I am SO glad your babies are OK. One of my greatest fears is our dog or cat getting loose and heading for a busy street. Our cat is strictly indoor, but naturally curious about the world outside -- so far, we haven't had to nab her from any further away than the back deck, luckily. The Silky Terrier, however, has made a couple of escapes out the front door. Fortunately, we live on a quiet street (of course, there's a virtual freeway a short trot away) and she will do just about anything for a Greenie. I always keep one on my pocket when we're out walking, ever since the day she slipped her harness and took off. If I drop to my knees and pull out the Greenie, she usually comes right back to me (it). So far, at least.

Hope your day gets better!

YIKES!!

oh my! at least there was a happy ending! but what a start to the day! he is a jumping Bean indeed...

Sorry your morning was so bad Jill. We've had some pet escapes - one involving three dogs running out into traffic and my Mom literally sitting on one to corral him, because a guest didn't close TWO gates properly - but your morning sounds a horror.

A few weeks ago, my husband and I took our adopted-six-months-ago mutt for a long walk from our house down a wooded trail near our neighborhood. We sometimes let her off leash there so she can run around chasing squirrels to her furry heart's content, and get out all her energy so she'll crash when we get home. (Before we adopted her, she was fostered on a dairy farm for two months, and ran around annoying the cows all day.) Anyway, we usually walk along the trail and she stays within our line of sight. We were deep in conversation, hubby and I, when I realized I hadn't seen her for a while. We were about 2 miles from the house. It was 4 p.m. and starting to get dark. We split up to search for her, ratcheting up the panic a notch with each call of her name. I began to run back toward the start of the trail. I asked every person I came across if they had seen her. Each one told me they had seen her back at the very start of the trail a while ago. At the start of the trail is a road. With cars. Panic set in. I got back to the road; still no sign of her. All I could think was she was either lost, picked up by a stranger, or hit by a car. My husband caught up to me, slack leash in hand. We split up again, walking through our neighborhood screaming her name. I headed back to the house to get the car... and there. she. was. Sitting on the front porch, waiting for us to let her in. GOOD DOG! BAD DOG! GOOD DOG! I cannot begin to tell you how relieved I was... and she is no longer allowed off-leash. Lesson learned. Glad your Bean and Pumpkin are safe inside again, Jill!

You win! Isn't it sweet, sweet, sweet when your pack (including you) is home, warm, safe and sound! Hey, the dog treats in the pocket works. I keep a baggie full of tasty treats in my "walking the dogs" jacket. Had to use it once. I poured the entire bag on the street and the escapee couldn't resist. Love your engaging writing style.

LOL Wow, what a morning!

When my now-departed (and still greatly missed) Molly was just a wee puppy, I took her onto the front lawn for a potty break, just as dawn was breaking. At the time, I *thought* she was still afraid of going down the hill to reach the sidewalk. Thought that wrong. Off she goes, racing down the middle of the street and there I go, racing after her. Down the grassy hill (lucky I didn't wipe out then) and down the street in flip flops and nightgown, huffing and puffing, trying to yell quietly so as not to disturb the neighbors but loud enough to get her attention! Finally caught up with her at the end of the block and brought her safely home. I thought no one had seen this farce play out but did tell the neighbors what happened, just in case. I've always thought that if you're going to be laughed at, it's best to start the laughter yourself! Fortunately, Molly learned her boundaries and I learned to always use the leash, no matter how much she hated it!

I was driving on 695 W heading towards 95 N. earlier this year on the inner loop when I noticed 2 guys chasing two dogs down an on ramp. I immediately pulled over to see what was wrong and then noticed two dogs running in front of them. One was a black lab and the other a little Jack Russell. The two dogs were running down the shoulder. I caught up to the guys running and ask if those were their dogs and they both said no, but they saw the dogs running down the on ramp and were trying to stop them from running onto the beltway. So there are now 3 of us running down the shoulder of 695 chasing after these two dogs. Traffic starts to slow down and then the lab darts out INTO traffic on the beltway. I thought for sure he'd get hit but somehow managed not to. Traffic has now come to a complete stop on the inner loop and people are getting out of their cars trying to catch these two dog. Two state troopers have now arrived on the scene (and both still need an attitude adjustment, but that's neither here nor there). People are trying to get the dogs to jump into their cars but they're clearly freaked out by the whole ordeal. Then the lab, having been cornered at the jersey barrier by a number of people, jumps over the barrier separating the inner loop from the outer loop and runs out into on coming traffic. I couldn't look and had to turn away, but some how, the dog didn't get hit. The Jack Russell followed his lead and also ran across. Now traffic is stopped in both directions and the state police, who were, in a word, worthless in the whole situation, are yelling at people for trying to catch the dogs. The dogs then run across the outerloop again, jump over the jersey barrier again and are now back on the inner loop. One guy grabs and scoops up the Jack Russell and tries to use him to lure the lab into his car. It doesn't work. The lab is weaving between cars on the beltway and the state police are yelling at people to grab the dog. What the state police didn't realize was that the dog was extremely scared and anytime someone tried to grab him, he snapped at them. The police should have called animal control so they could catch the dog and get him off the highway. Now the lab, again terrified, again hops the jersey barrier onto the outer loop, into traffic that was now moving again. He again avoids getting hit, hops a barrier on the other side of the road, and then runs up a hill onto an overpass. The guy who caught the Jack Russell called the phone number on the dog tag to return the dog. I'm not sure what happened to the lab. Hopefully he escaped unharmed too. Before we could catch our breath, we were yelled at by the state police to get back in our cars because we were now trespassing. Listen, I understand they have a job to keep traffic moving and I understand the safety concerns, but what do they expect people to do in this situation? Anyway, having a lab of my own, it felt like my dog was out there running around and I know how devastated I'd be if something tragic happened to my own dog, so seeing those dogs out gave you a sense of terror that was almost unbearable. Hopefully both dogs made it back home unharmed.

