Scary Near Escape

Had a bit of a scare this afternoon with Belle and Jelly! I have a doggie door that leads into my double-sided 6 foot cedar fenced backyard. The gates are normally locked and are tied into my alarm system, so usually I feel pretty comfortable with how secure it is. I also have all three dogs trained to have free run of the house when I'm gone since I work full time and am gone 8-9 hours on weekdays. So they come and go in and out all day long. The other day a utility guy needed to access the yard so I had unlocked one of the gates and never got around to relocking it yet. (TOTALLY my fault).

My phone line has been dead the last few days as well so today the repair guy from the cable company was out to fix it. He was in and out of the house, going back and forth to get items from his truck...I didn't realize he had ever gone into the backyard. (No phone lines or anything back there...no reason to go back there and he didn't tell me or ask permission like they normally do). So after he leaves, I quickly get ready for work and run out the door as he took forever and made me late. I started to drive away, only to be waved at by my new neighbor that had just moved into the house next door a few days ago. I stop and we chat through our rolled down windows for a few moments. I then stop to quickly check my mail (community boxes across the street and a few houses down) and just happen to glance back over my shoulder to my house and see Jelly running around the front yard! :eek: I panic and run towards her yelling "STAY!" Luckily she listened and sat her little butt down and let me go up to her and pick her up. It's then I notice the gate is wide open. Panicked, I looked around for the other dogs and see Belle running towards me full speed from down the road and that she is running smack in the middle of the road! :eek: At the same time, a UPS truck comes around the corner and I scream and wave my arms and luckily he sees her and stops. HEART ATTACK MOMENT. Oblivous, she runs happily up to me and lets me grab her collar. It was all so fast, I never ever called her name. I just remember the horror of seeing her running full speed down the middle of the road towards me and then screaming at the truck.

Thank goodness they both listened and didn't try to run away from me so I was able to very quickly get them back into the yard and get the gate closed and relocked. The whole thing happened in like two minutes, literally. I just keep thinking about all the what if's. What if I hadn't stopped to talk to my neighbor, what if I hadn't stopped to check mail even though I was running late, what if I hadn't happened to glance over my shoulder. I would have driven off to work, completely oblivious.

Stupid, stupid repair man. Why do they never close gates???? :wall:

I'm also mad at myself for not re-locking it a few days ago. If I had, he would have had to ask me to get back there and I would have known he had opened it. That gate is just never used and is even hard to open from lack of use. I was being lazy and wasn't expecting anyone to come through it so kept forgetting to relock it. And I left in such a hurry today, I didn't turn on the alarm. If I had, it would have told me I had an open door somewhere.

UGGGH. Thank goodness all is okay. And thank goodness Petey was still in the house by the door in the same place he was when I left. He always walks me to the door when I'm leaving and stays to watch me leave. :lovestruck: So I didn't have to worry about him being loose, just the girls. And I'm so glad they both came to me right away, and I didn't have to chase them down or try to find them. SO lucky that it all worked out the way it did. My heart is still sitting in my throat right now at all the possibilities of what could have happened and thankfully didn't. :cry:

Woah, Smiley, glad everything is okay!!! :thumbs up

Smiley, It's so scary when they get loose. So glad your dogs were all right. :grouphug: No one's perfect. It's so eaasy to forget something or leave them alone long enough for something scary to happen. We just went through a similar situation this weekend. Again, our fault, We know better than to take our eyes off Dr. Seuss when he is outside on his leash. He broke his brand new leash and took off with his harness on, trailing several feet of leash behind him and was already gone by the time we looked back. He was missing for almost two days. I was panicked with visions of him getting stuck somewhere and not being able to get free. Then Sunday night he calmly strolls through the door demanding food five minutes before a massive thunderstorm :D:cat:

That is so scary!

Could u put a sign on the gate that said: Watch out for the dogs. Keep gate closed!

I have a sign on our front door leading into our enclosed porch that says..DON'T LET THE CATS OUT!

Debbie

:grouphug: I can imagine how scary that was. Yikes!!! :grouphug:

That is so scary!

Could u put a sign on the gate that said: Watch out for the dogs. Keep gate closed!

I have a sign on our front door leading into our enclosed porch that says..DON'T LET THE CATS OUT!

Debbie

Thanks guys! I hate close calls like this! I'm just thankful it all worked out okay. I actually do have signs on both sides of both of my gates too! I had them custom made about three or four years ago. They're big yellow triangles that have a GSP on them and say in big letters to keep gate closed. My Dad drilled them right onto both sides of both gates for me when I used to have problems with service people leaving them open. That was before I got locks for them. Now that they're locked, it hasn't happened in years until today. I will definitely be more careful about keeping them locked though, that's for sure! I still have that sick shaky feeling inside as I keep picturing that big UPS truck coming towards Belle and her running towards me all happy and totally oblivious. :sad: I am so so lucky.

Don't think about the 'what ifs', Smiley. Obviously, someone was looking out for you--otherwise there wouldn't have been that string of events that ended happily! :grouphug: So concentrate more on the "Thank dawg!" aspect and take the lesson...

I swear repairmen have no brains. They suddenly can't read signs. They show no common sense. The plumber was here a few days ago, watched Lil Belle steal an SOS pad while he was under the sink, and never bothered to tell me that she was eating it! :frustrated:

So I guess when repairmen come, that means we have to watch them closer than we do the dogs? :rolleyes:

I'm glad Jelly and Belly are okay! :grouphug: Talk about giving Mom a heart attack!! :eek:

That's very scary I'm so happy everything turned out okay :grouphug: Belle & Jelly had :angel2: Billy looking out for them :)

:eek: I was holding my breath as I was reading your post!!! I am so glad to hear it all worked out.

aww good girls Jelly and Belle... sneaking out for a thrill but then listening to mom right away :thumbs up :lovestruck::lovestruck:
Glad to hear they are all ok. Don't think about the what ifs.. that's too scary. Just count your blessings that your babies are all ok! :thumbs up

OMgosh, I'd have had a heart attack. Thankfully, the stars were aligned for you, and you did stop to talk to your neighbor and you did stop to grab your mail.

Eeeeeeek! scary stuff is right! But so good for you Smiley, you've obviously put a lot of effort into teaching Belle and Jelly well. I'm totally convinced that having them trained to get those stays and comes to be absolute is like having a seatbelt or lifejacket for your doggies. Might not prevent every accident but sure increases the chances of survival.

Good for you!!!!! Be proud of yourself and those beautiful doggies :grouphug::dog::dog:

Eeeeeeek! scary stuff is right! But so good for you Smiley, you've obviously put a lot of effort into teaching Belle and Jelly well. I'm totally convinced that having them trained to get those stays and comes to be absolute is like having a seatbelt or lifejacket for your doggies. Might not prevent every accident but sure increases the chances of survival.

Good for you!!!!! Be proud of yourself and those beautiful doggies :grouphug::dog::dog:

Oh, thanks Otter! That was the one good thing from this experience! Seeing how their recalls were in a real world situation! I was always unsure as they seem to sometimes have selective hearing! I've been hugging them close every chance I get!