That would be us! We are so careful with our dogs since Rita can’t see and Speck can’t hear. I know half of our county hears me out yelling for Speck. I do let him out without a leash because I’m usually having to shoo him off the porch to do his business. He doesn’t really care if he’s on the concrete or on the grass . . but I care. He doesn’t go far and I’m always out there with him. I can be standing there looking at him and trying to get him to come in and he can’t hear me calling him. He can hear if I clap my hands. Sometimes, if he’s exploring, I have to go tap him on the back to get his attention and get him back in the house.
We only take Rita out on a leash. She can hear but she’s just a little on the hard headed or independent side and doesn’t listen well. Speck, when he could hear, would always come when I called him . . Rita . . no! For the longest time, Speck would not go out without a leash. Even if the door was open, he would stand there and wait for us to put a leash on him. Now, I don’t think he ever knows if he has a leash on or not . . he’s just a bit confused. I thought we were at that point with Rita, but I guess not.
Our doors are directly across from each other and if the back door (double French doors) aren’t closed completely tight and you open the front door, it can cause the back door to open.
The other day I had gone out the front door and it must have caused the back door to open and Rita went out. Then Vince came in, saw the back door open and closed it. I came back inside and was cooking. I got ready to feed the dogs and . . where’s Rita? We called her name, clapped, offered “treat” and nothing. Then I heard her scratching at the back door. She was outside . . alone! My heart sank! I couldn’t believe that, as careful as we are with her, we had let that happen.
Now, we’re still in that overly cautious mode. I think we’re both driving her nuts calling her name and making sure we know where she is every minute of every day.
You just can’t be too careful when dealing with hearing and sight impaired dogs. I’d like to think we’re more responsible than to lose one of them but I see how easy it can happen. Neither of our dogs are micro-chipped. Out here, they’re going to get eaten by a coyote before someone finds them. If we lived closer to where they might get found if they got lost, I’d definitely get them chipped, though no one would be able to get close to Speck. I’m guessing this is the final place Speck will call home. The way Vince talks . . it may be the same for Judy and Rita! 🙂
Rebecca Muir MacKellar says
We had a dog that was getting old and deaf. We taught her hand signals. When she did not want to come in, she would turn away and not look at the hand signals! It was pretty funny.
Cilla Tyler says
I know that feeling all too well. My neighbor came over and told me my dogs were out on the road trotting away. The gate to their fenced in area had opened somehow. We got in my neighbours car. We found them trotting back home all lined up. I got them all in her car and back into their area. I could feel my heart beat for hours after that. 6 Dachshunds, non are street smart but they were all on the shoulder of the road.
Joyce says
My friend’s dog and grand-dog (she was dog-sitting) got out of her backyard a couple of months ago. She looked and looked, and finally called the police to report them missing. A patrolman stopped by to take the report and promised to keep an eye out for them. A little while later he pulled up and the two “criminals” hopped out and came up to the door to be let in. My friends children said they sure wished they could have seen them hopping out of the patrol car…they need little striped “jail” outfits, although they didn’t actually have to go to doggie jail!
montanaclarks says
We left Emmi in a campground once–talk about irresponsible parents! It was really early in the morning and we were trying to be quiet as much as you can be quiet with a huge diesel engine running in a motorhome. We were going to drive the motorhome up the hill, stop and hook the jeep to it so as not to cause more noise. Mike drove the motorhome, I drove the jeep. We hooked the jeep up and got in the motorhome. I said, “where’s Emmi?”–no Emmi, anywhere in the motorhome. I jumped out and took off running back down the hill to the campground. A man came around the corner of the bath house with Emmi trotting alongside him. He said she was sitting forlornly in our camp spot and he thought, “those people left their little dog!!” We think that at some time in the process of getting ready to go one of us left the door open and she went out–she is really bad about that if we don’t watch her. I felt VERY irresponsible that day!
Pat says
Let’s be honest ladies and gentles. We must admit it animals rule. Love the stories the of the the animals.