The PR folks over at Cardinal Laboratories in California sent me some Healthy Omega Treats for Dogs last week so that I could try them and write a product review. What better test of a dog snack’s viability than an emergency situation. Right? Right. Here is our adventure.
Last Thursday, I hunkered down to work without much fanfare. No workout, no shower. Just wake up and work. (It’s a little secret of the freelance community. Sometimes, being clean isn’t a prerequisite.)
Then, 5 1/2 hours into my marathon workday, Ginko started barking inside because Lilly was barking outside. I popped up to see what was what. And, the roadside scene scared me.
Two of my neighbor’s 4 dogs were loping up the road. Now, typically our mild-mannered rural road isn’t freeway scary, but as we learned recently, the road is still dangerous. And, that particular day, there were huge dump trucks and even-bigger 18-wheel trailer trucks hauling a lot of something up the road. In a near-constant parade of large-vehicle traffic, they’d been blasting up and down all day.
I convinced Lilly to come inside, which she did happily after Belle (a great dane) and Clyde (a chocolate lab) passed by. Then, desite my pajama’d state, I mounted a rescue.
[Yes, she is wearing an invisible fence shock collar … :o(]
Belle, who longtime readers might recognize as a parallel walking game friend of Lilly’s
** Photo of Clyde not available.
I got both my dogs into the basement, threw on some shoes, grabbed my gate opener, tore open the bag of Healthy Omega Treats for Dogs and ran like a wild woman for the road.
Belle, who isn’t famous for coming to strangers, began running toward me until she thought better of it and stopped right in the middle of the road.
All my non-threatening posturing — like crouching down, not looking her in the eye — did not help. Even when I tried to bridge the gap between us by tossing these treats on the ground, she didn’t budge.
So, I turned my attention to Clyde, who clearly thought the treats were a GREAT idea.
It took some serious strength and leverage to hold onto him once he got close enough because Clyde is ONE STRONG boy. (My back muscles hurt for days.)
Belle, on the other hand, was still having none of it and ran back toward her home. Generally, a good sign, but there were two big trucks coming up the road.
Using the universal slow-the-@#$@#-down arm signals, I got the drivers to realize she was on/near the road. (I’m sure waving wildly while wearing pajamas in the middle of the afternoon made me quite a sight … sorry … photo of that also not available.)
While I held onto Clyde, the trucks crept by us.
Once the coast was clear, I figured it was safe to let Clyde loose since he now was WELL AWARE I had food. He stayed right with me and ate while we walked back up the road.
Belle realized thanks to Clyde’s happy response that I must be an OK person, so she came trotting up to snack and walk too.
I got both of them safely onto our fenced property and then later home. I can only hope if my dogs ever get out someone will have as much luck as I did.
So, if the true test of a dog treat is luring a dog who does NOT know you well to safety, then I’d say they pass the test.
Since the treats are far too big for use in high-volume reward training, I’m cutting the remaining ones into smaller pieces to feed Lilly during our various training sessions. They are soft enough to cut with scissors, but hard enough not to be messy.
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