for a long shopping trip, but I turned out to have been in the right place. As I was browsing the Salvation Army store, there were suddenly two big dogs wandering around the aisles. With everybody in the store asking anyone around them "Are those your dogs?" it was clear that nobody knew where they came from. They were very friendly and excited to get attention, so it was easy for me to get one by the collar to look at its tags. A couple who were there together were talking to store staff as I was trying to get the wiggly dog to hold still long enough to read the phone number. A staff member wanted to call the police, and the couple were vehemently telling him not to. The three of us got both dogs corralled. The second one was a little difficult since she didn't have a collar; they grabbed a belt from the nearby rack and I improvised a leash. One of the couple had called the number on the tag and got no answer, but the address was just across a street and down a block so two of us decided to walk the dogs back home while the third met us there with their car. I wanted to get a sense of the conditions the dogs were in and make sure they weren't breeding or fighting dogs; they certainly didn't act like it and generally seemed well taken care of, but one of them had a wound on her paw that concerned me.
It's funny; this is basically the same thing that happened when Danae and I were leaving Evanston for our trip to the Soo Locks. I, and another woman who happened by, ended up chasing an escaped dog for blocks back to its owners house, said owner having no idea the dog was gone. Keep an eye on your dogs folks; they're like kids but can't even talk to tell people where they came from!
It turned out the dogs had escaped the back yard through an open gate and the woman who owned them had no idea they were gone. I'm not terribly impressed with that, but I'm hopeful it was a one-time mistake. I suggested she get tags on both dogs since if they got separated one of them would have no contact info. This is particularly important since they were bull terriers of some kind, and I'm sure a lot of folks would freak out about them. That was another reason I and the couple (who do dog rescue, it turns out) didn't want the police called; authorities respond irrationally to bully breeds. These two were happy and enthusiastically friendly and I'd hate to see them get seized and killed. So I'm glad I happened to go to that store when I did; I feel like I did something really valuable and worthwhile this week!
It was a nice ride other than that.![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
restoman had told me that there were a couple of streets in the area that are so steep the city has left them paved with cobbles to provide extra traction; I found one of them. John Street near 1st North Street. I thought the road my building is on was a climb, but this is the steepest street I've ever biked on. When I first saw the hill down the road from me, I thought I was looking at a wall. I love the terrain in this city!
I have bedsheets. I also picked up a second-hand iron for $2 (now I just need an ironing board...), a cylindrical cheese grater of the kind you use for grating hard cheese over food on a plate, headphones that fit my big ears and head, and a cute black fabric belt with a white heart pattern. I've never owned a belt that wasn't plain leather, and looking at myself in the mirror it's amazing how much something with a strong pattern draws focus. I really like it.
It's funny; this is basically the same thing that happened when Danae and I were leaving Evanston for our trip to the Soo Locks. I, and another woman who happened by, ended up chasing an escaped dog for blocks back to its owners house, said owner having no idea the dog was gone. Keep an eye on your dogs folks; they're like kids but can't even talk to tell people where they came from!
It turned out the dogs had escaped the back yard through an open gate and the woman who owned them had no idea they were gone. I'm not terribly impressed with that, but I'm hopeful it was a one-time mistake. I suggested she get tags on both dogs since if they got separated one of them would have no contact info. This is particularly important since they were bull terriers of some kind, and I'm sure a lot of folks would freak out about them. That was another reason I and the couple (who do dog rescue, it turns out) didn't want the police called; authorities respond irrationally to bully breeds. These two were happy and enthusiastically friendly and I'd hate to see them get seized and killed. So I'm glad I happened to go to that store when I did; I feel like I did something really valuable and worthwhile this week!
It was a nice ride other than that.
restoman had told me that there were a couple of streets in the area that are so steep the city has left them paved with cobbles to provide extra traction; I found one of them. John Street near 1st North Street. I thought the road my building is on was a climb, but this is the steepest street I've ever biked on. When I first saw the hill down the road from me, I thought I was looking at a wall. I love the terrain in this city! I have bedsheets. I also picked up a second-hand iron for $2 (now I just need an ironing board...), a cylindrical cheese grater of the kind you use for grating hard cheese over food on a plate, headphones that fit my big ears and head, and a cute black fabric belt with a white heart pattern. I've never owned a belt that wasn't plain leather, and looking at myself in the mirror it's amazing how much something with a strong pattern draws focus. I really like it.