Glad your fur babies all made it back home safe!

I had Molly and Vega, my two 60-pound hound mixes, who are never allowed off-leash when there’s not a fence, in Patterson Park one Saturday morning a few months ago when the fine for off-leash was briefly $1000. In fact, both dogs now have harnesses because they have on occasion popped out of the plain collar and gotten loose. So, we’re by the lake/pond in the park, and I look down and realize that Molly’s harness is somehow lying limp on the ground next to me. BLEEP! I look up at Molly who is doing the same thing I am: look at the harness on the ground, look up at me. Eye contact. I see her realize what this means. Me: BLEEP! Her: Yahoo!!! And off she goes. BLEEP! Molly may get hurt, and I may get fined $1000. BLEEP! BLEEP! BLEEP!

I try to run after her as Vega, who thinks it’s totally unfair that Molly has been set loose and not him, darts and spins and does assorted gymnastics in his frenzy to get loose and join her.

Up near the casino building I totally lose sight of Molly. BLEEP! I run around the building a couple of times, calling her, looking everywhere, all the while doing continuous rope tricks with Vega’s leash as he runs circles around me. As I stop and stand, trying to figure out what to do next (it’s been a few minutes since I got a sight of her – no idea where she is – BLEEP!), I see her head peeking out from the front porch of the casino building. Once she knows I see her, her clever game of hide and seek is over. She crouches, races toward us, butt tucked under in all her zippy excitement, and flies past, about 7 feet away, so I can’t grab her on the way by. Vega’s frenzy grows worse.

The chase continues for several more minutes, as I ask several other dog walkers to nab her if she gets close enough. She loves dogs and I was sure she’d come up to someone to say hi. Nope. BLEEP! But she does keep looping back to do more fly-bys, taunting us with her freedom. Vega’s frenzy grows worse.

Finally, after about 15-20 minutes of the chase, an idea hits me. Squirrels! As she swings back in our general direction again, I squeal, run to a tree and act like I’m desperate to climb it to get to an imaginary squirrel. Vega “helps out” by leaping up the tree, too; I’ve convinced him there’s a squirrel, at least. Trick works! Molly comes to get the squirrel, too, and I nab her. Whew!

I think that was the happiest I have ever seen any dog.

So, on the St. Patrick’s Day when I was 12, I was home by myself after school. Both our dogs were in the backyard and started barking like mad. When I saw that it was because a stray dog was in our yard, I was a little scared, but I went out to bring them in after the stray wandered off. I could only handle one at a time (they were big dogs), so I got the one (Lady) inside without incident, then went back for the other. I heard a click. Lady had jumped up on the door and managed to lock it. I really started to panic, as I couldn’t get inside and this crazy stray dog kind of lumbered up to me, slobbering and bleeding and smelling awful. I screamed and kicked him, which only made him snarl. I kept trying to press myself between the screen door and the storm door, with Lady lunging and barking on the other side. I was sobbing and terrified that this psycho dog was going to kill me. Eventually, he just sort of sat down on my feet, panting. My neighbors had gathered at this time, and I was able to run to one of them, who took me in and cleaned me up and fed me until my parents got home. We later found out that the dog belonged to someone in the neighborhood. He (the dog) had somehow gotten into a can of polyurethane, which made him loopy as hell. As his owner tried to give him a bath, he managed to get away and wander the neighborhood, high as a kite. I don’t remember how he got bloodied up, but at the end of the day we all survived.

I was walking my Airedale with my kids one time when the Hallmark moment deteriorated quickly. My son, who was about 5 wanted to walk the dog so I let him hold the leash. Unfortunately, the Airedale saw one of his nemeses at the end of the block and took off like a rocket dragging my son with him, screaming like a banshee. As I ran to catch up, my daughter in the stroller also began to howl maniacally. When we caught up to the dog, he had his rival firmly in his jaws and the dog's owner was obviously less than pleased. When I arrived and she saw my predicament however, she said "Ordinarily I'd really be pissed at you. But I gotta say, I actually feel bad for you". Thank God for alcohol!

