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This is ‘Loyal’

June 1, 2013   ·   0 Comments

Dear editor:

I call him that, because when I first approached him, he was sitting at the locked gate on our farm near Colgan. He wouldn’t budge. It was Saturday, May 25th around 4:30 p.m. He barked angrily at me and scared me. I didn’t know what to do, how to unlock my gate. I had just driven over from my home in Tottenham with my own three dogs, to take a walk. I tried talking to Loyal, going around him, but he would not let me pass. He kept looking down the road and then leaning against the gate, sniffing the lock on the gate and growling at me. I was confused- was he guarding the gate because someone was back on our property, or because he was deranged and didn’t realize he could just walk around it to the other side? I called the Alliston Humane Society, Animal Control in both Adjala and New Tecumseth and could only leave messages. I drove my dogs back home and then returned to the farm. Loyal hadn’t moved.

Passers by suggested I call the police, ignore him, not let my dogs near him. The Canine Control officer said he’d already been by earlier as the neighbour had called, and he couldn’t catch him. Suggested he might bite and to leave him.  But he was kind enough to come back, meet me at the gate again, shooed the dog away from the lock, and checked out the farm with me (no one was there of course). He tried to catch him again with no luck and before leaving, suggested I leave the gate open, hoping the dog might roam off eventually.

Then I saw it.  A pile of kibble, mixed with some dirt and pine cones, like it had been shoveled off the ground, then dumped at the end of the driveway. My heart sank.

Now tell me, where would Loyal roam off to? He wasn’t going anywhere as far as he was concerned. And I feared if he did come across someone, he might hurt them or, more likely, they would hurt him. He pressed himself against the gate and barked and barked, looking nervously down the road.  I just about cried at this point.  This dog was being so loyal to his master that had left him to wander, be shot or hit by a car, freeze or starve. I simply couldn’t just leave him there.

So, after treats and cajoling and just sitting about 20 feet away from him for some time, I even tried some puppy talk and started walking down the lane way – “Come on Buddy- let’s go for a walk!”. Well, didn’t he just come over slowly and sniff me and then start prancing around me!! He pranced around me almost halfway down the lane, before he startled and ran back to the gate. That’s when I realized how frightened he must have been.

I drove home, called my two of my friends, and they agreed to come over and help me. I also took two of my dogs, Lucy and Aneeka, back to the gate deciding to take a chance and see if Loyal would listen to them. My Lucy is a good barometer as to the nature of other dogs.

By 9:30 p.m., we had coerced him into my friend’s car, and we brought him home. Loyal stayed in our garage overnight. I put a dog bed, some food and water there for him and he was very content. (I know – you’re probably surprised he wasn’t sleeping in our bed by then). The next morning he jumped into the car tentatively, when I sadly took him to canine control. I realized that he was just terrified. He did a good job scaring me, but I also realized he was not a biter, just a mounter…he wanted to mount anything he could, and this did not go over well with my dogs or me.

He never once tried to bite us, he didn’t bark at all through the night or when I left him in the yard this morning. He loved being hugged and rubbed and prancing around. He’s probably less than a year old and desperately needs to be neutered! Protocol will require him to stay at canine control for 5 days and then he will be transferred to the Alliston and District Humane Society, where he will be neutered etc. and will be put up for adoption. It will be a stressful time for him.

If I didn’t have three rescued dogs already, I would have kept Loyal without hesitation.  He is a beautiful dog, looks in good health, very smart, calm, has a great smile, very brave and more loyal than any of my pups (they would have happily jumped into anyone’s car and made a new home elsewhere!)  I also think he would be a fantastic protector – all bark and to my relief, no bite.

So, I am sorry Loyal that I could not keep you.  But I am so happy that my friends were there to help me, and that you took a chance and trusted us.   I pray that someone will give you a good home with lots of patience, attention and love. I know you will make a wonderful, life-long, loyal friend.

Sunyatta Guild

905936-6544

slguild@sympatico.ca

 


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