Who let the dogs out? And the cats?
It seems there’s been a proliferation of pets on the loose lately in Chemainus and Crofton, with their owners nowhere in sight.
It’s obviously a concern when pets go missing because you always fear the worst that something’s happened to them. Fortunately, there have been mainly good news stories of the dogs or cats being located after a short time by neighbours or someone around the towns.
It’s a good reminder for people to keep tabs on their pets. Cats are hard to keep track of because of their natural wandering ways, but dogs are usually good if they’re left in restricted areas around your yard when you’re not home.
They tend to understand their boundaries a lot more.
But that doesn’t mean they won’t get out from time to time and, depending on their training, could wind up anywhere.
One person had a good idea on social media.
He suggested creating a page in Around Town Crofton on Facebook where pet owners could submit good photos of their dogs and cats. Then, when a stray is located, it could be looked up on the page to identify it and the owner sooner.
In our small communities, it’s a good thing that many people already know each other and their pets so it usually doesn’t take too long to determine who owns a pet found wandering around. But sometimes they can go long distances and not be found for several days that can result in dire consequences.
The bottom line is people need to ensure their pets are in a secure environment when not in their immediate care.
For dogs that tend to be aggressive in unfamiliar surroundings, this is when incidents of biting people or other dogs can happen and result in some serious injuries.
This is also true of walking on trails where there are a lot of dogs around. It’s a good idea to keep your dogs on a leash if there’s any doubt of running afoul of another.
Sure, dogs like to run loose more often than not, but it’s not the best situation for the public that doesn’t know its behaviour.