We were in the midst of spring cleaning when our neighbor from across the alley frantically waved me down. “Your dogs just ran out of the yard! Two went that way and the other one went in the other direction!”
We had just let the dogs out into the backyard and the combination of a faulty gate latch and the temptation of the outside world meant our dogs had escaped without our notice. I was only wearing flip flops and my husband Adam was in the garage at the front of our house. I didn’t even have my cell phone on me. I ran into the house and grabbed my cell phone, yelling frantically that the dogs had run away.
As I ran into the alley, Chloe sheepishly appeared at the gate. Thank goodness she knew where her bread was buttered and came back on her own. At this point, I didn’t know if she was the loner dog or if she was part of the twosome. I secured her inside the house and ran back outside.
At this point, Adam had joined the search. We were about to split off in different directions when the terrible twosome of Denver and Benji appeared at the end of the alley. Our house is sandwiched between a busy street and a quieter street. Luckily, they ended up on the quieter side. In a booming voice that reached the end of the alley, Adam called their names and told them to come.
We had trained all our dogs using the mini Educator ecollar by E-Collar Technologies but they were not wearing their collars when Adam issued the command. They came running. Crisis averted.
Teaching bulletproof recall is so important especially when your dogs could be in a dangerous situation. Constantly practicing it, reinforcing good habits, and testing it in different environments are essential parts of teaching bulletproof recall. The moral of the story is I’m never cleaning again.
