Phoenix is Missing
The warm weather is a great time to enjoy with your family and canine companions with some planning and precaution. Enjoying the coolness of trees with a walk in the park or a trip to a lake or the ocean, but sometimes an unforeseen event can cause heartache.
We can all confess that at some point in our lives, we experienced overwhelming stress when one of our pets went missing. This is exactly what happened when Chelsey our neighbor took advantage of the cool breeze by the ocean with her beloved dog Phoenix.
The clouds were starting to roll in when suddenly a large clap of thunder frightened the dog, and she ran off, the leash dragging behind her still attached to her collar.
Her owner posted for help to find her, and many in the community responded with prayers, reposting on social media and visiting the area where she was last seen. Searching on foot, in cars, kayaks, jet skis, boats, and drones.
The Eastwoods, who continued searching for her, spotted Phoenix and found her trapped in the marsh by her leash entangled in the brush. Two days and 23 hours later, she was reunited with her owner Chelsey. Overwhelmed with happiness and relief, she sent a heartwarming thank you to everyone in our community who helped and prayed for a safe return for Phoenix.
My own experience with Leash chasing Dog
Several years ago, I had my puppy out for a walk while visiting friends in the Cape May area in NJ. In that area, there are wide tracks of marshland along the coast with marinas, canals, bays, and condos, like the one where we were staying. I had Buddy, a Toy Manchester Terrier, on the other end of a retractable leash out for a walk.
I was not used to having my dogs on that type of leash when out and about, as it had a large plastic handle that you could only grasp with your fingers and not secure with your entire hand, and it actually felt awkward. It also was designed with a stop-gap bead which did not allow the string part of the leash to retract within the handle completely, so it always had a length of three feet between the dog and the handle on the end. It was designed this way so if you suddenly let go, it would not come smacking down on the dog.
Well, somehow, the handle slipped out of my hands and slapped onto the pavement behind Buddy, who now thought the handle of the leash was chasing him. Yes, you guessed it! He took off, flying down the road, running as fast as he could so whatever he thought was chasing him did not catch him.
Yes, I made a complete spectacle of myself running down the road after him screaming, as he was only six pounds and certainly wasn't stopping on his own. Drivers in the cars could not see him. All they could see was a woman, apparently out of her mind running down the center of the road screaming BUDDY COME!!!
He finally stopped at the door of the condo where we had stayed as the road had ended there.
It was God's intervention that when I dropped the leash, he didn't start running in the opposite direction, and he could not detect the familiar scent from the walk we had just taken because he wasn't stopping on his own.
For me, this was just another learned Lesson of Life, as there have been many!
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