Posted by Mark Stahlke on September 15, 2008 at 12:59 PM
Dog owners, please keep your pets on leashes. They'll love you for it.
Picture this:
It's Saturday morning at the Denny Creek trailhead on Cottonwood Pass road. The parking area is full of cars but there are no other people around. In the parking lot is a dark blue Jeep with a bowl of water and a bag of dog food under it. There is a very unhappy young black Lab wandering around with a face full of porcupine quills.
How did this tragic tableau come to be?
I can only speculate. I suspect some cruel pet owners let their dog run loose while they were preparing for their hike. The dog probably caught wind of an animal and took off after it. Dogs will be dogs, after all. Obviously, the dog caught the porcupine he was chasing. I'll bet he doesn't make that mistake again. Chances are, the poor dog's owners looked for him, couldn't find him so they left food and water out in case he returned (a surprising act of kindness by apparently cold, uncaring people) and then headed off on their hike.
I'm simply stunned by the callous disregard for the health and safety of this poor dog. If you talked to the owners, they would probably give you the usual song and dance about "I love my dog, he's like a member of my family". And yet...
Sad. Very sad.
This dog owner's carbon should be sequestered.
Posted by Brent Murphy on September 15, 2008 at 1:48 PM
Or you could speculate that the owners were not out on their hike, but frantically searching for their beloved pet, who managed to find his own way back to the vehicle.
A sad situation for sure, but hey, it's nature. Things happen. Hope everything turned out for the best.
Posted by Chuck Peacock on September 15, 2008 at 5:32 PM
And don't count on the dog not making the same mistake again, and again, and again...
It's almost like some of them get a "Captain Ahab complex" after the first time they get pin cushioned.
Posted by Laurent Baig on September 16, 2008 at 1:50 PM
Yeah, ya know, cut the "bad owner doesn't leash their dog" crap. Stuff happens and that's unfortunate that the dog had a face full of needles, and you're probably right, dog won't chase a porcupine again.
I let my dogs off leash all the time and I'm not going to stop, even if they get cholla stuck on them. Our society has become so preventative as to become debilitating and it's stupid stuff like this that is symptomatic. Boy I hope you never get hurt taking a photograph, else I'll insist you stop going outdoors.
Discussion
3 repliesPicture this:
It's Saturday morning at the Denny Creek trailhead on Cottonwood Pass road. The parking area is full of cars but there are no other people around. In the parking lot is a dark blue Jeep with a bowl of water and a bag of dog food under it. There is a very unhappy young black Lab wandering around with a face full of porcupine quills.
How did this tragic tableau come to be?
I can only speculate. I suspect some cruel pet owners let their dog run loose while they were preparing for their hike. The dog probably caught wind of an animal and took off after it. Dogs will be dogs, after all. Obviously, the dog caught the porcupine he was chasing. I'll bet he doesn't make that mistake again. Chances are, the poor dog's owners looked for him, couldn't find him so they left food and water out in case he returned (a surprising act of kindness by apparently cold, uncaring people) and then headed off on their hike.
I'm simply stunned by the callous disregard for the health and safety of this poor dog. If you talked to the owners, they would probably give you the usual song and dance about "I love my dog, he's like a member of my family". And yet...
Sad. Very sad.
This dog owner's carbon should be sequestered.
A sad situation for sure, but hey, it's nature. Things happen. Hope everything turned out for the best.
It's almost like some of them get a "Captain Ahab complex" after the first time they get pin cushioned.
I let my dogs off leash all the time and I'm not going to stop, even if they get cholla stuck on them. Our society has become so preventative as to become debilitating and it's stupid stuff like this that is symptomatic. Boy I hope you never get hurt taking a photograph, else I'll insist you stop going outdoors.