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View Full Version : Sequoia and our hour of terror



Denyce
04-11-2005, 12:06 PM
Just to start out so no one panics...everything turned out fine in the end...ok so now on to the story.

Sat afternoon at around 3ish my husband was out raking leaves out of the flower beds while Sequoia was on her zip line on the porch chasing squirrels and birds from the feeders. She doesn't get to do this often but we thought it would help give her some exercise. The zip line doesn't allow her to reach the door to the house since sometimes the cats sneak out between my feet and I want them to have a safety zone.

Well that is what happened...Deirdre, my Abysinnian mix, slipped out between my feet when I stepped out to talk to Brian. She jumped down off the end of the porch to go and eat some grass. She refused to allow Brian to catch her since she really didn't feel she should go back in the house. Deirdre is usually extremely good about staying close to the house. So I had to go down the steps and get her. Now Sequoia was at the other end of the porch with her zip line caught so she couldn't get down the porch. I thought this was a good thing so I could grab Deirdre and get her back into the house and then release Sequoia.

So I get ahold of Deirdre and turn to go in. Sequoia had gotten herself untangled and was standing at the top of the steps. There was now no way for me to get into the house as the front door was locked. By the way for those that don't know...Sequoia being a true husky born and bred really feels that cats are best for lunch. Me being only 5'2" didn't want to risk walking past her with a cat in my arms. So Brian walked up onto the porch to take hold of Sequoia. When he did it happened....the horrible moment...the half a second you wish to whatever you could just take back....the....:eek: :eek: :eek: moment when you are holding just the end of the zip line with no dog attached.:eek: :eek:

There I am in the driveway holding onto Deirdre with Sequoia bounding towards us. I just knew that I had to hang onto Deirdre no matter what. That if she got away from me it could be disaster! I started to run with her for the pole barn but then realized that our darling Sequoia had lost interest in me and the cat and was racing away for the woods!:eek:

So I ran for the house instead...as my husband ran after Sequoia yelling her name. I got all the cats in the bedroom and shut the door then left the porch door wide open and called Sequoia. Hoping against hope that coming in the house would be better than running. Guess what...it wasn't. How silly of me to think it would be. Silly silly woman I am:o :rolleyes:

I won't give you all the tiny details. Lets just say that Sequioa spent an hour racing about the neighborhood. Through everyone's homes, through the woods, back and forth across the road, down one side of the mountain and through a stream, etc etc etc.

She snarled at the neighbors yellow lab, she attacked the fence that the other neighbor's dobie and rottie were in. She piddled everywhere she could, went up on everyone's decks. All with Brian and I behind her calling frantically. She would just look at us and run further. The more we went towards her the further she went. At one point when I was following her UP the mountain on the other side I realized this and gave up following. I went back to the car I was in at this point and she had followed me back down but still wouldn't go home! She had already lead Brian down the mountain on the other side. She went so deep into the woods it took him almost 30 minutes to make his way back. He was positive she was gone and we would never see her again.

In the meantime she had circled back to the houses and I was tracking her with the car hoping I could intice her into a car ride. After an hour of running in the heat she finally went up on the neighbor's porch who had the rooster she took down the last time she got away. Cindy the neighbor was able to take hold of her collar and we got her back.

My husband came walking back into the yard just as I was pulling with Sequoia in the back seat of the car. He was so relieved he just sat down and cried for a moment while Sequoia with her dirty muddy paws licked his face.

So we got her back...we have devised a safety line on the zip line so this shouldn't happen again. No one was hurt this time and no livestock were killed in the process. We were able to observe her meeting other larger dogs while not on a leash. I think we have pretty much established that she really doesn't like other dogs. Male huskies perhaps but that is it. She is a tough girl thinking she could take both a dobie and a rottie at the same time. Thankfully none of them thought about jumping the chest high fence.

I think this has pretty much discouraged me in adopting the male husky at a no kill shelter here in State College. He is a beauty but I think one husky is enough right now....:p

My husbands first words to me were.....your wearing your slippers.....duh...I was in the house baking...I wasn't planning on racing up and down the mountain chasing a dog through the woods.

Denyce

caseysmom
04-11-2005, 12:11 PM
Glad sequoia and the kitties made it through that ordeal!!

dukedogsmom
04-11-2005, 01:03 PM
I know it's not funny but the way you told it had me giggling. I'm sure you were terrified, as I would have been. Glad everything turned out ok.

Logan
04-11-2005, 02:12 PM
Good heavens, Denyce!!!! What an episode you're reporting!!!! So glad that everyone is ok, and home safely. :p

cyber-sibes
04-11-2005, 02:27 PM
:rolleyes: Oh, those huskies!!! Glad to hear you got her back safely. I've had times Star took off on me and I know the look - just when you think MAYBE she's ready to let you near, she looks you dead in the eye and then runs the other way!

Have you taken Sequoia to training classes? I really think they could be beneficial for you, especially doing intense work on recalls and good obedience for sitting & downs. I would look for someone experienced in handling hard-headed dogs. Huskies are such notorius runners...... and as I recall, Sequoia had things pretty hard before she came to live with you. She may not see the "humans" as being the ones in charge yet.
Classes might be good for a little socialization, too. Sounds like a pro could help you with some of those issues, too. In spite of her appearing not to like other dogs, she may be very lonely, and adding the right dog would be a real asset - how did she get along with the husky boy you've been looking at?

edit- by the way, Sherman's sister Tori took off from her home and was gone for TWO WEEKS before coming back home!

pitc9
04-11-2005, 02:33 PM
OMG!! Even though you said that everything turned out okay, my stomach was still in knots until the end!

