It definitely felt like I aged 10 years in a few minutes this am. I must have looked like a complete crazy person. My neighbors don't know me because I moved up here mid-winter, and only recently has it warmed up enough for chance encounters with neighbors outside. I went running outside at 10:30 am with 2 leashes, 1 dog, a sample bag of cat food, wearing Christmas themed pj pants, a bright yellow Georgia Tech hoodie sweatshirt, no glasses so i can't see, randomly shouting "HAVE YOU SEEN A LITTLE DOG RUNNING AROUND!" at my neighbors.
Both of my girls are microchipped. I know there is a lot of debate about collars. I fear, especially with the martingale style, that mine will strangle themselves if they get caught on something when I'm not around. In this case, I'm glad Callie didn't have a collar on because the rungs on the porch are so close together, she may have caught the collar without realizing it & jumped & hung herself. I do worry that they will get out & somebody will find them but not know to check for a microchip, but even dogs with collars can lose them while running around loose. So I don't think there is a right or wrong answer for when to collar them. Mine don't usually dart out of doors, so I don't worry about it too often.
As for the porch; that will not be accessible to them if I can not supervise them from now on. Fortunately I will only be here for a couple more weeks, so I won't worry about adding chicken wire or anything. I'm already saving up for a basenji proof fence for the new house though. Callie is quite the escape artist when she has motivation (clearly!)
My worse nightmare came true.
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Last week I was waiting at home for a new lounge to be delivered. I was so excited as I had bought it on eBay and it was a steal. The delivery people arrived and I put Mister Two Dicks and Pepper in my garage which is attached to my house. Did I mention that I was excited? The delivery people could not bring the lounge into my house through the front because they couldn't get it through the front door. As the two dogs were safely in the garage, I opened the backyard gate and the delivery people were able to carry the lounge into my house by the rear door. After thanking them and seeing them off, I went back inside and opened the door to my garage to let the dogs out. They must have sensed it as the rushed out the back door and through the back gate to freedom. All I could think was "#$$#@". Both Mister Two Dicks and Pepper ran out into the street, with me hot on their heels. You can imagine my grief as I could just see either or both of them being hit and killed by cars. Fortunately, Mister Two Dicks is fat and un-energetic and he gave up the chase after 30 minutes. However, Pepper was a different thing. She kept running from one side of the street to the other. I would get up to within a hand's grasp of her and she would run away. She did this for a further hour before I was able to climb under a car and grab her by the collar. Truly, it wasn't the chasing that worried me the most, but the possibility of either being hit by a car or bus. Bloody dogs.
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I am so glad both were captured safely, and you didn't have a heart attack chasing them!
It is counterintuitive, but if you can get their attention and run the other way, they will often chase you back into your yard. But, I hope you never have to find out if it works. -
Very scary situation indeed. Thank God you got them. You said Mr. Two Dicks is fat and unenergetic. Do they get out much for walks? Dogs that don't get out will more likely just take off.
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Been there, done that. BUT we taught them the word TREAT. and when we say it, they now come running.
good luck!! -
Hi MacPac. Yes, I tried the run the other way trick. Pepper kept running in the opposite direction. I now understand why our forebears described female dogs bitches. Nobarkus, I suppose I could give them more walks, but how many walks is too much. Jonny b, that is a clever idea. I will give it a try. Thank you all.
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It's so easy to have a slip up like this - very scary.I am so glad that everything worked out okay and that the situation was only one of exhaustion from all of you running.
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Medjai, luckily knows "dog park". While I was getting work done on my house, the worker let Medjai slip by him. The guy was a buddy from the dog park and I just heard through the screen "Medjai" and I knew he got out so I went straight for the car and asked if he wanted to go to the "dog park" and luckily Medjai came to hop right in. It really helps when you don't actually chase after them.
