Monday, June 14, 2004
REALLY Wet Dog
Do you ever feel like you get more than your fair share of drama? Yeah, me too. I'll come back to my boring backyard problem another day.
Sooooo...after finishing dinner my kitchen phone rings. It's my neighbor telling me that my wolf mix and my Great Dane are running the streets. Huh, weird. OH! Well, when your daughter leaves the front door open when collecting the mail, I guess that can happen. Grrrrr. So I tell her the dogs got away because she left the front door open. "I hope they don't get hit by a car and killed", I say. So I'm off on foot yelling after them. Can't be too far...the neighbor JUST called. Did I mention the torrential downpour that was simultaneously happening? Yeah. Umbrella keeps the head dry, but the rivers flowing down the street don't do so much for the shoes.
Went about 3/4 up the street. No dogs. Back to the house, I find my daughter bawling because it's her fault the dogs got away. No argument there. "Yes it is", I say. We pile into the car. Just as I'm pulling out of the driveway, I see my smaller mix jogging down the street back toward the house. I stop the car & drag her into the backyard. One down, one to go. As I'm heading up the street, I see my other dog coming back toward the house. From where he must have come, I see people standing in a front yard...walking after him. Since I am in my car & it's still raining, I just roll down the window & coach him to get home while slowly driving. The first thing I noticed was that an unusual amount of water was dripping from him. It was cascading from his belly. People still coming my way. I get him back to our house & into the backyard when the guy coming down the street makes it to my place. I was waiting for him to tell me that my wet, giant rampaging dog squished his tiny dog, or ate his baby or something of that nature (even though my dog is the biggest pussy cat ever).
"Is he OK" the guy asks..."Yeah...sorry he got out" I reply, waiting for the other shoe to fall. "Oh, good. He fell into my neighbors in-ground pool & was drowning" he says. My jaw drops. "I couldn't get him out, so my wife had to help".
So basically the big dummy falls into the pool (I don't think he jumped in) and people I don't even know had to jump into their neighbor's pool during a lightning & thunderstorm and fish a giant, struggling ungainly 150 lb. beast out of the water. (I just had a Poltergeist flashback from the pool scene!) So of course when I said "Thanks", I felt like a total ass. Somehow that just didn't seem to cover the act of heroism. There will be some sort of gift placed on their front porch later this week.
The dogs seems OK...just a little shocky. He is also walking a little funny, either from the fall or the struggle to get out of the pool, so he will be seeing our chiropractor tomorrow to make sure his back & hips are OK.
When I told my daughter the dog almost drowned & we'd have never seen him again, her reply was "But he's OK now. I made a mistake. (chanting) I made a mistake. I made a mistake". I guess seeing the dog was alive after all negated any "what-if's".
Next on the list of learned life lessons: Empathy 101.
Do you ever feel like you get more than your fair share of drama? Yeah, me too. I'll come back to my boring backyard problem another day.
Sooooo...after finishing dinner my kitchen phone rings. It's my neighbor telling me that my wolf mix and my Great Dane are running the streets. Huh, weird. OH! Well, when your daughter leaves the front door open when collecting the mail, I guess that can happen. Grrrrr. So I tell her the dogs got away because she left the front door open. "I hope they don't get hit by a car and killed", I say. So I'm off on foot yelling after them. Can't be too far...the neighbor JUST called. Did I mention the torrential downpour that was simultaneously happening? Yeah. Umbrella keeps the head dry, but the rivers flowing down the street don't do so much for the shoes.
Went about 3/4 up the street. No dogs. Back to the house, I find my daughter bawling because it's her fault the dogs got away. No argument there. "Yes it is", I say. We pile into the car. Just as I'm pulling out of the driveway, I see my smaller mix jogging down the street back toward the house. I stop the car & drag her into the backyard. One down, one to go. As I'm heading up the street, I see my other dog coming back toward the house. From where he must have come, I see people standing in a front yard...walking after him. Since I am in my car & it's still raining, I just roll down the window & coach him to get home while slowly driving. The first thing I noticed was that an unusual amount of water was dripping from him. It was cascading from his belly. People still coming my way. I get him back to our house & into the backyard when the guy coming down the street makes it to my place. I was waiting for him to tell me that my wet, giant rampaging dog squished his tiny dog, or ate his baby or something of that nature (even though my dog is the biggest pussy cat ever).
"Is he OK" the guy asks..."Yeah...sorry he got out" I reply, waiting for the other shoe to fall. "Oh, good. He fell into my neighbors in-ground pool & was drowning" he says. My jaw drops. "I couldn't get him out, so my wife had to help".
So basically the big dummy falls into the pool (I don't think he jumped in) and people I don't even know had to jump into their neighbor's pool during a lightning & thunderstorm and fish a giant, struggling ungainly 150 lb. beast out of the water. (I just had a Poltergeist flashback from the pool scene!) So of course when I said "Thanks", I felt like a total ass. Somehow that just didn't seem to cover the act of heroism. There will be some sort of gift placed on their front porch later this week.
The dogs seems OK...just a little shocky. He is also walking a little funny, either from the fall or the struggle to get out of the pool, so he will be seeing our chiropractor tomorrow to make sure his back & hips are OK.
When I told my daughter the dog almost drowned & we'd have never seen him again, her reply was "But he's OK now. I made a mistake. (chanting) I made a mistake. I made a mistake". I guess seeing the dog was alive after all negated any "what-if's".
Next on the list of learned life lessons: Empathy 101.
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