Cooper
We were coming home from the city, and had just turned off the busy four-lane highway onto Garven Road, when I heard.
“Oh no.”
“What?” glancing at the girlchild, I looked towards where she was pointing. There in the ditch, was a golden retriever. Of course, he was being a typical water dog, and was playing in the water. The problem was, he was playing in a ditch right beside a very busy, two-lane highway. To say Garven Road is busy is almost, an understatement. It’s the main route for many gravel pits, as well as traffic from OakBank and many rural areas. The potential of the dog being hit by a semi or other vehicle was, extremely high. In fact, as we were pulling onto the shoulder, the dog left the ditch, and trotted up onto the road. Completely oblivious to the heavy traffic, it was only because drivers were paying attention, that he wasn’t hit right then. They all stopped, put on their four-way flashers then when the dog, casually walked across the road and stood in a driveway, they all went on their way.
Not us though. We couldn’t leave a dog, at risk of being hit by a vehicle. Lickety–split, sweetpea had the car turned around. She parked her little Cooper, at the end of the driveway, where the dog was still standing. In the few minutes that it took, to see the dog, get turned around, and back to him, we’d discussed the possibility of it actually being at home. We’d never seen any animal, not dog or cat on the property, ever. Though we were sure, it wasn’t the dog’s home. Sweetpea still took him by his collar, and led him to the door.
While she was doing that, I was busy emptying the back seat of the Mini Cooper. I had to put something down on the cloth seat. A wet water dog and cloth seats don’t go well together. There was nothing to do, but put my fleece sweater over the seat. After all, it’s easy enough to wash, and the seat isn’t.
No one was home, which is what we’d figured out already. There weren’t any dog dishes around, no signs of a dog, only his fresh tracks. As we were pretty certain it wasn’t their dog, into the car he went. It’s rather funny, how a lost dog will often come to complete strangers. Not only come to strangers, this dog also willingly climbed into the car. I had to mop up his drooly chops with a paper napkin. Sweetpea took a few photos so she could post him, and away we went.
“So, I wonder what his name is.”
“Cooper,” the girlchild answered with a grin, “Yup, Cooper’s getting a ride in a Cooper.”
Cooper had rabies tags from the OakBank Animal Hospital, so we decided to take him there. If anyone would be able to get him back home, it should be them. The friendly dog enjoyed the ride. He looked out windows, rested his head on my shoulder, then sweetpea’s shoulder. Once in a while, he yawned to release a bit of stress, but all in all, he was pretty cool about the situation.
We checked if he could be left at the vet’s, and of course, he could. He was very excited to go to the vet. Almost dragging sweetpea to the door and inside, he seemed happy to be there. Until it was time for him to be taken to the kennels, that is. Then he seemed to drastically change his mind, which was pretty amusing. Poor Cooper. He must’ve remembered some past experience, possibly neutering, and didn’t want to go there again.
As we left the clinic, we were relieved that Cooper was going to be safe. We also decided that it was a good idea, to carry a blanket and lead in the car. After all, one never knows, when they might come in handy.
Leave a Reply