Bull Terrier by StudioSRV (on deviantART)
Maybe the time has come for me to get a cell phone...
Yesterday I rescued a bull terrier, but it took two strangers with cell phones to get him back to his owner.
I love bull terriers.
If ever a dog was a baby rhino like me, that dog is a bull terrier.
I've kind of wanted one ever since I was a kid and saw General Patton's bullie in the movie Patton, even though a vet told me the dogs are a difficult mix of none-too-smart + stubborn. This vet had had to treat one that had caught its own tail and would not let go.
Anyway, yesterday I had lunch at Lake Calhoun with bink & her wire fox terrier Alfie, and as we started to walk home, a big white bullie came trotting happy as you please down the sidewalk toward us. Alone.
Luckily he was friendly and easy to catch... but he didn't want to stay caught, and after bink gave me Alfie's leash to attach to Caesar's collar––his dog tag gave his name–– Caesar simply backed up––not so dim after all?––slipped his collar over his head and took off at a run toward the busiest intersection in town.
I ran after him (and the doc said I shouldn't run!), shouting at the people on the corner to grab him, but he swerved around them and ran without a pause into the street––so, none too bright about traffic, I thought I was going to see road kill right in front of me––but a big SUV slammed on its brakes and missed hitting Mr. Chunk Butt, and luckily someone on the other side of the street grabbed him.
At my request, they called the number on the dog tag, but no one answered, so I tightened the dog collar and nervously walked Caesar back to the lakefront restaurant (Tin Fish).
I didn't want to risk walking the dog any farther though, so I asked someone else to call animal control for me on their cell phone.
Since I don't have a car, animal control said they'd make me a priority but couldn't promise to get there before two hours had passed.
Well, I didn't have anywhere I had to be, so I agreed to stay there and wait.
A worker at Tin Fish went and got a piece of rope for me from the nearby boat house, so bink could take her leash back and walk her dog home. (Caesar was a marshmallow toward me and other people but seemed aggressive toward Alfie.)
I wrapped the rope around Caesar's middle, like a harness, in case he tried to run away, but he seemed quite content to sit on my lap and watch the people go by.
About ten minutes later, just as it was starting to spit rain, a black minivan pulled up, and a big, middle-aged, white guy got out saying, "There he is!"
It was Caesar's owner, who'd been asleep in his house when his phone rang.
He told me his family had gotten the dog from a rescue group just one week ago, and he didn't seem all that happy to see Caesar, even though the two looked like they could be father and son.
In fact, the guy didn't even thank me, he just said, "Don't tell my wife."
So I guess the dog has a friend in the house, even if it wasn't this guy.
Afterward I walked up to McD's for an ice cream cone, and was sad to see they had just taken out the pay phone in their vestibule, the only public phone left in the area. The manager told me, when I asked, that they had too much trouble with drug dealing on the phone.
So, I don't want to, but I think I should get a basic phone.
And a bull terrier.
Maybe the time has come for me to get a cell phone...
Yesterday I rescued a bull terrier, but it took two strangers with cell phones to get him back to his owner.
I love bull terriers.
If ever a dog was a baby rhino like me, that dog is a bull terrier.
I've kind of wanted one ever since I was a kid and saw General Patton's bullie in the movie Patton, even though a vet told me the dogs are a difficult mix of none-too-smart + stubborn. This vet had had to treat one that had caught its own tail and would not let go.
Anyway, yesterday I had lunch at Lake Calhoun with bink & her wire fox terrier Alfie, and as we started to walk home, a big white bullie came trotting happy as you please down the sidewalk toward us. Alone.
Luckily he was friendly and easy to catch... but he didn't want to stay caught, and after bink gave me Alfie's leash to attach to Caesar's collar––his dog tag gave his name–– Caesar simply backed up––not so dim after all?––slipped his collar over his head and took off at a run toward the busiest intersection in town.
I ran after him (and the doc said I shouldn't run!), shouting at the people on the corner to grab him, but he swerved around them and ran without a pause into the street––so, none too bright about traffic, I thought I was going to see road kill right in front of me––but a big SUV slammed on its brakes and missed hitting Mr. Chunk Butt, and luckily someone on the other side of the street grabbed him.
At my request, they called the number on the dog tag, but no one answered, so I tightened the dog collar and nervously walked Caesar back to the lakefront restaurant (Tin Fish).
I didn't want to risk walking the dog any farther though, so I asked someone else to call animal control for me on their cell phone.
Since I don't have a car, animal control said they'd make me a priority but couldn't promise to get there before two hours had passed.
Well, I didn't have anywhere I had to be, so I agreed to stay there and wait.
A worker at Tin Fish went and got a piece of rope for me from the nearby boat house, so bink could take her leash back and walk her dog home. (Caesar was a marshmallow toward me and other people but seemed aggressive toward Alfie.)
I wrapped the rope around Caesar's middle, like a harness, in case he tried to run away, but he seemed quite content to sit on my lap and watch the people go by.
About ten minutes later, just as it was starting to spit rain, a black minivan pulled up, and a big, middle-aged, white guy got out saying, "There he is!"
It was Caesar's owner, who'd been asleep in his house when his phone rang.
He told me his family had gotten the dog from a rescue group just one week ago, and he didn't seem all that happy to see Caesar, even though the two looked like they could be father and son.
In fact, the guy didn't even thank me, he just said, "Don't tell my wife."
So I guess the dog has a friend in the house, even if it wasn't this guy.
Afterward I walked up to McD's for an ice cream cone, and was sad to see they had just taken out the pay phone in their vestibule, the only public phone left in the area. The manager told me, when I asked, that they had too much trouble with drug dealing on the phone.
So, I don't want to, but I think I should get a basic phone.
2 comments:
I've been thinking the same, not a phone, but a device that I can text from. Never used a phone often enough to make it worth it, even the 'disposable' phones, except for trips.
Funny little dog. Maybe a mix, so you can get some smarts?
What I'd really like is a Star Trek communicator. (In fact, some of the flip phones do look like them.)
They are funny dogs, I agree, but not "little"---about 50 lbs, and very muscular.
If you mixed them, you'd lose their distinctive good looks. I guess they're smart enough...
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