By Cammie Fulk
I’m so sorry that I missed last month’s publication. Age is catching up with me. I thought I had sent my column when I sent Ronnie’s Fulks Run Follies, but obviously I didn’t. I apologize.
I just wanted to say one thing about the Follies. Some of the Follies sound like they are straight from Ronnie’s imagination. I assure you they are not. When I was in high school and college, I worked for his dad, Matthew, at Mac’s Superette. I married Ronnie in 1980 and continued to work at the store when needed. I can personally attest that Ronnie’s Fulks Run Follies are indeed stories that were told to him. I heard many of them myself or heard Matthew tell them with names included. The only truth stretching story might be the April Fool’s column, and even those have been told to Ronnie by someone.
Now for this month’s Best Friends.
I want to preface my offering this month and every month by saying any advice I offer is what most “professional” animal folks deem best and usually something I have used with my best friends. I have been known not to follow my own advice but haven’t we all? This month is meant to inform not to anger.
My pups think that they should be everywhere that I am. This includes the bed, the bathroom, the couch, and all other locations inside and outside of our home. This also applies to being in the car when we leave the house. Unfortunately, they can’t always go with us. If it’s summer and hot, we have several choices…1. leave them at home in an air-conditioning 2. Take them with us when we get out of our car (this involves protective gear on their feet, taking water along and all their therapy dog gear…and believe it or not, there are people who frown upon dogs being allowed to enter places of business) or 3. One of us sitting in a running car with the air conditioning on while the other takes care of business.
If the weather is cool enough to leave them in the car with the windows down, I fear they will find a way out, someone will open the door or someone will steal my babies! So, what do we do? We take them along as much as possible. Both boys are therapy dogs and behave exceptionally well in the car. They stay in the back seat, usually sleeping or sticking their noses up to the window surfing all the wonderful smells going by. Because they are so well behaved when traveling, I had stopped using their seatbelts. Let me just say for those of you who have room inside your vehicle, crates are by far the safest, but if your car is like mine and can’t accommodate crates the size of my boys, then seat belts are a good alternative.
Yes, dog seatbelts. These are available just about anywhere pet supplies are sold. They consist of a hook to attach to the dog’s harness or vest, a piece of seat belt strap and a metal square with a hole in it that fits directly into the car’s seatbelt latch. These devices serve two purposes. They keep your best friends in one place so that you can drive and not worry about them and just like you, they keep your friend in place should you have an accident.
This week I read something that brought this to mind. A family from Maryland, including their two dogs, Tank and Mac, were in an accident on I81 near Mauzy. Both dogs fled from the accident. Tank was found rather quickly and was safe. Mac was a different story. Mac was found and is back with his family. The rescue involved thousands of prayers, lost and found posting on Facebook, a tow truck driver spotting Mac on 81, Monica Good and Bob Swensen and his dog Carly, Richard from VDOT and many more. Mac eventually returned to the scene of the accident. His human mom and this writer believe God answers prayer and miracles happen every day if we just take time to look.
For the whole story, check out Lynne Svonavec Pavlock on Facebook. In the post “calming signals” for lost pets are mentioned. Talking calmly, not looking at the pet, sitting not standing are all things to encourage your pet to come to you. Molly, the dog trainer, told us that when a dog experiences a trauma, that a dog can stay in “fight or flight” mode up to 72 hours. That’s three whole days before our best friends return to “normal”
Mac’s parents state in their Facebook post that Mac didn’t even recognize them. Following advice concerning lost pets and “calming signals” they sat on the grass quietly talking to one another As a pet mom, that breaks my heart. Fear was overriding love. Lynne says, “Mac stayed away but we could see him beginning to recognize our voices as he slowly moved towards us. Within seconds, he came upto us in his typical MACaroni style side walkin wagging his tail…” In the end love defeated fear.
If you had any part in this rescue, thank you.
As always
Enjoy your best friend!
Stay Paws-itive
Happy tails to you.
