My Puppy Scare
November 16th, 2011 | Author: Alysha
The past two weeks have been insane to say the least. Case in point: The walk I took Oliver on a few days ago.
We’re lucky enough to live in an area of Wisconsin where there is a bunch of trails and woods nearby. Awesome for running, not so much if your dog is on the lose.
See, there are always a bunch of deer–especially at dusk. When I’m alone, it scares me to death (I’d consider carrying pepper spray just in case one decided to attack me). But when Oliver is with me, I think it’s cool (I rationalize this in that he could protect me if need be…haha…keep in mind Oliver is a 30 lb. beagle mix).
So a few days ago we see three deer in an open field next to the woods. One is eating and pawing at a pumpkin that someone smashed on the ground. Luckily I had my phone, so I was trying to take a picture. Well, I guess I wasn’t holding onto the leash too tight because Oliver sensed my slacking and took off like a bat out of hell at that deer. He was running as fast as he could…with his leash trailing behind him.
Of course, I started calling his name, but it was no use. As a scent hound, when he gets on the scent-trail, he’s as good as gone. You literally cannot break him out of it.
Then he chased the deer into the woods. Not good. As I ran after him through the woods, I couldn’t see him anymore. I called him a few more times and after about a minute, he came right back to me (but it felt like a lot longer than that). I figured the deer was so far out of his reach that he gave up. But I just kept thinking how bad it would have been if he didn’t come back. Thankfully, that didn’t happen.
So the lesson of that day was…don’t take pictures while you are trying to walk a scent-hound…and hold onto the leash tight.
Question: Have you ever had any “pet scares”?
-Alysha
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Cute pup! Scary moment! Was great to meet you and your bf!
Good to meet you and Chris too! Hopefully we’ll run into each other soon.
Yes. We have a fenced-in backyard, but a couple of times during this past summer we saw foxes as close as 15 feet to our yard. We have two Westies.
Oh my goodness I am glad you got him back! Sadie ran off on us one time after a deer when we were hiking and was gone for twenty minutes. I’ve never been so nervous. She came bounding back like nothing had happened. Oliver is such a cutie! He curls up on the bed just like Sadie does. Little ball of fur. <3 Glad he is home safe & sound!