Update...

They've posted a picture of the white dog on the City Pound website. He looks so sad!



I hope he finds his home soon!

S5C2057

This evening's attempt at a walk was certainly memorable.

Hershey and I were going to try and squeeze in a late-night walk to the mail box and back after watching Prison Break. It's only two blocks away and about half way there, we were going to cross the road when a white lab-type 6-12 month old male dog came running towards us.

He had no collar, there was no "mom" or "dad" around. He kept getting in Hershey's face, and she would bark and lunge/nip at him in defense. She was obviously thinking she needed to protect me too. The dog was submissive and would lie down but then would just get right back up and continue to try to smell Hershey's face. He never barked. I tried to get him to "go home" and he didn't understand. He didn't understand "stay", "sit", or "go away" either. After a while of struggling to keep the two dogs apart, one of the neighbours who just moved to the 'Boon came outside to see what was going on. He wasn't very helpful in trying to help, but he said he called the SPCA and the police, and they were too full to take the dog in tonight. They had told him just to let the dog wander alone in the neighbourhood.

My heart broke hearing that - if Hershey were lost at night, the last thing I would want is to let her wander around in the streets on her own. She'd get hit by a car, or get in a fight with some other animal... I couldn't let this happen to the white dog.

I tried to have the neighbour keep the white dog busy, but he didn't understand and/or was too lazy to help. I decided to run back home with Hershey on the leash and the white dog running after the two of us. I finally got to the yard, let Hershey off her leash, and the white dog still didn't know how to behave... I yelled for Chris to come outside and help me - he took Hershey in, and I tried to get the white dog to sit without much luck. Then Chris came out to check on the dog - he noticed that the dog's paws were swollen looking in the back and that his ears didn't smell very good. His condition wasn't terrible, but certainly nothing we wanted to mess around with or let into the house. Chris thought the swollen paws might mean that his dog had walked from very far - there was no way to know where he had come from.

While Hershey stayed inside we gave the white dog some water, a lot of water, he was so thirsty. We also got him a bit of food, and I was able to check for an ear tattoo while he ate. The number, S5C2057, didn't pull anything up online. Other websites, including the City of Edmonton's website, the Edmonton Humane Society and other Google searches were useless. The "get-me-home.ca" tag that Hershey has wasn't any help either - you need the dog to have a tag to use that service. So many offices were closed, I was so frustrated.

Finally, we found the Edmonton Veterinary Emergency Clinic which is open overnight, and I got a real person on the phone. She said we could either bring the dog in to their downtown office, or we could hold it overnight and have the city pound pick him up in the morning. We wanted to get the white dog to his home as soon as possible - especially if he had been tattooed, that meant his owners could likely be tracked down - so we decided to drive him over.

It was a challenge to get him in the car. Chris had been keeping the white dog busy outside because it was crying and pawing the back door trying to get in the house (this was making Hershey crazy on the inside of the house). He seemed to have decided we were safe and wanted to just come inside the home. Chris tried to see if the white dog would be able to lead him to his real home - he put one of Hershey's old collars and a leash on the white dog and tried to get the dog to lead him out of the yard. The white dog didn't want to leave our yard at all and seemed not to know where he was at all. When I had gotten the address and locked up the house, we tried to get him in the car. He seemed really scared, he wouldn't jump in the car and he lied down low on the ground and wouldn't move. He even curled his lip up at Chris when Chris tried to pick him up. We finally got him in the car and the poor dog just half-stood-half-lied-down in the back seat while we drove to the vet.

We got him there in a few minutes, and they took him in. The reception/vet person was so nice and calm, it was very reasurring. There was nothing left for us to do. We came back home to Hershey who was very confused about what had happened.

I was really overwhelmed by this whole event. While it was a big coincidence that we had gone on a walk at that time of night, it was a good thing that it we were able to help, and either get the dog on the way back to his owners, or in safe hands while new owners are being found. I'm glad to have helped S5C2057 - I hope things will go well for him.

Ruski?

We were watching a "Turning Points in History" documentary a week ago that was all about Mikhaïl Gorbatchev. Hershey was sleeping on the couch with us while we were watching the show. All of a sudden, while Gorbatchev was talking - IN RUSSIAN - Hershey startled awake! It seemed she had heard something she understood!

Doin' great!

Hershey has been having a fantastic summer. Since our last post, Hershey has been getting to go to the dog park fairly regularly, and has been enjoying the sun while hanging out in the backyard quite a bit.

Chris' parents came for about a week at the beginning of August. I think Hershey remembered them because she was very good right away, and within a few days was letting the Parkers pat her and give her tons of treats. On the 3rd day of their trip, we had a big party with all our friends for our engagement. Hershey was stuck upstairs in our room with some toys and water, but she sat on top of the bed for the whole evening. She was very good, barely barking and behaving very well. Poor pups - it was a long time alone, and everytime I went to check on her, her little tail was wagging so much! At one point I put her on a leash and made her go pee outside - in the front yard! She looked so confused, and dare I say... embarrassed!

After the party, Hershey got to have lots of fun time; going on walks with everyone, playing in the park near our house off leash, and getting to go to the dog park too. She got to enjoy Elk Island National Park again with Chris' parents on a day trip there.



We've noticed a big change in Hershey - she's calmer, and when she does get all worked up she can settle down a lot more quickly than before. It is really encouraging to hear this from others too who had seen her last year. We've also been able to trust her more too, I am able to let her play off leash in a semi-enclosed field by our house. In fact, yesterday, Hershey got to play with a little golden lab puppy named Jinx. She had a great time chasing and wrestling the 4-month old dog, and I had a nice chat with the pup's owner. Hershey even took a piece of carrot from the lady's hand and wasn't shy at all! How great!!