Recently we were on our way home, heading down a busy, divided street, and looked over to see a stray dog. The dog, a beautiful yellow Lab (not this dog but one very similar), was darting alongside the road as a pizza delivery man, having left his delivery car, was trying his best to catch the dog.
We quickly made a U-turn and stopped about a block back from the dog and the pizza man. I got out of our pickup and went to the sidewalk, lowering my body and opening my arms wide. With a smile and a happy voice, I called to the dog and she happily came running to me for petting. John had gotten a leash out of our lost dog kit we carry in our vehicles; soon we had the dog leashed.
The pizza man came over, thinking the dog was ours and explained that he’d seen her darting in traffic and tried to get her before she got hit. I might have had more luck that the pizza man just because he’s a man and I’m a woman; many dogs are more likely to approach a strange woman than a man.
But I’d also encouraged the lost dog to come to me instead of approaching her. Ask for a lost dog to come to you instead of chasing the lost dog whenever possible. If that doesn’t work, try turning your back on the dog, and encouraging the dog to follow you.
This story had a happy ending. As we were standing and talking to the kind pizza man, a car with the dog’s mom (and several crying children) pulled up. The dog had escaped the yard, and they’d been out searching the neighborhood for her.
Take a moment to think about what you have in your car if should find yourself in a similar situation. It only takes a few moments to prepare a lost dog kit, even something as simple as an old leash. It can make a big difference to have a leash handy, though, just as it did for us!
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