At the beginning of this year Twiglet and I had a bit of an incident. To say it scared me is an understatement!
We had had a lovely walk with a friend and her two dogs. All was going well, and we were starting to head back home. Twiglet, as normal, was enjoying the walk off lead, but we were approaching the area when I put her back on. Just after I hooked the lead two dogs came running up to ours with their owner was just behind. One of these dogs decided to go for my friend's dog, and thankfully while there was no physical harm done this other dog screamed. It was difficult to see what happened as it was so quick. The lady with the two dogs approached but did very little to get hold of hers or put it on a lead which led to some rather heated words.
My friend and I carried on with our walk, me with Twiglet now on her lead. As we reached the cricket pitch my friend suggested that we walk the longer way round and to let Twiglet off again as hers were still off. This was my mistake, although Twiglet hadn’t been involved in the altercation, I didn’t read her body language before releasing.
As I let her off, thinking that she would run and play with her friends, she backed away and then just ran as fast as she could. My heart was in my mouth as I called for her to come back to me but by then she was not listening. I can honestly say I had never run so fast since leaving school! I ran, calling her name, hoping against everything that on meeting the main area of where we live that she would not cross the road. I turned right at the alleyway next to where we live and saw her disappearing down it. As I approached our back gate there she was, panting and looking frightened as anything. My first reaction relief and was absolute joy that she had run directly home. I scooped her up cradling her and telling her she was such a good girl to run home, all the time thanking god that she was safe.
Once indoors she eventually calmed down, but this really frightened me and got me asking myself “What if…….?”
In the following months I kept seeing tracking devices that you can put on your dog's collar allowing you to track them with your phone GPS to know exactly where they are. What a fantastic item, I thought. I always walk with my phone in a bag, not to take calls, but to make a call if I was ever in a situation. I would always have my phone with me so this sounded like a great idea and something that would keep me “calm” in case Twiglet should go out of sight again in the future.
To say these hounds bring us such joy, is so very true, but my goodness they do bring concerns and worries to us as pup parents. There is nothing worse than not knowing where your pup is when out walking and to keep on a lead, to me, is not what a dog walk is all about. They need to be a pup, to stop, sniff and explore when they want. What a confidence boost this has given me to know Twiglet is safe even if out of sight, I know where she is. It is a godsend to me.
Relevant products:
CanineGuard Smart Collar with Apple AirTag Holder
PawsGuard GPS Locator