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Most frightening moment of my life.

Super Princess

Well-known member
Its 11:00 pm.
i was just taking the big box of cat sand outside, when Maggie pushed last me and ran outside.
I live in an above ground suite my door comes out to a carport and private driveway. Which leads to a busy street. She is always on leash when we are outside.
Of course she bolts down the driveway, onto the street. Down the sidewalk (on our usual walk) I'm after her. She sees me and bolts. I say come. She runs. I say sit. She basically laughs in my face.

This. Happened with Oliver once and I never forgot it. Big difference was it was a dead quiet road.
I know it's a matter of minutes before a car comes. I can hear it. We are on a curve.
So I say "bye he Maggie" a sentence that always gets her to come. She knows what bye bye means. She comes running. But before she gets to me she runs into the street as the car is coming.
I waved the car down. It stopps. Maggie runs up my driveway I call thank you to the car and run after her. Now she's in the carport on the other side of the car. I have her "trapped" except of I go one way I know she will try and bolt the other. .
Terrofied I stand there not knowing what to do.
Eventually creep and corner and pick her up

Inside I scolded her and put her in her kennel.
More so I could cool off. I. Am so mad and shaking. Burst into tears.

Thank god she's safe.
I probably scared the People in the car as much as I was.
 
I can understand the tears. As you say, more frustration than anything else. Well done for having the mind to stop the car, but hearing that car coming and seeing your dog in action - my god, how did you even breathe?

Megan once did that on a way back from a walk. Some horses in the field snorted, and she was off lead (we live quite rural), and she bolted for home. All up hill. The husband did his best to run after her, but she got this amazing amount of energy from absolutely no where (she was a lazy dog really), and disappeared. Husband kept running after her, and I ran after him but got to the point where I couldn't breathe at all and had to slow down.
I speed walked up the rest of the hill, thinking the worst. I got to the top and onto the main road bit. I dreaded walking around that corner.

Couldn't see either of them, equally couldnt see any cars that had come to a stop, so I felt slightly more re-assured. Managed to run home from there, and there they both were. Megan had run home, all the way, and the husband had never caught up with her. He said he had felt the same as me all the way til he got to the door, and there she was.
I cried buckets. frustration, anger, relief, every emotion there was gong.
And she never, ever, went off lead again up that hill, past those sodding horses.

Well done you for thinking straight, and I am so glad that she is safe and not harmed x
 
My adrenalin was racing all night after that. I could not calm down.
That night with Oliver never left me, 12 years later I still remember every second of it. Running out in my Jammie's and bare feet, looking for a black and white dog in the dark. Him seeing me. And running away.

This. Was a million times worse.

You really are in the moment. You can hear the car coming, ( its a busy road a car every minute or three minutes a curve in each direction(backing out of the driveway is always 'fun')but it's also a very quiet area. So you hear nothing but the approaching car)

I knew it was point less and dangerous to continue after her "bye bye Maggie" was the only thing I had at that point. Of course had she not run towards me I woulda contined after her.but to run towards me and then veer off into the street. My biggest nightmare. And right as the car approached.
Thank god they were who they were and not some dumb person driving way too fast with way to little care. They stopped and although I didn't go up to them they didn't co ti use until after Maggie was up the driveway. They probably didn't know what to do. Middle of the night. Crazy Lady in the middle of the street.


I'm glad Megan was okay. And that she headed right home. You never forget those moments. They ca
Oulda turned our so differently.
 
Wow, I would have been terrified. I realised that cavs have no street-smarts, I trained Jazz to sit at the kerb when she was a puppy but even now, if she knows she's going to the park, she'd run across the road without a moments hesitation. I worry about her getting out the front of our house, she's got out the door without me noticing before and only a treat would coax her back into the house. Thankfully we live on quiet road.
 
your pretty lucky. It was something my mom kept worrying about when i announced i was getting a dog. was the street i live on. it could be worse..when i say its a busy street its not like theres a non stop flow of traffic..but its definitly a road well used..1-3 minutes..sometimes multiple cars.its a bus rout.
Of course..i got no sympathy when i told her what happened last night..it was alll 'i told you so.' and proceeded lecture about how she should be on a leash at all times..and if im about to open my door to put her in her kennel...all good advice (and of course unless we are at the beach she is on her leash at all times) but all i really wanted was a bit of understanding as to what i went through last night.

Treats are a good way..i do have a bagy of treats that she might have come for...but it was on the other side of the apartment and no where near in my head ..everything happened too fast.
 
Glad everything turned out well. Very, very scary. I work on recall daily with my dogs...just in case. If "bye-bye" Maggie is what triggers her to come to you -- keep using that. Recall is the most important command for a dog to know and can save their lives.

I once made the mistake of letting my chin off lead, when she saw her "chin friend". She was soooo excited, that she ran into the street while doing "happy circles" and she did get clipped by the car. God must have been watching, because she managed to come through it with no broken bones, and just a torn toe nail. I was shaking and crying as I drove her to the vet. Major lesson learned for me.
 
Do you have a hallway leading to your front door where perhaps you could install a baby gate as another "door" that will be kept closed but allows you to move around the house without too much difficulty? I mention this because since jazz was a puppy we put a wooden board up between the hallway and front door. We can easily step over it but it keeps jazz away from the front door when we open it to visitors etc (a baby gate doesn't work in our case but you can get the idea). It's just another extra step which means you can open the front door without worry.
 
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