I'm so glad everyone is okay!!!

Denyce
04-11-2005, 06:49 PM
Originally posted by dukedogsmom
I know it's not funny but the way you told it had me giggling. I'm sure you were terrified, as I would have been. Glad everything turned out ok.

Well I didn't add in the part where the sweats I was wearing commando...:o have bad elastic in the waist so while I was running in my slippers I also had to hold up my sweats with one hand so that they didn't fall and I was waving a beef snack stick in the other trying to get her attention. :rolleyes: :D When I am home doing chores the less clothing the better as far as I am concerned.

Denyce
04-11-2005, 07:01 PM
Originally posted by cyber-sibes
:rolleyes: Oh, those huskies!!! Glad to hear you got her back safely. I've had times Star took off on me and I know the look - just when you think MAYBE she's ready to let you near, she looks you dead in the eye and then runs the other way!

Have you taken Sequoia to training classes? I really think they could be beneficial for you, especially doing intense work on recalls and good obedience for sitting & downs. I would look for someone experienced in handling hard-headed dogs. Huskies are such notorius runners...... and as I recall, Sequoia had things pretty hard before she came to live with you. She may not see the "humans" as being the ones in charge yet.
Classes might be good for a little socialization, too. Sounds like a pro could help you with some of those issues, too. In spite of her appearing not to like other dogs, she may be very lonely, and adding the right dog would be a real asset - how did she get along with the husky boy you've been looking at?

edit- by the way, Sherman's sister Tori took off from her home and was gone for TWO WEEKS before coming back home!

Yes! I got that look exactly! You could just see the thoughts go through her brain.

We haven't taken her to the classes yet...bad husky parents we are. They are 200 for 7 sessions and somehow other things keep taking the money we keep trying to save for it. They are both individual classes and group. We did have a free consultation with the trainer. He is suppose to be very good. He trains Search and Rescue and Drug Sniffing dogs. He also works with aggressive dogs. He observed Sequioa at the Ice cream socials last August and he doesn't feel she is aggressive. But that was shortly after we rescued her. She was more timid then. I have noticed that the longer we have her the more assertive she is becoming. She snarls at other dogs more...and is more vocal and exicted when we take her for outings in town. Which we try to do at least once a week. I still don't really feel she is aggressive...she just isn't fond of other animals. Just male huskies seem to get her stamp of approval. The trainer told us to be aware that when we try to get her to do things on our terms she might get a little ornery. That she has been used to doing things her way for so long that she is going to resist doing things OUR way. We have been working with her on the basic commands but most the time she still only does them when SHE feels like it. Half the time I SWEAR she rolls her eyes at me. And I am a pretty strong dominant type person. I am no wussy...but she is VERY strong willed.

She hasn't met the male husky yet. I saw him on the webpage. I will start a new thread for him. Brian and I have talked about it. But we are going to Montreal in May and taking Sequoia with us. We are visiting family and they really are not suppose to have dogs in their apartment so we are imposing with one dog already. So we feel that we want to wait until after we get back from vacation. He is in a good no kill shelter situation that using foster homes. It seems from his description that he is still in the original home. If he is still available in June then we will see how they like one another and think about it much more seriously.

I would be devestated if she was gone for weeks. It was horrible just for a hour and at least one of us had her in sight pretty much the whole time. I don't know how her owners could stand it. At the PAWS that has the male husky there is now a year old female that came in as a stray. I wonder what owner is out there wondering what happened to their husky that took a little run.

Denyce

Cincy'sMom
04-11-2005, 07:15 PM
Originally posted by dukedogsmom
I know it's not funny but the way you told it had me giggling. I'm sure you were terrified, as I would have been. Glad everything turned out ok.

I had the same reaction!

At least each gray hair has a story behind it!!

Glacier
04-11-2005, 07:30 PM
I'm glad she was captured safe and sound!

Bandit's favorite game in the world is being chased by humans, especially when he knows he's where he is not allowed! Bandit hasn't staged a break-out in a long time, but he used to do it fairly frequently. The one thing we learned was not to chase him. If we followed him, he went farther away. If we left him alone and just kept an eye on him from a distance, he stayed fairly close to come. Bandit doesn't kill livestock though, so we didn't have that worry on top of him being loose.

If she gets away again, while you still have some of her attention, try throwing yourself on the ground. Screech, yell, make sound like you are mortally wounded. The neighbors will think you're insane, but Sequoia may come back to see what's up with Mom. It's worked a few times with my dogs.

KYS
04-11-2005, 07:46 PM
Phew....... What a day you had.
Glad all turned out ok.

Oggyflute
04-11-2005, 11:30 PM
Quite an eventful time. Glad you got her back safe and sound.

wolf_Q
04-11-2005, 11:45 PM
That must have been so frightening! Huskies really are buggers about running off and turning on that "ignore" switch! I'm glad you were able to get her home safely!

Denyce
04-12-2005, 07:19 AM
Originally posted by Glacier
If she gets away again, while you still have some of her attention, try throwing yourself on the ground. Screech, yell, make sound like you are mortally wounded. The neighbors will think you're insane, but Sequoia may come back to see what's up with Mom. It's worked a few times with my dogs.

Ok I was still laughing about this in the morning. You are right however, it might work. I have noticed that if she thinks I am upset or hurt she comes running right over to me. More so than she does with my husband.

Thanks I wouldn't have thought about doing that. I figure most my neighbors know I am nuts anyway so why not prove it to them

Denyce