Loose Dog

"A dog just ran out of the store."

Was what I heard over the radio as I was helping out up towards the front.

Which...a dog running out of the store implies that said dog left without it's owner. Which means we have a dog loose in our parking lot.

And yet none of my coworkers seemed concerned. *exhales*

I mean, we were in the middle of a rush. Petcare was busy, registers were busy, online orders were busy.

But still.

A dog running out into the parking lot was definitely a thing that one should go 'check out.'

Because we're on the corner of a busy road.

Like six lanes of traffic busy road (3 lanes going one way, 3 lanes going the other way) 

And if the dog spooks and runs right out into that chaos?

Yah no. Not good. 

So I double checked to verify that I heard my cashier correctly when they said that a dog ran out of the store...and then went outside to see if I could see said doggie.

As apparently a guy -a random stranger- ran out of the store after the dog (things he was intending to buy in his hands, which thankfully he did go back inside and pay for said items lol) and was trying to convince her to not head towards the road.

I ended up getting the dog's attention with his help.

And she ended up wedging herself down underneath some random person's car in the parking lot.

Which not the best place to end up.

But at least she had a leash on still so we were able to grab the leash and get a hold of her.

The customer ended up going back inside to pay for his stuff after I got a hold of the leash and I did my best to try and coax her out from under the car.

But the poor thing was so terrified she wasn't going to move.

And like, this is a lab sort of dog.

So she weights a fair bit more than a tiny lapdog. 

And I was being cautious because a) I didn't know if she would try and bite me if I moved her too much and b) I didn't want the collar to slip off her neck if I pulled too hard on the leash.

After a few minutes the owner ended up coming out after her dog.

Which the poor lady had apparently fallen in the store....from what I gathered another dog had started barking and maybe startled this poor puppy, which the dog had only been adopted 4 days ago and had just gotten done with her bath at our salon, and the dog startled and pulled free from her owner, causing said owner to fall from the force of her pulling free and then darted outside.

Thankfully the owner seemed fine. She was just concerned about her dog.

But she definitely wasn't of the...well muscle strength, to pull her dog out from under the car at all.

She was desperately trying to reach her husband on the phone, but he was outside and not answer so she was trying to reach him by contacting the neighbors to go find him in the backyard....

But thankfully the gentleman who had helped me catch the dog in the first place came back out and saw us still with her and helped us pull her out from underneath the car. 

I ended up keeping a good grip on the back of her neck while he kept a hold of the leash and we carefully but quickly walked the dog to the owner's car.

The dog was sooo happy to get inside that car lol jumped right up without any hesistation.

And the owner was glad to get her new dog safely in the car as well.

So I'm glad it all ended up well for everyone.

But ah, it was sure a stressful moment there. 

Until you next find these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi