We Had A Close Call Today

[staffydave]

So today my mrs and i are out doing the front lawn when she dropped what she was doing and ran for the front door. i had no idea what was going on she rushed in picking up one of our birds takeing it back to its cage. Turns out one of our nutty lorikeets managed to let itself out of its cage and as it has clipped wings trotted its way down the hallway to where our twelve month old staffy was laying down watching us do the lawn. we have no idea how long they were at the door together. Girlfriend just saw something colourful at the door and wonderd what it was. The cheeky bird was completely unharmed and seemed happy as larry. Got to say im shocked at my little staffy's self control though knowing this bird i probably should have checked the dog first lorikeets pack a mean bite and can be firey little buggers. Anyways Maybe other people might have similar stories they can share.

Edited December 9, 2012 by staffydave

[Dxenion]

Tlaloc spotted one of our moray eels under the lounge one morning. It had somehow escaped from the tank overnight and slivered as far as our Lofa. I hadn't seen it there so the first I knew about the escapee was when Tlaloc came into the kitchen and sat next to me with what I initially thought was a snake in his mouth. After I recovered from momentary heart failure, I grabbed the eel, gave him a quick rinse in the sink to remove the dust bunnies (thereby returning him to his slippery-as-an-eel status) and put him back in the tank. The eel survived and didn't have a single mark on him. Thank goodness for Tlaloc's soft mouth retrieve otherwise I could easily have ended up with the main ingredient for grilled eel.

[bamboo]

Our quaker parrot escaped one day, while noone was home.Took himself outside to spend the day in the courtyard within reach of two cats and a dog. He was pleased to see me and completely unharmed. He can fly but rarely chooses to. He has successfully intimidated the other pets so thoroughly that they actively avoid the bird wheneverhe is loose. Not that he would normally ever be unsupervised.

[disintegratus]

Many years ago, we went out for mother's day breakfast, not getting home til well into the afternoon. When we got home I found my rat cage open, and my little girl gone without a trace. She spent all day out of her cage in the company of our dogs, a collie x lab and a jack russel, but I luckily found her none the worse for wear (well, except for a patch on her back where she had stress-groomed herself red raw) in some blankets underneath the piano that was just outside my bedroom door.

The most recent one doesn't involve any dogs, but we came home after being out for several hours and I checked on the snakes, only to find one of the hatchlings had disappeared from a locked enclosure. After turning the place upside down, we stopped for a break and to try to form a gameplan to find him, only to notice one of the cats staring intently under the couch. We found our little Chocolate Bear, alive and in one piece :D but the poor little tacker had a couple of cat scratches on him, so had to be on antibiotic injections for a month.

[Kirislin]

I saved a wild duck yesterday. While walking the 3 girls (whippets) I noticed some young boys fishing, but then saw them with something on the bank that was thrashing about. I realised it was a wild duck and roared at them, "what are you doing" they looked frightened and upset and said they didn't mean to catch the duck. As I got closer I told them to watch out or my whippets will get it. I called the whippets but Feather excitedly rushed forward and the poor kids didn't know what to do. I yelled at her to LEAVE!! and she did. I picked up the duck and then Kibah decided to try to assist and went for its tail, again I told her to leave it, all that chook training is coming in useful now, she backed off. We untangled poor ducky, fortunately it hadn't swallowed the hook and I was able to let it go. I apologised to the kids for initially yelling at them and all ended happily.

[mixeduppup]

Many a close call. Probably the most frightening was when our friend brought her cat aggressive dog over for a play and then walked inside without being watchful of the cat, I've never seen someone dive so quickly to catch a cat and throw it back inside, the dog was so close to connecting.

[Tassie]

When I was a kid, people nearby had a tame budgie that lived free in the house most of the time. It was quite the sight to see their big yellow lab boy lying on the floor, being groomed by the budgie. :laugh: If the grooming got too ticklish - round the eys for example - a big lab paw would come up and ever so gently brush the budgie away. :D

At about the same time, we had a big grey cat, who while a fighter outside, learnt to co-exist peacefully with our free-flying budgie in the house. Found the cat one day in the bird's sunroom, curled up sound asleep on a couch, paw over his ears, while the budgie happily clattered a toy on the wooden floor just beside him. Nedless to say after that, the sliding door into that room was propped shut with books while we couldn't supervise.