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Oh I know the panicky feeling… it's happened a couple times with our shiba, but I always managed to get him back within 15 minutes. I don't think I could stand 30 minutes or an hour of chasing him through our neighborhood, not with the way these speed demons drive around here! None of those highly lucrative words like "CHEESE" or "[name of our dog's favorite off-leash dog park]" work in a situation like this. Instead, I found that the only thing to do is pretend like we are walking through an off-leash park or hiking trail, checking out one house at a time, and try to lure him into someone's dead-end yard and trap him there (hoping no cars zip by in the meantime, and hoping that the neighbors are forgiving).
I hope it never happens that BOTH my shiba and basenji get out though. It would definitely take longer than 15 minutes to herd them back home.
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talking about exercize for dog and human …
happy it all ended well! bloody basenjis! -
With that "intro" I was expecting them to charge the new lounge and rip it apart!
Thank goodness everything worked out!
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So happy to hear that all is safe and good.
Otis got out once and yes, it did freak me out..but it also scared him, he just waited by the drive way for me to come save him..thank goodness. The other dogs were off running way down at the end of our neighborhood, not Otis, he was too worried about loosing his moma.
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:)How is the furniture? I bet you really enjoyed it after your exercise! Glad everyone is safe!
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@Family:
:)How is the furniture? I bet you really enjoyed it after your exercise! Glad everyone is safe!
I have a new rug to go with the new lounge and when I got the rug, Pepper began to scratch at it. I was concerned that she would attack the lounge when I got it too. So, I introduced the water pistol. Now, all I have to say for both Mister Two Dicks and Pepper as well is, "Get off the Carpet" or "Get away from the lounge" and they both run away. I don't even have to say the words for Mister Two Dicks. Just showing him the water pistol is enough. FOC, I really enjoy the lounge. I bought it from eBay. The previous owner paid $3000 and I paid $220 delivered. It is a dark green leather, 2x2 and 2x1 piece suite.
NerdyDogOwner, I am in the process of digging a hole in my backyard as I write this, as if the dogs go anywhere near the lounge, I am going to bury them there. I think it is fair. I have taken them to the spot and told them what I am going to do with them. LOL
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Aha! You have discovered the Chase Game… One thing I have learned is never chase a Basenji. It quickly turns into a game and they will almost always outrun us. I have AJ trained that all I have to do is ask if he wants a cookie...in a calm voice (as calm as possible) and he knows he will get the cookie...only when he returns to me. When he comes back, I never scold him. I just get his collar, take him back to the truck and give him a cookie.
*This has only happened twice: Once right after I got him, he got away from me when I opened the door and he jumped out on his own. He learned very quickly he was not to approach the door unless invited. The other time, I was in a huge field and let him get some off lead exercise. We were way away from the road and I had a pocketful of goodies. Well, he spied the cows across the 4-lane road and decided he had to go see the big "dogs." Since I knew better than to get excited, I just calmly (on the outside) stood there and called him until he came back, gave him a goodie, hooked his lead back up and went back to the truck. That was about a year and a half ago. On the inside, though, I was boiling! From both fear and fury. We don't go off lead at that location any more.
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Glad to hear everything turned out okay, that is definitely my nightmare too. You may want to look into getting the DVD "Really Reliable Recall". I've just barely started working on it with my dogs. The person who developed it owns Afghans so she is familiar with sighthounds and their propensity to not come when called. Basically it is a technique where you develop a highly conditioned recall word that you only use in situations such as this where the dog could come into harm.
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Glad it all worked out and you got the dogs back safe and sound.
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Medjai, luckily knows "dog park". While I was getting work done on my house, the worker let Medjai slip by him. The guy was a buddy from the dog park and I just heard through the screen "Medjai" and I knew he got out so I went straight for the car and asked if he wanted to go to the "dog park" and luckily Medjai came to hop right in. It really helps when you don't actually chase after them.
Great idea, Etzbseder! Next time (and I just know there will be a next time) my great escaper does her thing, I'll try that - we open the back of the car and yell "up" when we are actually doing the dog park, and they always go straight into the car.
