Thursday, October 31, 2013

What to do when you FIND a dog: TELL SOMEONE

Bosca is home safe and sound thanks to a good samaritan called Caleb...and a dog tag with a phone number on it!
Somewhere out there is a dude called Caleb. I don't know who he is, but he's a hero in the eyes of myself and my family (if you haven't met Bosca, he's Phils "brother from another mother" - just 17x Philograms worth). Here's how it went down.

On Tuesday there was a huge storm. Gale-force winds. Rain pouring so hard on the patio roof you had to yell to be heard by the person next to you. Dark clouds. Thunder. Tumbleweeds. The works. 

Like many dogs, Bosca has a phobia of storms. He was hanging out in the backyard when the storm hit. It just happened that no one else was home. 

He has plenty of shelter and warmth, but whether it was a gust of wind or a clap of thunder, something spooked him so hard he managed to either shrink himself ala Alice in Wonderland and slip under the fence, or pole vault over it, trying to escape whatever it was.

Bosca is an angel of a dog, but not everyone is comfortable approaching 35kg of frightened ridgeback-cross hurtling down the street at 50kph. And when it's pouring rain? When it's pouring rain AND they are in their cosy car and they could just drive past? 

Not Caleb. He pulled up and tried to coax pour soaking wet Mr B into the car. Bosca wasn't having a bar of that...but Caleb reached out, read Bosca's name tag and rang the number. Mum raced home, and there was poor Bosca trying to break in to the backyard. Had she not known he was out, he might have given up and headed off into the sunset (or into the path of a motor vehicle). A thousand million what-ifs which never eventuated.

So THANK YOU CALEB. You taking the time to slow down, read the tag and make the call quite possibly saved Bosca. He's home now recuperating - shaken and stirred, but uninjured.


Bosca resting in his bed after taking himself for a "walk". 
If you do find a lost dog or cat there are plenty of things you can do to help:
  1. Look for a name tag or phone number imprinted on the collar and ring that number. If it goes to voicemail, leave a message! Sometimes people don't even know their pet is missing til they come home from work.
  2. Take the animal to the nearest veterinarian where it can be scanned for a microchip. Together with good samaritans that bring in animals, our clinic reunites dozens of lost animals with their owners every year thanks to microchips.
  3. Call Pet Search and notify them of your find.
You must just save a life.