On my way back to work from meeting the garage door guy on my lunch hour (everything is working quite lovely now!), I decided to stop at a gas station to check my oil. I was going to go to a gas station near the condo, but it wasn't really on the way, so I figured I'd just go an extra exit on the highway and get to work using an alternate route.
When I got to the end of the exit, where I would normally take a left, I saw a beautiful German Sheppard pacing on the grass on the side of the road, trying to negotiate crossing the rather busy intersection.
I looked around to see if there was anyone with the dog and didn't see anyone. I also noted that no one was coming behind me off the highway, so I turned the wheel and pulled over the corner and stopped to look at the dog, who looked at me, as well. I opened the window and whistled and she tentatively came towards the car and put her head in see what was going on.
I got out of the car to see if I could get close enough to read the tags that were on her collar and found out her name and as soon as I said her name, she wagged her tail and jumped on the car as if to say, "open the door, it's drizzling out here"!! I saw an address, but am not familiar with this town except to get to my office. I dialed the phone number on the tag, but no one was home.
So I opened the car door and in she jumped and promptly sat very nicely and watched me walk around to the driver side and get in. I started driving figuring I'd call my co-worker to Google how to get the street the dog lived on, but before I could do that, the first street I came to was hers!
As we turned in and proceeded down it, the dog looked around. We pulled into the driveway and we both got out and walked up to the front door. Rang the bell. No one was home.
Just as I was wondering what my next step was, I heard the dog's name being called and then saw a car driving with a woman leaning out of it who was doing the calling. I waved to them, but they didn't see me (as the driveway ended up a hill next to the house). On their way back down the street, they saw me and drove up to me, asking me where I had found her. They both jumped out of the car and were obviously relieved to have her back and very quickly put her in the house.
They followed me out of their street and as they passed me on their way to the highway entrance, they honked, waved and mouthed "Thanks, again."
Now, if I hadn't needed to check my oil, I wonder what would've happened? I'd like to think I'm not the only one who would have stopped, but some people are afraid of big dogs.
Luckily for this dog, I grew up with large dogs, so the urge to protect was greater than the risk of being bitten.
Awwww. You're a good egg you are.
I thought you were gonna say "we have a new dog now!" lol
And don't think I'm not jealous that some strange dog was better in your car than my damn dogs are. LOL
Posted by: Tina-cious.com | 04/01/2008 at 14:33
She was really a great dog.
Posted by: val | 04/01/2008 at 19:53
Awww - that's cool. I was just talking with some patients at work the other day about how some people are afraid of dogs in general. I understand if someone has been bitten, but I find a lot of them just haven't really been around dogs. Kinda sad.
Posted by: Beth | 04/01/2008 at 19:59
awesome!!!
tho... I have to tell you - the FREE dog would have bitten you :)
Posted by: weese | 04/02/2008 at 12:14
What a GREAT story!!!
You are a true SHEro!
Posted by: KMae | 04/02/2008 at 12:24
I love that you did that! I don't care how big or small the dog, we'll stop to help, too. We've often found that bigger dogs are more gentle than small ones.
Posted by: SassyFemme | 04/02/2008 at 22:01