Wednesday, March 26, 2008

I'm glad we went to the Dog Park today

Well, it was another eventful day on the Last Frontier (that's whatour license plates say_) at the Dog Park. Jim and I went over thereyesterday evening after dinner for our evening constitutional andthings were going as usual...dogs socializing, chasing sticks, etc.As we were making the loop round the lake, we began visiting with agentleman who had just moved up here with BP and was walking hisIbizen Hound for the first time at the park. We walked with him forabout the last 1/4 of the loop, approaching the bridge over the riverthat feeds the lake. This is the danger spot where Bailey went intothe water (see prior post about this story). The fresh water cominginto the lake freezes over for most of the winter, but before andafter, it's a bit mushy just right by the bridge. There is still an8 or 9 inch top on it that you can stand on, but when it ends, itends, and the water is freezing.So, to get on with it, Bailey ran out onto the ice with the 10 otherdogs that were playing out there and they're all goofing around,barking at ducks, etc. So, this Ibizen takes off after her andstarts sliding in perfect 360's like a hockey puck towards the edgeof the ice. The man from BP is standing there, watching this fromthe bridge, and he starts to laugh (as anyone would when a dog isspinning around and splashes into a lake). The second that dog hitthe water, I grabbed that man by the shoulders, looked him dead inhis eye, and screamed right into his face "YOU BETTER GO GO GO!!!!!YOUR DOG CANNOT GET OUT OF THERE WITHOUT YOUR HELP!!!" That poorman....He turned around, ran off the bridge and onto the ice with me in hotpursuit telling him what to do - "Get on your stomach and hurry - getto that edge and I'm right back here" was what I said I think - andabout that time all you could see of his dog was his nose. He hadalready done the obligatory trying to pull himself out, and of coursehe couldn't. It is a horrible look on an animal's face when theyrealize this and start to sink. So the guy army crawls to the edge,reached down into the water, and pulled his dog out by the collar.All was ok - he headed straight to his car but only after he toldme "I am so glad you were here - you saved me valuable seconds -Iwould have never realized that he couldn't get out until it was toolate". I told him what happened to Bailey, and that everything isdifferent here. EVERYTHING.Interesting side note: When I ran out onto the ice, right after Itold the guy to get on his stomach, I heard Jim yell "Jamie don'tmove any further-wait till he goes in the water!!" and of course, Jimhad already ran down the other side of the bridge, down the bank ofthe lake, and was hanging off of the side over the water, on a bigbent tree. He had already mapped out the shortest route to pull thedude, his dog, and probably me out of the water onto the other bankwith his body being in the water the least amount of time. Man, didI feel like a dumb white girl.Tomorrow, when I feel like typing this much again, and I haven'tbored anyone too much, I have an even better story to tell y'allabout us living in SE Alaska - it happened a couple of years ago soI'll be safe telling it now......:) to be continued...jamie

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