More Pet Stories..

Marty and I went camping this last weekend in Ninilchik with Autumn, Stacie, Jarrett, Amber and their boys. We dug up razor clams on Saturday which was so much fun. Except poor Stacie overdosing on marshmallows Saturday night the entire weekend was a blast. I'm so glad they invited us along.

On Sunday we stopped in Soldotna and went to church. Tony Cloud had a great lesson reminding us how important it is to read Gods word.

Not long after we got on the road we came upon a sheep dog mix running down one of the busiest highways in Alaska. It crossed the road a few times so we immediately tried to call it over to us. The dog wanted nothing to do with us and kept running doing anything to avoid us. After several attempts at calling it and trying to deter it from the road it finally darted off into a swamp and we lost site of it. We even had a trooper join in and try to help out. I really wanted to follow it home and speak with the owner but at least it got away from the highway.

So we get back on the road and not 15 miles down the road in Sterling on the 5 lane highway yet another dog comes darting out into the road. Not only did we nearly hit it but 2 other cars as well. We stopped just before we hit it and the dog stayed in front of our car. I got out and tried to call it over but the little dog just ran under our car to the other side. I continued in trying to call it but it just ran. I followed the dog determined to find it's owner, over to a church. It ran right up to the front door and looking inside as if it knew it's owner was inside. So instead of trying to get the dog I figured I'd go inside and see who I could find. The dog went under a ford truck parked near the door and stayed put. The church was still in session, the person I spoke with wouldn't make an announcement but instead came outside to help. I wish he would have just made a quick announcement. He decided his dog would be helpful in getting this little dog to come, I knew it wasn't gonna work. I went back to the dog with treats Marty found and was trying when something spooked the dog from behind it (I think the other guy with his dog). Yet again this little dog tore past me, across the parking lot and into the middle of the 5 lane hwy yet again. It just stood out in the center lane, so I ran after it shooing it out of the road. Thankfully nobody was driving by at that moment. We followed it home. I'm sure it was home because the dog once in the driveway had enough courage to stand it's ground instead of running. Nobody was home so I let the dog into the pet door, jammed it closed and left a note asking them to be more responsible in the future.

So you'd think this would be it wouldn't you? 3 Dog stories in a month! I usually end up finding 2 or 3 in a year!

This is not the end though. On Tuesday Marty and I were driving up Lucille when I see a horse a mile up the road. It's coming straight towards us and had a line of traffic behind it. A vehicle was driving along next to it, trying to get it to stop. I am sure it was doing around 25-30 miles an hour in speed down the pavement totally freaked out. So I holler at Marty to stop and I jumped out ran out in front of the horse and started waving my arms frantically saying Whoa! It actually worked, I got the horse to stop and Marty brought me a dog leash. The horse had NO halter on so this was all we had to hold it. I then hear the person who had been driving next to it and see it's our neighbor. She has 4 horses and her and her daughter are very experienced with them. They rescue animals a lot so I assumed this was maybe a new rescue of theirs. I gave the horse lead over to the daughter and she began trying to make the leash into a halter but something spooked the horse, it reared and the girl was almost hit in the head with a hoof. She let go of the leash, it fell off the horse, and the horse took off again. It turns out this was not our neighbors horse, like us she was just out on an errand and came upon a loose horse.

So we turned around and followed it hoping to get another shot at catching it. I called 911 and reported it as it was headed for the 5 lane parks hwy and was sure to be hit. Just before the hwy it turned off onto a dead end so I let dispatch know and got off the phone and followed the horse on foot through someones front and back yard and into a graveyard. It was going to fast to keep up on foot. We saw a police officer and started talking to him when he got another call, the horse was 5 miles down the road already!! We all drove over and another police officer had caught it. The owner was contacted because a neighbor had seen the horse get out and followed it the whole way. The poor horse was a beautiful Tennessee Walking horse, had gotten a minor cut on its back leg and had gone lame from an over 6 mile dead run on pavement. It was heart breaking. When the owner finally got there 5 of us and the officer were still there. Everyone was very nice to the owner, we were all just so glad the horse was not hit and was going home to recover. The officer pointed out the cut and she was glad he did. I then told her just before the horse was caught he looked like he had gone lame with such a bad limp. I said it in a very friendly way and all she did was glare, turn her back and ignore me. Nobody was within 10 feet of the horse so we wouldn't spook it more but she took the horse and walked even further away to make calls for someone to come help her with a trailer or a saddle to ride it all the way home. She never said thank you to one person except the police officer. If it wasn't for all the people standing there she wouldn't have an alive horse. She had no idea what had taken place and never asked. She didn't even thank her neighbor.

It turned out to be the second time that day the horse had gotten out. And strange enough the second time that particular police officer had caught it.

FRUSTRATING

Yet Another reminder to take good care of your pets.