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NEARLY LOST HOLLY YESTERDAY

yvonne

Well-known member
Hi Guys.
Holly (14 months) goes to a woman (Bernie) around the corner from me during the day for a few hours to play with her cousin Buster.
Her son was out walking Holly and Buster yesterday and Holly decided that she didn't wank to walk in the direction they were going in........ suddenly moved her head down waited for him to pull her forward and her harness came off (happened once before.. she's a sly fox).
Holly then took off like a bullet and ran out of the estate and towards celbridge village. :yikes
The Son was running after her (like a game to holly) stopping traffic. People got out of their cars to try and stop her. The lady who takes holly came out to help the chase.
Finally the chase ended when a man who was walking in the opposite direction grabbed her.
Poor Bernie was devistated telling me. She kept thinking "what is something happened, how could i tell Yvonne that holly was killed". I know how she must have felt. It must be horrible to have something happen to a dog that isn't yours.

Anyway. Holly is fine. Lives to tell the tale. I could have murdered her though when i found out.
Is it only Holly, or do any other cavs do this with their harness.

Yvonne
 
Whew how terrifying; I am so glad she is back and OK.

Lily is now so small that she can slip one of her harnesses -- the Petedge step-in one. The medium Puppia is also a bit large so I may need to get a small for her (amazing when she used to be so fat that I had to let out the Puppias to the largest girth! :lol:)

Yvonne some harnesses fit better than others and it is also important to have the girth strap correctly snug if you are using a Puppia for walks. If the strap is snug I think the Puppias are pretty difficult for them to slip out of. You could consider that houndstooth design Puppia that fits a lot more snugly over more of the body, too, if you know the one I mean.

BTW tell Bernie to use in an emergency like this, the word Holly will ALWAYS come back to. In my house, the word is TREATS! I make sure to always use this word every single time they get treats. Even if I whisper it -- I did just now! -- three heads will pop up and tails start to go. Lily just ran right over to me. :)

So if they won;t come back to their name, or to /come, in an emergency I know I can yell TREATS and they very likely will return. I ONLY use it in association with treats normally so as never to make it also mean 'come -- but I know they will come when they hear it and thus it is a good emergency-only word for 'come!'.
 
OH My GOSH! I can imagine how scary that situation was for you and that poor little boy How nice of everyone to help to catch your lil runaway Im sorry I dont have much advice on whether other Cavaliers do this as I dont have mine yet but Im just so sorry this happened to you and I can imagine the relief you feel knowing she is ok but the worry of what about next time Im sure someone here on the board can assist you and allay your fears though
 
My mum told me once that my Holly managed to slip out of her puppia- medium. Also, sometimes the catch on her puppia just goes and the girth strap becomes unfastened. I have a jacket style puppia harness for Amber, and I'm tempted to get one for Holly too because I think they're more secure because of the way the lead attaches.
 
Wow!! How terrifying! My heart was beating so fast when I read your story. My Stewie can do this with every collar I put on him (he has a thick neck and all hair on his tiny little head). I switched to a harness almost immediatly after that and never looked back. I am so glad she is ok!! Like Karlin said, when in doubt yell "cookie!!!" My four will come charging!! :lol:
 
I quit using the puppia harness because of just this problem. If she twists the right way, the catch pops off and away she goes. I may try it again now that she is full grown, just in case it was due to a poor fit. I've been afraid to use it the past several months since it popped open 3 walks in a row.

I might try a different style. I thought about calling Puppia and seeing if they would replace it, but I never got around to it.

When I read your story, I was so scared for the little boy running across traffic after her. I could just picture him panicked and running into the street. I feel terrible for him and I bet his mother was scared to death. It could have been a real tragedy for everyone involved.

Thank God everything came out OK.
 