In January 2008, about a month after i adopted my retired RACING greyhound, we were outside (in january) letting her do her business. She was off the leash because of our "secured" gated side yard, but suddenly a huge gust of wind came along and blew the gate wide open. We looked at the gate, then each other, and then Penny was off! She flew across Eastern Ave in morning rush hour with me semi-close behind her. Keep in mind i was in pajamas and my slippers and it was early january. Penny stopped to poop, finished and took off running again before i could catch up with her. (I did go back and pick up the poop!) Tears were freezing to my face and my lungs had frozen to a point where it was hard to yell her name. I decided to walk around for a bit, squeaking out her name since breathing was beyond impossible and amazingly saw her across the block! Never one to turn down food, I grabbed a moldy piece of bread on the ground and after a few "fake outs" lured her in with false promises of delicious moldy bread. She was so proud of herself that it was hard to yell (plus I couldn't physically get any noise to come out). We walked back from our adventure with Penny's head held high. My lungs are still frozen.

Dissapearing dogs are a nightmare come true. But this can work.

Wait until they look back at you,

then throw yourself on the ground, thrash and make silly, high pitched noises.

(peek and see if they're coming back - if not)

Screech and giggle and start running in in the other direction skipping excitedly.

Sometimes the attraction of finding out what the h*ll you are up to, overwhelms the desire to see what they can find :)

Try having to hunt down a Senegal Parrot? Mine flew away just before dusk. It was a nightmare - walking around in the dark with flashlights whistling and saying "Pretty girl!". I think some of the neighbors thought I was some kind of peeping tom because I was searching the bushes outside their homes. I had to give up for the evening and it was a horrible night of worry and kicking myself for taking her outside. The next morning when it was light out I walk back to the area we saw her fly off to and stood and looked at all the many trees and was about to give up. Then I heard a whistle that she has made in the past. I heard another and followed the sound and within seconds found her sitting on a branch of a crape myrtle tree. I was so happy and relieved. She just celebrated her 6th birthday Wednesday. Most pet birds that get lost never make it back home.

We have 2 resident escape artists in our house. A 2 year old chocolate lab who unfortunately has very successfully taught our one year old golden retriever how to pull our chain link fence apart, dig under it and escape - all in the name of chasing a bunny rabbit. Our fence is now secured with 2 foot rebar threaded thru the chain link and hammered into the ground. And for good measure, we have cinder blocks leaning against the fence.

Last Sunday - in the mud and rain - they found a breach in the fence. The golden dug himself a big old mud puddle hole, forced his 90 pound body between 2 pieces of rebar that apparently spaced too far apart and took off. The chocolate lab followed right behind him. They took off to the stream that runs behind our house. My son and I took off in hot pursuit - me in my slippers - with dog leashes in tow. When we finally caught up with them, they were muddy and exhausted. The golden lost his collar somewhere in the journey (the chocolate lab still had her collar and my son hooked the leash on her). So I had to grab him by the scruff of the neck so I could get him back to the house. He was none too pleased with that and keep trying to do an alligator death roll on me so I would lose my grip. And every time he would do this, his muddy paws and body would rub up against me. Ugh! By the time I got him home, I was covered in mud! I was so happy to be home and promptly took a shower!!

savingpets - That actually works. My out-of-control English Setter was a bolter. I could chase him for hours to no avail. Throwing myself on the ground usually worked but sometimes I had to resort to hiding behind a tree - then he would come looking for me.

My ex used to take the escape artist dog on the leash and have the dog pull him along on x-country skis. One day it was particularly icy and the dog stopped running in mid-gallop, ex kept going and in turn slipped the collar from the dog's neck. Dog realized FREEDOM and took off running up and down our street followed behind by ex (wearing x-country ski boots which make this clicking noise with each step (metal tips/metal heels)). I was watching from the window, howling with laughter and he was shaking his fists at me and cursing (something about getting my lazy butt out to help) with every pass by. Everytime he headed up the street and then back down I laughed even harder. By the time the dog was tired of the game and came home, ex was too exhausted to berate me even further. That was also the end of the dog's skiing days.

These are some great stories! Scary as heck at the time, but SO funny afterward!

I'm so glad that Teddy Bean and Pumpkin are home safe! That's always so scary when our pets dart off like that!

I've had a few experiences with my dogs darting off but nothing as adorably hilarious as Teddy Bean running for the hills...or, the park.

The only thing that comes close is when I was still living with my parents and my husband came over (boyfriend at the time). We were standing at the front door saying goodbye, and it had just started to snow, when my dog, Hazel, crept through our legs and darted out the door.

We both started screaming and ran after her, in the snow with icy streets and sidewalks, hindering our sprints along the way.

We chased her screaming like lunatics around the entire neighborhood when finally, my husband was able to get close enough to leap for her.

Well, when he leaped for her, she inconspicuously moved out of the way and he landed chest-first into the grill of a 70's Cadillac.

Needless to say, by that point, f-bombs were flying from both me and my husband.

As she was rounding the car, circling us and barking (a.k.a. laughing) as hard as she could at my husband, he was able to grab her.

We walked back to my house, covered in snow, wet and cold from head to toe, with a very happy puppy that was quite pleased with herself for the spectical she put on in the neighborhood.