Dog escapes walker, Oliver’s doggy day care story
I took the path home through the North Woods in Central Park last May. Ponds, streams and waterfalls are part of this landscape, with stone bridges arching over some. After a certain pond (“the pool”), the water flows under a bridge and streams into those woods. And there in middle of a wide stream sat a trembling dog with a small crowd gathering around. The dog (Oliver, I found out later) had escaped his daycare walker, vaulted over a bridge and landed in the stream. Hurt and scared, this dog was immobilized. Everyone asked what to do and calls got made (including to those elusive Park Rangers).
At one point, a tall man broke from the group and stepped into the stream and began walking towards the fallen dog. His, no doubt good intentions only served to get Oliver moving away from him and towards the opposite direction where a waterfall runs. And that’s when I stepped forward, asked the man to stop moving towards Oliver and lay down on the bank as close as I could get. I asked the people standing there, for a cookie, a treat, something. I knew the dog wouldn’t take it but I knew, he knew what treats were and that meant some good dog feelings somewhere. Someone offered part of a sandwich. Oliver at least spent time looking at it.
And with repeated coaxing, telling Oliver what a good, good, dog he was, and how everything was going to be OK, I was able to get him to move close enough towards me that I could make contact, always keeping a hand on him, and finally, pull him by the side and then hoist him up from the hindquarters on to the bank and then on path next to me. Dog out of the water. And that trembling mass of so much fur and beseeching eyes and top knot hairdo just shook and shook against me. The walker came with a slip lead, he must have been beside himself and I didn’t help -telling him the dog was afraid of him, of what he represented, and that this was no way to move this dog forward, who was no doubt hurt — that fall onto large rocks in the stream (the right front leg was being carried as if so and when in the water the breathing was labored (ribs?) not to mention hypothermia). The owner/manager of the day care was next. And again with the slip lead — what is it with not knowing when not to use this? Went through the why not and at last he took off his jacket, wrapped up Oliver, picked him up and carried him away. Of course I had to say as they left, “Not every dog belongs in daycare.” But said with a good luck gesture and as a Conservancy worker thanked me, that’s when I almost lost it, crying for all these dogs that only want to be home with who they love.
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After having worked closely in and behind the scenes of the NYC pet services industry for five years, I can say that pet service businesses are hard to run well without the appropriate environment, including adequately educated and trained staff. That the same space considerations that made so many (pre pandemic) businesses possible in a city where no one wants to walk more than two blocks to drop off their dog or get a designer coffee also make pet services a serious design, management and expense conundrum. I worked with good facilities, but they were in the minority — they are the ones that have toys for the dogs to play with, lots and lots and lots of them, enough floor area for beds and furniture for all dogs to lie on and around, enough (handler to dog ratio) knowledgeable staff to interact with dogs (including walks), etc. There’s more to consider than we think.
There are better ways to run pet care services businesses than the ways we are running most of them. (One of the reasons I left my role in the industry at the time was to develop alternatives with Petcentered, Inc.) Dog training and grooming are not the only pet service businesses in need of regulation. I have mostly seen information given in scenarios like these that are majorly skewed in favor of the business establishment doing no wrong. Most doggy day cares wanting to stay in business, will be reluctant to tell a client their dog is perhaps better off going home after an hour or two or does not want to be there or that they do not have the staff, in number or training, or enrichments to engage even the dogs that tolerate it. More likely the business will tell the owners the handler/walker is “suspended”, “terminated”, “being investigated” and worst scenario -some spin along the lines of the dog liking his run so much he wanted to swim…
No one sends their dog to a sitter or day care or walker without wanting the best for their dog. These owner/guardians are not to be shamed, they are the ones who are spending the money to provide what they believe and are told are the best services for the pets they love.
But it doesn’t always turn out that way. The dog that runs away from the walker, is tied to a bench for a timed walk while the walker goes through their phone, is shushed and scolded at a crowded daycare with nothing to do or worse, so much worse too, does not belong there. Bored, or surrounded by chew toys, waiting at home with a relief walk or two — now that is where so many dogs are running to get back to.
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