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View Full Version : Another story! This time about pets.



Grizz
11-20-2014, 07:08 PM
Do you love your pet?

As you may know, I am an animal advocate. My dogs mean/meant everything to me. Never having had any children, when I got Griffie and shortly thereafter Affie they were to me my little boys. I had a dog when I was young, but didn’t realize how much she meant to me until she was gone.

Okay, this tory isn’t about my dogs - it’s about your dogs and every other dog, specially those that travel.

Over my many years of RVing we’ve come across (seen) dogs that looked lost walking around rest stops and highway ramps. So many times we wanted to stop to pick up and help them, but traveling at 70 mph on an interstate makes it practically impossible and of course, one never knows if stopping might spook the poor animal to run into the traffic. It breaks my heart every time.

How did the poor lost animals get so near a highway ramp or Interstate rest area? It happened because their owner failed to protect them. That’s right! The owner screwed up! How? Because they either let the animal out of the vehicle without being on a leash or they stupidly let the animal jump out on its own.

Dogs in particular are vey nervous animals and if you let one out without being on a leash you are acting irresponsibly. All it takes is a strange noise to spook the dog into a run. When that happens the pet will run until it gets tired and being in a strange area it will not find its way back to you in time to rejoin its family. You'll drive off sick and broken-hearted convincing yourself – ‘it’s an animal and it will survive on its own’. It won’t! You are full of it and should be ashamed about your irresponsibility and what you just did to a family member. We have seen the results of owner stupidity over and over again – dead dogs along the side of the road and scruffy-looking dogs wandering along the roadside. It makes me sick!

If you truly care about your pet, don’t ever let it outside without being on a leash, EVER! Not for one moment anywhere!

I have a friend in Benson AZ, who loves his dog as much as I love mine, but he thinks he’s doing the pet a favor letting him run around untethered. A car somewhere along a highway in LA hit the previous dog he had. My friend was traveling in his 5th wheeler and had stopped in a rest area for a bite to eat. Took the dog outside with no collar or leash and then stepped inside the trailer to make a sandwich leaving the dog outside in a strange place. While inside he heard screeching brakes and a thud. Yup! The dog was spooked and ran across the highway into an oncoming car – dead! My friend was broken hearted and you would think he learned his lesson, but he didn’t. He still lets his dog run free in and has been ticketed several times. Fortunately this dog is still alive.

So I ask you, please do not let your pet get outside under any circumstances without being on a leash – anywhere on the road or at home. When dogs are scared they either fight or flight and when there’s no fight to be had they flight! They run so fast and without thought that they get lost or the get hurt. If you love your pet, do them a favor and NEVER let then run without being tethered unless in a KNOWN fenced area.

There is no friend like your best friend – protect that friend. That friend doesn’t understand the dangers or the human’s world. It depends on you to care for and protect it, don’t let it down by being careless! Please!