Its 6:37am and I am on my way to our Freeport location, on time (for once!) to pick up a dog to be spayed. I have to bring her back to Queens where she was found so she can be spayed at the clinic. There is no traffic! It seems like its a good morning.
My phone rings and one of my employees, Tara’s, name pops up. I think she is calling to make sure I am coming for Yolanda, the dog, so she doesn’t feed her… or maybe, at worst, there is another litter of kittens in a box by the door…(someone dropped off kittens in the middle of the night last week)
“Are you coming here?” She asks. “yeah…” I said suspicion rising in my voice.
“Ok good because there is a dog that was tied to the fence but he ate threw the leash and now he is hiding in the bushes… actually there are two leashes so there is probably another dog somewhere…”
She pauses and before I can say anything she says a little more stressed, “Actually he is running down the street…”
“Ok if he is scared, see if you can corner him somewhere or get him in the yard. If he is running towards Mill, don’t chase him because I dont want him to run into traffic. Ill be there in ten minutes”
As I speed down the southern state my mind is racing. I forgot to tell her to watch her body language, I forgot to tell her to avoid eye contact, I forgot to tell her so many things… I know Tara is capable and has probably caught many dogs running in front of the shelter, but I also know one little mistake and the dog can be gone. All of the dogs we have rescued come flashing back in my mind… most memorable Sadie, Sonny, Baisley, Frances….and all the drama that happened with their rescues…
As I turn onto Rider Place, I see Tara at the end of the street. There is an alley way between the industrial buildings with lots of trees, bushes, dumpsters, trash… a good hide out for a dog… I try to be quiet as I approach as I don’t want to scare the dog but accidentally run over the food bowls she left out… oops… there goes that plan…
She is kneeling towards the end of the alley way and is facing sideways… non-threatening… I creep quietly along the wall. She is doing everything right. I don’t see the dog though. She is facing tons of trees and bushes with a fence behind it. Its possible she has him semi cornered. I see the branches move and hear the leaves rustling.
“They are both back there,” she tells me.
“Anyway out?”
“there’s an opening in the fence.. one ran out the other side but now came back in.”
I told her I would go around the building and come from the other side of the fence in case they tried to run out that way. The opening is only a gate that was left open. How lucky did we get? I tied it shut so there is no way for them to get out if we can just corner them in that area.
Brian, another worker, shows up, thank god. We slowly start enclosing… I have to break branches and crawl on my hands and knees to get through the thick growth. I focus on one dog and Tara and Brian go for the one closer to the fence.
When I see her, my heart breaks. She has almost no fur and her paws are swollen. She is lying down curled up in a ball, scared out of her mind. She is backed up against a wall and a tree. She starts to try and back up more… I immediately but slowly drop to the ground on my stomach to show her I am no threat. She relaxes a bit but still looks unsure.. I am about to roll over on my back like a dog, but as I slowly reach my hand out she sniffs it calmly and licks it. She is still wearing part of the leash she chewed off. Avoiding direct eye contact, I take that leash off and put the leash Tara gave me on her. I think the hard part is over…but I was wrong.
Most dogs once they are leashed, may fight a bit but then get up and walk with you. Most. Not all. Some just get up and walk right away. But this dog just refused to budge. I know it sounds mean to pull them but sometimes you have to. But the collar she was wearing was weak and could slip over her head or snap. I ask Tara to hold the leash and I run to the car to get a slip leash and put it over her head. We manage to pull her out from behind the tree. Tara holds the dogs head straight (so she won’t turn and bite with me) with the slip leash and I pick her up. She is not aggressive at all, just terrified. I carry her to my car. She smells horrible. She is so scared she curls up in a ball in my back seat…
Then I go back to help Brian and Tara with the male. They got the leash around his neck but he is biting the leash and not letting go. We put a second leash around his neck and between the two of us we are able to walk him out to where the cars are. He every so often flips out and tries to back out of the leashes. He isn’t aggressive, but not as docile as the female. I am uncertain about lifting him into my car with the female in there so I drive her back to the shelter and Tara and Brian walk the male one block to the shelter with two leashes….
I have to carry the female from my car to the yard. Then I go back to help Brian and Tara but they have it under control… Taking a closer look at the male we see his eyes are blood red and his mouth is bleeding, probably from biting the fence all night trying to escape. He has more fur (slightly) than the female but he is way more swollen… I am already thinking about how I am going to get these to the vet, how much pain these two must be in and how terrified they are…
When we put the male in the yard, he won’t move. Just stays there like a statue… with his head down… and then slowly, slowly, slowly… he lowers himself to the ground and lies down… not moving… too scared to move a muscle…
“let them be for awhile, let them relax,” I tell Tara and Brian. They are scared out of their minds and need time. the best thing to do sometimes is just to let them acclimate.
I am late for getting Yolanda to her spay appointment and she HAS to go today because she is getting adopted. After I take Yolanda, I have to take Molly, another chi to a different vet to have a mass removed from her head. Molly is also getting adopted today. Our vet doesn’t come till Friday but I am sure these two will have to go into the clinic for dips and tests… I will need help getting them there… they can’t even walk on a leash… Before I get overwhelmed I tell myself to focus on getting Yolanda and Molly where they need to be and I will deal with the pitties when I get back. They are safe at the shelter now. One thing at a time, one thing at a time.
I take Yolanda out of her cage and walk her and put her in my car. She wants to sit on my lap which is fine with me so I can keep an eye on her to make sure she doesn’t chew my car. As I pull out of the parking lot, I take a deep breath. We got the dogs. they are safe. I’m going to make my appointments… everything is okay. Then the phone rings… Its Melissa… someone left six cats (one adult and five kittens) in a carrier in front of another one of our locations.
And this is how the day goes.
The two pitties after their rescue
