Always Take Your Cell Phone

My local dog park is a wonderful place, as many of you already know, and I have made some wonderful friends there. Today as I was walking to my car with my brood in tow, I ran into one who actually owns a beautiful golden retriever named Billy who could be Sam's clone--except Billy is about 20 pounds heavier and a bit more square than Sam.

In any event, we caught up while the dogs did their usual chase routine and she told me about Billy's latest stint as a search and rescue dog, which I am going to share with you because of the important message embedded within the tale.

It seems that Billy's dad likes to take him to the park late in the afternoons for an evening run. Their usual routine is from about 4:30 until 5:30, at which point it is pretty dark. Now I personally would not want to be tripping over tree branches or vines in the dark, but he doesn't mind it.

Last week when he was coming back to the parking lot after his walk, Billy's dad saw and heard a fire engine and an ambulance barreling up the driveway into the park. He asked them what was going on and they told him that someone had fallen in the park and called 911 on his cell phone. The firemen said that the victim's location was near the first granite steps but they had no idea where that was. Well Billy's dad did and offered to take them. But first he was told he had to leash Billy.

After frantically searching (to no avail) for a leash in the car, he called his wife who told him that the leash was sitting at home on the kitchen counter. So the firemen told Billy and his dad they couldn't come.

"OK," said Billy's dad and started walking to his car. About one minute later, the firemen were back, having determined that they had absolutely no idea where the first set of granite steps were, especially in the dark. They told Billy's dad he could show them, without a leash.

Which is what they did and when Billy found the victim, he went and sat right next to him, along with the man's dog, who was also keeping vigil. They loaded him onto a stretcher, hooked up an IV, and transported him to the ambulance, which Billy's dad had instructed them to park at the bottom of the hill. The man had broken his elbow and was in a lot of pain.

Needless to say, Billy and his dad are feeling pretty proud of themselves. All of which reminds me to tell you to always take your cell phone when you are hiking and to think about calling a person who knows the trails as well as 911. I hate to think what would have happened to that poor man if Billy and his dad hadn't been there.

We may think our dogs will save us, and they might, but a cell phone and is more reliable.