That happened to me twice when I answered the door and Lily squeezed through my legs. She ran right to the street. I know how terrified I was. No one is allowed to open the door in my house unless Lily is in her crate. I''m so glad it turned out well. I know how bad the person walking Holly must have felt. They can be slippery little devils :roll:
 
Thanks for your replies guys.
I think it was Bernie who was most upset. Her son would be about 15, and was extremely calm about it. Just trying to get traffic to slow down. The harness didn't break or anything, she has a knack of bending her head down, moving her two front paws together and presto, with a pull it's off. Going to tighten it and look into getting a hounds tooth one.
Y
 
Oh how scary!!! So glad little Holly was okay. Jake got out of his harness once. I found out that I hadn't put it on correctly (strap wasn't through loop). When my pet sitter watches the pups I am super explicit about the necessity of putting the harness on correctly. It's bad enough if something happens to your dog on your watch....I can't imagine how I'd feel if something happened to someone else's dog on my watch! I would feel horrible.

I do make sure both of mine are properly fitted in their harnesses. I can see how Holly could do just the right head move and get out of it though. The belly strap on mine is tight enough that they can walk comfortably but they would have to be double jointed to get out of it ;) I think if I had an escape artist I might look into a more full body harness.

So glad she's okay though....what a scare!
 
that's so scary i am so relieved that she's ok and using treats is a good way to get lady to come back to me going to start training that with her tonight. My trainer at puppy class said that if you loose your dog to stay silent as when you are shouting they use your voice as a sounding post when you are silent they will come back to you. Does anyone think that this would work? Maybe it would be better on walks and not if they came loose on roads busy areas.
 
Barney did that once when he was attack it took me ages to get hold of him ---Aileen and the gang (Jazzie--Barney--Sam)
 
Oh my word, Charlie can do this with his harness too :roll: It is soooo scary when they run and won't listen though - luckily Charlie just stands there and looks at me as if to say 'Huh, don't want the harness on anyway' - now he has his Puppia he hasn't managed to slip it - yet!

Really glad you got Holly back in one piece though Yvonne - bet Bernie's nerves are a bit shattered though :?
 
Hi All

Wow I can totally sympathize with you on this topic. :yikes

This happened with me when Rio was about 19 weeks old. The teenage girl who lives next door to me came in to ask if she could take him round the block for a 5 minute walk, I trust her implicitly but she and I both made the mistake to not look to see if the other neighbours had closed the front door main access to our apartments, we live on a main road next to a large park. We even have a large sign on the door to ALWAYS SHUT IT. He literally sped past me, over the lip of the door, my neighbours friend almost had him and he ran right out into the pavement and round the corner wall to our building.

Meanwhile the three of us sprinted out of the main hallway and into the street, me still in my pyjamas and socks screaming "RIO, WHAT HAVE I GOT???" this works like a charm as he always thinks you have something for him, plus I think he sensed the panic in my voice he came running back and I scooped him up and shut the door behind me, heart hammering in my chest, got him back inside the house checking him over. Jennifer my neighbour started to cry as did her friend, while I stood there shaking and the little David Copperfield just sits there panting and playing with a toy, thinking "HA HA ! I escaped I was free" :D :D

I honestly could have had a bottle of vodka or something then to settle my nerves :lol:

Meanwhile Mum was across the street at the shop getting milk and had seen me in my cute pink pyjamas and Rio running out into the street she was on her mobile to my younger sister and was just about to say something when she said "Oh Cr&$p, I gotta go" Basically if we didnt have the fence for the traffic lights outside our house, he would have been a goner, from then on he has remained in his crate or in the kitchen until a visitor or neighbour rings the door.

Melissa :flwr:
 
That is so scary. When Lily got away, I yelled "treat, treat, no way was she stopping. Treat ALWAYS gets her to do what I want, well almost always, but not the times she got out. I don't know how I am ever going to stop her if it ever happens again. She is faster than a jack rabbit, and doesn't look back. Even in the back yard when I take her out, if I'm ready to go in and she's not, I'll say "let's go get a treat" and if she's not ready, she's not budging. They can be very stubborn sometimes.
 
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