Originally Posted by
a700hitter
Yesterday, after 2 days of heavy rain, I took my dog out for a walk. About 10 minutes into the walk, she stopped to do her business. As I bent down to do the cleanup, I felt that she was moving around slightly and then there was a quick jerk. I looked up and she had escaped the harness and was about 6 feet away on a lawn. I tried to stay calm, but this energetic Australian Shepherd thinks it is a game when she gets free and she is fast as hell. The first time that she got loose was 4 years ago when we first got her from the shelter after she had her leg operation. She was impossible to run down on 3 legs. Now, she is fully healthy and there is no chance to catch her.
She ran across the street (a very lightly trafficked street) and into the yard of another homes. I wasn't sure if they had a fence at the back of their property. If not, behind their property is a wooded preserve. It has always been a fear of mine that one of my dogs would get lost in those woods. They had a fence so I tried to cut off her exit, but she is very fast and elusive. The elderly homeowners came out of their back door and tried to entice her with doggie treats, but she was full of energy and nothing was going to distract her from her fun. She ran out of their yard into the street made a left turn and found the entrance to the preserve. I called my wife for reinforcement as I pursued. Initially she stayed on the bike path. A biker appeared coming in the opposite direction. I yelled to him to stop my dog. He slowed down but passed the dog. As he approached me, I asked if he could help, because I had no chance of getting her, and on the other side of a narrow strip of woods at that point is a heavily trafficked highway, so I was extremely nervous. He giggled awkwardly said nothing and went on his way. Another biker approached didn't even slow down even though he could see me running after the dog and I was shouting for help. I guess that he must have had some good split time going and couldn't be bothered to help someone. And into the woods she went.
She found a dirt path that went alongside the fence of the High School football field. It is a very narrow path. On the other side was a narrow patch of woods with a highway on the other side. She took off in full gallop and I was on the verge of exhaustion. At the end of that path was the 2 lane highway and the exit off the parkway. I saw a man with a dog at the end of the path. I shouted to him that my dog was loose and asked him to grab her if she approached his dog. He didn't acknowledge me at all. My dog stopped before reaching the other dog turned around and ran toward me. She stopped 10 feet short of me and then ran back in the other direction toward the man and his dog. Again she stopped short of the man and his dog, and she started back in full stride toward me. If the man stayed there with his dog, my dog would eventually get exhausted if she didn't bolt into the woods. As she was running back toward me, the other guy walked away with his dog, so I no longer had a barrier at the other end of the path. The guy never acknowledged me at all and was seemingly completely disinterested. Luckily, on the second trip back toward me, she finally got exhausted trotted up to me and she sat and lied down to rest. As I secured her, the elderly man from the house was in pursuit and was yelling out to ask if I found her. I yelled back to say that I had secured her. He said, "thank God." As I was bringing her back out of the preserve, I met him on the bike path. He had brought doggie treats with him and his wife was following up. They restored my faith that there are some good people left, as I was in disbelief that 2 other people completely ignored me and another just laughed. All is well that ends well, and Bonnie had quite the adventure.
She will never go out again without a choker chain. This escape technique from the harness is a learned skill and I cannot take the chance again. The first time she did it was at the Veterinarian's office. When the vet took her for some tests, she quickly turned backward lifted her front legs and jerked right out of the harness. The vet was standing holding the harness and looking shocked. She told me that the dog is an escape artist. If you have a dog and you walk it on a harness and the dog shows any proclivity to escape from the harness, I urge you to stop using the harness. They can escape very quickly.
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