Just One Time - Stories of Dogs

Newfoundlands are noted for their instinct to save lives.

Many years ago I heard about a Newfoundland dog who had climbed out of his kennel. There was deep snow on the ground and the plows were piling it up even more.He had never tried to climb out of his kennel before.

He knew there was a child in trouble.

He found the child buried in a snow bank and trampled the snow down around her. She clung to his coat as he pulled her from her icy prison.

Just the one time.

I had been training for tracking with dogs, Tracking is finding an object by following the trail, by scent that a track layer made. A couple with a Rottweiler wanted to learn and so came for one tracking lesson. The dog was a natural and was picking it up fast.

She told me the next time we met that the dog had saved her cat.

She had taken the cat to the vet. The vet was some distance away so she had put a harness and leash on the cat so she couldn’t slip away and get lost. As things sometimes happen, the cat managed to slip out of her grasp and dove into the woods trailing a leash. The woman was distraught. She was afraid the cat would become ensnared by the leash and not be able to be found..The vet’s assistants came out and helped her hunt for the cat, but she was nowhere to be found.

In desperation, the woman drove home, collected the Rottie and came back to the animal hospital. She took the dog out and asked it to find the cat. With no hesitation, the dog led her to where the cat was hiding.

- after just one lesson.

I had been training my dog for an obedience title. One of the exercises we had to perform was called a Drop on Recall. The dog was left across the ring from the handler. The command was given for the dog to come. Then, about the middle of the ring, the dog was given the command to lie down. Then the dog was called again. My dog, Hugo, knew his commands.

We had been visiting friends and it was getting dark. We left to get in the car parked by the side of the road and go home. I had to move some things on the seat to make room for Hugo. I heard a car coming too fast down the little back road. I called Hugo. In the headlights I saw that Hugo had crossed the road and was coming to me as I had asked him to do. He was on a collision course with the speeding car.

Without thinking, I yelled, “stay.” It was the wrong command, but Hugo stopped and stood there as the car roared by. All those years of training and practice –

For just that one moment.