The best and the worst...

[Emmeileia]

It's been an...odd week at my job.
First the bad: One of our sled dogs died. The poor guy somehow managed to get his collar snagged, panicked and choked himself. It happened while we were up launching sleds, so we were out of the kennel maybe 10 minutes. My coworker tried CPR, but we found him too late. Everyone is really broken up, our boss especially cause she is probably clostest to all the dogs. So RIP Alvin.

The good also involves the dogs. One of our staff lost his dog about three weeks ago. I'm not sure exactly how it happened, but somehow Monkey got out of his truck in the forest and ran off. He was really upset, and since Monkey was still basically a puppy we had figured he was dead at this point, especially with the really bad snowstorms the past couple of weeks. Well, Monkey is home today! One of our maintenance guys found him, and thought we had lost a dog from the kennels. After he heard the description of the dog over the radio, coworker booked it out into the woods and found a skinny, exhausted but overjoyed little Monkey. Best Christmas present ever. Monkey is now warm at home being slowly fed up.

Just an exhausting week.

[Rebel1012]

Glad to hear about monkey, great he still alive

Lost a dog myself to getting a collar caught...somehow my other one got his leg caight in her choker collar and no one was home to help at teh time (told to me by my dad so i dont know exactly how it happened)

[XCashier]

RIP, Alvin. You were much loved and are missed.

Welcome home, Monkey, and please don't wander off again!

Emmeileia, what kind of job do you do that involves using sled dogs?

[Emmeileia]

Emmeileia, what kind of job do you do that involves using sled dogs?

I am actually a dog sled guide in the winter. I work at a huge privately owned forest reserve, and it is our big draw in the winter.

[Kyree]

I am actually a dog sled guide in the winter. I work at a huge privately owned forest reserve, and it is our big draw in the winter.

Can I have your job?

[Saydrah]

Glad to hear about monkey, great he still alive

Lost a dog myself to getting a collar caught...somehow my other one got his leg caight in her choker collar and no one was home to help at teh time (told to me by my dad so i dont know exactly how it happened)

One case of a warning label that actually belongs on a product... unlike the ones in the check it out section ("Warning, Avoid Death?").

When I worked in pet retail, I frequently had to explain to customers why the choke collars said 'not for use for tie out, use only with supervision.' One lady was insistent upon tying her beagle out in her yard on a choke collar and wouldn't listen to reason from me or a manager- manager finally refused the sale on the grounds that we could not accept the liability due to the risk of serious injury to her dog after she told us what she planned to use the item for.

Em (can I call you Em?) your job sounds awesome. On my second to last weekend at the dog food job, a lady brought in seven gorgeous sled dogs to get their pictures with Santa Claus. She posed them all and they sat perfectly still and looked straight at the camera with no other encouragement, and when it was time to leave, she just went out to her van, pointed at one dog at a time, and the dog pointed at hopped in and sat down while the others sat politely on the median next to the parked van. I was amazed! Sled dogs are the coolest. Sorry to hear about the poor pup, and glad Monkey made his way home after that 'monkey business' (haha) about getting lost!

[LizaMarie]

Ergh, that's so sad about your dog. My family doesn't collar our cats anymore, since the same thing happened to one of them. She tried to get under a chain link fence and couldn't get back out.

[XCashier]

When I worked in pet retail, I frequently had to explain to customers why the choke collars said 'not for use for tie out, use only with supervision.' One lady was insistent upon tying her beagle out in her yard on a choke collar and wouldn't listen to reason from me or a manager- manager finally refused the sale on the grounds that we could not accept the liability due to the risk of serious injury to her dog after she told us what she planned to use the item for.

:sigh: If only we could treat idiot pet owners the way they treat their pets.

The few times I had to tie my dog out, I always hooked it to her harness, not her collar. Same with leash walking. She was a much happier puppy for that.

[Fawn]

RIP Alvin!
Maybe his spirit brought the little Monkey home

A long time ago my cat (RIP Sammy) tried getting his collar off and it got stuck in his mouth and wouldn't budge. We had to unbuckle the collar from inside his mouth :S He made it out fine though. He did have some stretching of the lips/edges in the end. My cat, Cindy, tried something similar a year ago and we decided to stop using the collar for her. She's an indoor cat, so its okay (she hates outside).

[Saydrah]

With microchipping so readily available now, I don't think I'll ever collar an indoor cat again- if they DO somehow get out, any shelter or ACO can just beep their shoulders and find out exactly where they belong.

[Emmeileia]

Unfortunatly we have to collar our dogs, as it is where one of the clips for the harnesses go. (And having their names on the collar really helps new people tell the 150 odd huskies apart...) We only use chokes on a couple of the really hyper ones who have heads so small they can wiggle out of a normal collar, and someone is always with them to supervise. Alvin was one who needed a choke, but he actually caught himself on his cloth collar. Right now we are talking about getting special collars which snap if a lot of stress is on them.

Saydrah...I wish we could get our dogs to behave as well as the woman you met!Since we are not a racing kennel (Just tours) we take pretty much any dog that will pull so many of them don't have the calmest disposition. A lot of pound puppies, at our kennel. :P
Always nice to have them so excited to see you though.