Runaway Baby

The leash gets tangled up in the volunteer's feet. She trips, drops the leash, lands hard on the sidewalk on all fours, goes kathunk (we feel it through our shoes), goes "Uhn", and the dog, frightened, takes off. The dogwalker yells "Baby!" and I think, That's affectionate, but later realize that it's the dog's name.

Baby is a small white American Eskimo dog and she's running away from the crash-noise-yell towards the parking lot. A woman coming out of her car sees Baby and beckons the dog over, pretending she has a treat. Baby stops running and takes a step towards her.

"Grab the leash!" someone yells but the woman doesn't hear or doesn't react. Baby takes another step towards the woman, nose up in the air trying to get a scent of the treat, realizing there is no treat after all and backs away. For a moment the woman and the dog stare at one another and then Baby turns tail and takes off, leash trailing behind her. The woman looks at Baby as she runs and then looks at us and shrugs.

We check to see if the dogwalker volunteer is okay. She is. Maybe a couple of scrapes, maybe some minor bruising later. My friend is already in her van, taking off after Baby. I get into my car, wishing I had my bicycle with me instead, and drive after Baby as well. The volunteer gives chase on foot.

I see Baby ahead, still running now along the side of the road heading towards the main intersection at Dufferin where there will be two lanes of traffic. Just before she gets there, she veers right then turns around and veers left and I think she might turn back around but instead she blindly runs across the intersection. I hold my breath. She doesn't get hit. I exhale. She's now in the parking lot of Medieval Times heading towards the park where I used to walk Stella every morning. The parking lot is half full with people walking from their cars to the show. My friend in the van is already over there and out of her vehicle, asking people to try to call the dog over to them.

I drive across the intersection and into the parking lot as well. I see Baby playing the part of a mad footballer, deking and dodging people with outspread arms and legs akimbo and beckoning voices and little kids squealing in delight at all the fun.

Baby avoids them all but it's all too much commotion for her here so she turns around and runs towards Dufferin again and again I hold my breath and I imagine everyone in the parking lot collectively holding their breaths as she dashes across Dufferin again back onto the CNE grounds, and we all exhale.

By the time I drive back over, Baby is nowhere to be seen. I see the volunteer. She had glimpsed Baby along the bushes by the border of the CNE grounds but she has lost sight of the dog now as well. She is near tears. The other driver in the van pulls up and we all talk and decide to go back to the office and see if anyone's heard anything. As we arrive, cars and TAS vans are pulling out and we tell them where we last saw Baby.

Five minutes later, I drive away with a sinking feeling. I have all these visions in my head of screeching tires and Baby bounced off the fender of some car only to be found months from now by some city worker picking up leaves and garbage.

Then, just before I get to the Dufferin intersection, I see a TAS van coming towards me. Baby's sitting in the passenger seat, paws on the dash, head looking out the windshield.

I follow the van back to the office. Baby had apparently cooled her heels and finally approached someone who grabbed her leash and held onto her until the animal control officer in the van retrieved her.

I'm expecting Baby to be a nervous, anxious dog but when I take the leash to go photograph her, she isn't that at all. In fact, she's gentle and friendly. She seems happy to be around us and as she wags her tail, I'm sure she's thinking, "Can we do that again?"

Maybe, but not with us. She was adopted a few days later.

From the new owners of Baby (now Sadie):

Here are some photos of our little girl. We all love her very much.



For adoption information on dogs (and cats and other animals), please visit Toronto Animal Services.

The eyes have it

When I dropped into Toronto Animal Services yesterday at noon, it was supposed to be just to say hello to Big George to see how he was doing but as I walked by the white board with the list of all the dogs that needed walking, I noticed that only half of them had been attended to.

The staff take out all the dogs in the morning for a quick washroom break but that's not a real walk, not in my book anymore. Five minutes doesn't cut it and the dogs really deserve and need the time they get with the volunteers walking them. Yesterday, though, the volunteer who was supposed to be there hadn't arrived yet.

I'm not at all putting any blame on the volunteer. After all who knows what might have happened. Sickness. Car broken down. Who knows, but regardless, the result was that half the dogs in the shelter had been stuck in their kennels all morning.

So, instead of spending time with George, I started taking out dogs. I do this quite often, fill in when someone's away or there's too many dogs, and it's never a big deal but yesterday, walking by all the dogs in their kennels who hadn't been out yet, I felt kind of depressed by it all. I think it may have been because one of the first dogs I passed was Spencer, a Doberman who reminded me of my own Rocky. Spencer was there by the front of his kennel, not making a peep but looking like he was trying very hard to be noticed with his perfectly well behaved sit. Something about his silence got to me. He was being a very good dog, not barking, not making a fuss, looking me in the eyes, doing all the right things so that I would choose him to take out.

And yet I did not.


And then I passed by Dalton ...


... and Sandy ...


... and Lady ...


... and Paddy ...


... and I get to the end of the kennel and take out two dogs who get along really well with each other to walk them at the same time - more efficient that way. And then I have to walk by all these other dogs again who are now thoroughly disappointed.

The photos I take for the adoption website all show the dogs outside, generally happy and alert and pretty full of life but in reality, they spend almost all their time here in their kennels waiting to be noticed, for that glance from a person, a touch, some attention, a few moments when they can feel wanted, included. Sure, it's not a big deal in the grand scheme of things, them missing out on a walk or missing out on some playtime, but denying them any of these few, small enough pleasures they get during their sometimes long stay at TAS just seems wrong.

It all comes down to this. TAS needs more volunteers. They've got a full schedule of volunteers and there is pretty well a volunteer coming in every open hour of every day but that's in the ideal case with no one being sick or late or whatever. And also, sometimes, there are more dogs than one volunteer can handle in the time they're there. So, I'm trying to talk TAS into doubling up their volunteer numbers or even tripling. This way, if someone can't make it, there'll hopefully still be at least one or two other people showing up.

Also, TAS South is getting more dogs now. The rescue work has really increased and that means more dogs to walk so more volunteers only makes sense. All the dogs need more people time.

So, for your consideration: If you've ever felt like getting hands-on involved and have thought about doing some volunteering, this would be a great time to do it. Come visit TAS South, check the place out, fill out a volunteer application form. They'll explain the volunteering process to you - sometimes they make a big deal of it but it's all pretty informal once you get started. Afterward, it's sometimes a little frustrating waiting for the bureaucracy to get to responding to the volunteer requests but I've been told that someone is going through all the applications right now. And even if you apply and don't make it this time, which would be nonsensical, TAS will have your name on file for the next round.

Hope to see you round there sometime.

Toronto Animal Services South, 7 days/week, 10:30 am - 6:30 pm
140 Princes' Blvd. (Horse Palace, Exhibition Place)

This is the south shelter number: 416 338 6668. If you call this number and get a machine, just hang up and try again later otherwise you might end up waiting on hold for a week or so.

This is the main TAS number if you're interested in one of the other shelters (but I don't know what they're like at all with respect to volunteers): 416 338 7297