Chance and a series of coincidences put us on Old Post Road in York Maine late yesterday afternoon. As easily as the yellow Nissan was traveling down that road, the vehicle was meant to be doing other things or parked in a driveway at that hour. Although that location and sight of Beagle bombing around a busy road almost brought on the onset of heart arrhythmia at that moment, I was glad to be at that location at that time. I witnessed a Beagle racing across busy from Trafton Street across to the busy Old Post Road and headed towards Route 1! The husband looked at me, stopped the truck, and said "go do your thing". Nonchalantly, I exited the car. As the husband said later "he did not look like a comer". My plan of action involved slow maneuvering and hopefully getting the dog interested in me.
A couple of close calls with cars combined with me feeling the need to jump out in front of them, convinced me that a more speedy tact was required. So I flagged down a motorist that was willing to help, and started jogging (okay if felt like running to me, but it was really more like a jog). The young men stopped in the middle of the road, and opened their car door hoping to redirect him in. Instead he went around back, where thankfully a neighbor, witnessing the action, waited and scooped him up. Truly this was a team effort from a bunch of people who had no idea who the others were.
In turn, the Beagle was handed over and deposited into our awaiting Nissan. Luckily, I am familiar with the Animal Control Officer of York Maine, Larry W McAfee. Larry is a great asset to York Maine, patient, reasonable, and willing to help. He is also a great source to go to with questions about what is going on in town regarding possible legislation issues regarding dogs. This dog was without tags of course, or we would have just called and delivered him ourselves to his owners. Time was spent riding around and seeing if there was anyone out calling or looking for a dog. The neighborhoods around the area were all quiet.
So off the very upset Beagle went to be logged in with animal control. One thing about our animal control here is that they are very in touch with how to quickly figure out if this is a resident's dog or not. Larry explained that while it was a shame this guy did not have his tag on, all licensed dogs in York Maine are in a database according to breed and sex et. Plus there is a different fee for un-neutered dogs, so it probably would be pretty quick to narrow dog where this dog was supposed to be. Worse came to worse, they would scan the dog for a microchip.
Sure enough, we bumped into Larry about a half hour later. He was quite happy to report that the dog was reunited with his owner on Rodgers Road. That is a good mile and a mile and a half from where he was found. His owner was calling for him in that area, but obviously we could not hear him from that far away. Also a gate had been left unlatched, and Mr unaltered started out on his adventure. Scary. Be sure to watch out for your dogs, and even one of those collars with the phone number on it can be a big help in the event of an accident or mistake.
Thanks to the whole team, and especially York Animal Control Officer Larry for making this happy ending possible.
2 comments:
The owner of the dog is very lucky you happened to come across his dog before he was ran over. So nice of you and your husband to stop and save the dog.
I was happy to do that particular good deed for the day. This summer, I saw someone's dog hit on a busy road in York Maine.
I wasn't able to stop it, but we were able to locate the owners, and the dog had run to a porch. I never heard what ultimately happened, but I hope he was okay and just bruised.
I wish more people would spend time training their dog and being active with them, so that they would spend less time thinking about bolting and escape.
Post a Comment