Two Sad Dog Stories

Posted on February 1, 2011 in Dogs

The man walking his Boston Terrier along San Diego’s Prado didn’t see the problem. The choke chain made his little dog more controllable. You couldn’t have the yearling running about, being excited about the world. “Now he’s a good dog,” he said. I didn’t mention studies that showed that choke chains kill dogs by breaking their tracheas ((If you are going for strictness, you can either get a [[prong collar]] which applies hurt to the skin only or a harness which allows you to prevent your dog from moving where you don’t want him to be. We use a harness for Drake, but also make sure he gets some off-leash time when I take him for hikes.)) . One can only save one dog at a time.

There was nothing I could do about the tan and white chihuahua/terrier mix we saw run down the next day on the road coming back from [[Cabrillo National Monument]] ((Photos accumulating here)) . The little dog was out with his owner who called him into the street. A black compact sped down the avenue, quite unable to stop. The little body rolled under the wheels and got flipped up before falling hard onto the asphalt. No blood burst from the corpse. The teenage girl ran into the street to cradle him in her arms. We stopped and tried to give comfort. The dog’s tongue hung out of his mouth and flopped around as little spasms jerked his body. “He’s alive! He’s still alive!” cried his owner. “I don’t think so,” I said but she would have nothing of this certainty.

I recruited a woman who had come out of her house to see what the commotion was to drive her and the dog to a vet. The driver of the black car came back. He, too, was in tears. The crowd of motorists and pedestrians which had gathered for the passing of the mongrel dispersed. I told Lynn sadly that I thought the dog was already dead but had cowardly left the vet to convince his young owner of the bad news.