The Dog Rescuer: Called into Action in San Dimas

I have written more than a few times about my husband the Dog Rescuer. There was the time we rescued two pitbulls in the middle of the summer, and miraculously drove almost directly to their home.  Or the time two dogs wandered up to us as we picked up a U-Haul the day before Thanksgiving and the Turkey Trot. There was the time he became the Calf Rescuer. Not to mention the rescue of our own dogs Lily , Olivia,, Goldie, and Buddy. Oh, and the kittens that he has cared for when their mothers could not. We have lots of stories.

Dogs know. Cats know. Somehow, even calves know that Alan will go above and beyond to make sure that he gets them home safely. Or, if that’s not possible, to make sure that they have a loving new home, sometimes our own.

It happened again over the weekend. We were in San Dimas, where Alan was announcing the third race in the Los Angeles Championship Triathlon Series at Bonelli Park. I will have a full report of the weekend, including the triathlon, my own training, our adventures, and our food, over the next couple days.

In the meantime, since we got home late on Sunday afternoon, I just want to tell you the story of Coco, the Dog Rescuers, and, what I can only call good karma.

The triathlon was on Saturday, so Alan and I arrived on Friday afternoon. After checking in first to the hotel, then with the race director at Bonelli Park, we decided to go to dinner at a nearby Mexican restaurant which had a vegetarian menu, easily made vegan by eliminating cheese. It was only about a third of a mile from the hotel, so we planned to walk. We hadn’t even left the hotel property when we saw a dog, alone, across the street from us. It did have a collar, and looked cared for (and slightly overweight), which was a good sign. It was scared of us, though, and as we approached started to head up the street.

We followed slowly, not wanting to scare it anymore. Heading toward us were two women, and when the dog saw them, it ran across the street, thankfully not getting hit by a car on what was a fairly busy street. One of the women didn’t hesitate. She put down her purse and followed the dog across the street, leaving the other woman to grab her purse. Alan and I also crossed the street after the dog.

We tried to approach carefully, not wanting to scare the dog into running farther and farther away. Alan suggested that I go order the dinner, and he continued to follow the dog, along with the other woman.

I did so, and while I was still waiting for the food, Alan showed up. He told me that he and the woman finally cornered the dog, but it still didn’t want to be approached. At that point, the other woman, pulled up in her car, and just happened to have some food. That was all it took, and the dog was easy to catch.

Now, let me introduce everybody. The woman who didn’t hesitate to chase the dog with Alan, was Megan. The other woman, who pulled up with the car, was her mother, Barbara. The dog, who was female, was named Coco. I was the blogger who didn’t get a single picture of this whole event.

While Coco did have tags, no one answered the phone. When Alan and I took our dinner up to our room, we left Megan and Barbara with the dog, hoping that the owner would call back quickly. Because, you see, both of them were competing in the triathlon the next morning. In fact, when the three of them had finally caught Coco, Barbara turned to Alan and asked him if he announced the Desert Triathlon. Small world.

The next morning, I was helping out with registration, when Megan and Barbara checked in. They told me that the owner didn’t call until 10:45 the night before! He’d been working, but he was so grateful he started to cry. Fortunately, the hotel had finally let them bring the dog into their room so they didn’t have to wait outside for the hours until he called.

So, good deed done. Now the good karma part. Megan won the race! And Barbara, 30 years older, was 3rd overall, only three minutes behind her daughter. Pretty cool, huh?

I found out later, as I was researching for this post, that Megan and Barbara are both accomplished triathletes, and own a swim shop in Encinitas (well, Barbara owns it and Megan manages it). And, another cool story, last year, when they were competing in the Carlsbad Triathlon, in spite of being in different waves, they both finished the race in the exact same time, to the second, in first place overall!

So that’s my dog rescuer story. I hope you enjoyed it. I’ll be back with more of the weekend adventures tomorrow.

How was your weekend? Have you ever had a dog rescuer moment?