We wanted to celebrate Thanksgiving with Chris' family. We should have been in South Denver around noon so we packed our boxer dogs and the kids into the car and headed south at 11:30. At the very next traffic light we saw two teenage boys squatting and trying to get two dogs, who were running around free...they strotted from this side of the street to that side, were kind of calm but too shy to be taken at their collars.
One was a big St. Bernard mix (Bernhardiner) and one was a black Shar Pei.
We needed to stop at the red light anyway and Chris asked me to pull over so that he can get out of the car trying to catch the dogs.
I mean, we were on the road for THE lunch of the year and now we were sitting here on the curb trying to get two strange dogs...
So while Chris tried to get close to the dogs, other people already gathered trying to catch them, too. Luckily, a lady was jogging by and she had two friendly labradors on the leash who atracted the free running dogs.
The lady could get a hold of the bigger dog's collar while the Shar Pei was just walking by. The lady lost grip of the dog again because nobody of the bystanders did take over the leashes of her two dogs...can you imagine being on a sidewalk at a very busy street with 3 big dogs and you don't even know if the 3rd one will harm you or your dogs...anyway, the lady could catch him again and one other pedestrian had a very simple leash that you get from the vet so we could secure this dog. A couple of minutes later, the group could catch the Shar Pei.
I in the meantime called Animal Control. These are police officers just for animal related stuff, we don't have those in Germany. So, I called (I have this number saved in my cell phone due to a few coincidents at the dog park) and the dispatcher told me that Animal Control is on their way to get the dogs from us (actually, the dogs were still running free at the time of me calling).
Anyway, so we were sitting at the street, kids still straped in the car seats, the boxers looking out of the back window of the car, me standing at the open door on the passenger side, Chris squatting down besides both dogs and a couple waiting of what will happen next.
I called Animal Control again because it was hot (in the 70ties but with long sleeves and long pants it felt HOT) and we wanted to get to the Thanksgiving lunch...we had appetizers in the car with a dip that really should be in the fridge...I got a different dispatcher on the phone and he said that they got a more urgent call but after that situation is done,they would come....excuse me? We don't have anything to do with those dogs, just come and get them! I want to leave!!
I asked if we can drop off the dogs somewhere and he said sure, come by the police station and we get the dogs from you. So I got the kids out of the car, the big dog started growling at Jonah even the dog did not get up or no fur was standing but it was still kind of frightening. So I pulled Jonah to the near by parking lot, got Olivia out of the car and got her behind the parking lot fence, too. Then I opened the trunk to get the boxers out. Luckily, they were on the leash, and I could directly walk them as well to the parking lot.
Chris got both dogs inside the car, the couple left and I walked with kids and dogs into the open space, waiting for Chris to return.
A couple of minutes later, Chris called. The police office is closed, nobody there!
I called the Animal Control dispatcher
again. (I already talked to two different people, this was the first person again).
When he answered, he said that Chris should go into the lobby and there is an intercom he can use.
So I called Chris back and told him what the dispatcher told me. I already felt like attaching the dogs to the nearest tree and just leave.
Of course Chris stayed and called again that he finally was with an officer who took the dogs. I should go back home and he will pick me up there again.
The policemen were actually waiting for Animal Control to come to get the dogs from Chris so there was no reason at all for us to 'deliver' the dogs when Animal Control was involved anyway!!
But as I said, finally a normal police officer took the dogs. Luckily, the dogs did not destroy the car, the back packs of the kids or the food while Chris was sitting in the lobby. I only have dog hair all over the place in the car because these two guys roamed the entire car, from front seat to the trunk.
We don't know if the dogs found their real home, both had collars on but no tags. Well, we did what we would do again and we hope that somebody would do this for us when one of our dogs would run loose in the street!
We finally got to Chris' parents at around 1:30 pm and had a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner.
What can I say? These days make memories...
Jonah pulled the sled up the hill all the time by himself and went down on his own. He LOVED it!