You are driving along and see a dog wandering along the side of the road. Watching it you just know in your heart that something is not right. The way it moves, hesitating now and then, moving its head back and forth. It’s clear that this dog is lost, probably far from home and needs a friend. But, now what do you do?
Just driving by and hoping for the best seems cruel. The dog is darting in and out of traffic and sure to get hit. Do you stop and try to coax the critter in your car? From experience this is easier said than done. What usually happens is the dog gets freaked out even more, thinks you are trying to harm it and runs away. One time The dog in question, a big beautiful but not so smart Golden retriever simply sat down in the middle of the highway, right on the yellow line and wouldn’t budge.
There are a number of things to consider when you decide to become a lost dogs savior. Is it really lost? When you are walking after a dog by the side of the road and it turns and runs up a driveway, the house door opens and it runs in, you feel like a fool.
Then again you have to wonder is the dog sick or injured? Rabies crosses your mind as does the idea that maybe the dog has been hit already by a car and any attempt to help will result in you getting bit.
It’s a modern day dilemma that has no clear cut answer.
But I know from experience the other side. We owned a dog once that lived to escape and run free. It was a Siberian husky and she was born and bred to run and if she got loose that’s just what she did. And she got free every chance she got. She was notorious at the kennel where we boarded her, so much so the staff began to call her Houdini.
On those occasions where I would come home and find her gone like the wind the waiting was agony. Even when the phone would ring the first thought was someone had found her by side of the road but too late. It never happened and she lived to be in the vets words an very  old woman. Still this is what makes me stop every time and try to be a friend of lost dogs. Maybe it’s a bad idea but it’s something I feel I owe.