[Simply Grand]

These stories are awesome! Love the images of little birdies hanging out with dogs and cats :)

[Alkhe]

I've saved many dogs from close calls lately. I must be highly attuned to escaped dogs, because I see them all the time and return them back home safely. I moved into a new house in July, and since then have saved no less than 5 dogs being hit by cars..

[Remarkabull]

I used to have e ferret when we lived in Sydney. She was allowed out for many hours during the day to roam the house and one day I had forgotten that she was out and opened the solid front door to let air in and she escaped through the fly screen door. I'm not sure how long she was outside for but once I realised I ran to the door calling her name and she appeared out of the garden, covered in dirt with this 'what do you want' look on her face.

We used to scare the s#£t out of visitors by letting her out while the Dobermann was inside. She would leap at his face and hang off his lips while he ignored her and walked around with a ferret hanging off his face :)

[staffydave]

LOL great posts everyone love ferrets they crack me up so much animal in that small package and all the birdies and even a eel keep them coming.

[disintegratus]

I forgot about our close call/my worst nightmare from the other day! (well, I think I blocked it from my memory because it was so traumatic :laugh: )

I took two of my dogs, Bones the ditzy new pup, and Thundercleese my fear aggressive boy, to my Mum's house with me as we were going over for dinner for my birthday. My parents are not used to having to close gates and doors etc behind them because neither of their dogs are wanderers. While I was helping my stepdad put stuff away and clear up the backyard, Bones appeared at the back gate, on the outside. My first thought was "oh my god, Thundercleese!!" So I walked through the house, didn't see him, got in my car and started driving up the street with the windows open yelling his name. About 3 houses up, This gigantic yellow blur appears out of nowhere, he bounds up to the car, sooo happy to see me! I was so relieved I almost died. The first and last time he will ever be offlead in a public place!!! After that I closed him in the house til we were done and all the gates were closed.

Sooo incredibly lucky, I hate to think what could have happened if there'd been a dog walking past. I'd never forgive myself.

That said, he's never met another dog offlead outside his house, so he might be fine with them, but I'm not willing to risk it to find out.

[Polecatty]

I was moving my rabbit's hutch and he managed to give me the slip and hopped off across the lawn...and came to a halt about two meters away from my whippet. I immediately told her to sit and she did...very slowly...and then proceded to shake and drool whilst I retrieved him. I don't think she blinked once. :laugh:

[Liebhunde]

I was about to freshen the seed in the budgie cage one day years ago and my Great Dane Abbie was standing beside me watching..suddenly the Budge flew out of the cage and Abbie hopped up on her hind legs and caught the birdie in her mouth!! I was able to get the somewhat sodden Budgie out of her soft mouth and put it back in the cage ..none the worse for wear except for a bit of slobber...very lucky bird...lol

[OSoSwift]

I had a Guinea pig in a cage with her babies who were only a few weeks old.

I put the cage out to catch some fresh air and a little mild sun. That was all good until a willy willy came along throwing the cage on it's side. the lid flew open and mum and three babies were terrified and running around in all directions.

I was outside with both the Whippets. I hadn't had Lewis for that long from memory, maybe 6 months??

I yelled leave it, Rommi removed herself and stood a good six feet away. Lewis was standing there looking very curiously at the babies. One stopped around 30cms from his front legs. I thought oh crap this is it, his leave it is good but he is a Whippet and this is a small furry. As he bent down to sniff piggies bottom I roared leaved it, Piggy bolted, Lewis-bless his socks-removed himself next to Rommi and then stood there while I was throwing myself around catching mum and babies.

All piggies survived and I became a believer in small miricles!

[Inka3095]

Awww I love that guinea pig story <3

[Simply Grand]

One of my favourite memories ever was when I was a kid our two adult guinea pigs and their four babies all escaped their cage and ran around the garden in a little single file line, it was the cutest thing ever :laugh:

Luckily we didn't have any dogs to "help" catch them.

[OSoSwift]

My other story involves the Magpie.

Not sure how many people have handraised them but they are noisy, demanding, cute and very intellegent.

My young Dobe knew you do not chase the bird - ever. Magpie I am sure, knew that the dog would not chase her and I am quite sure would see just how far she could push the Dobe.

When training the dumbell retrieve, the Magpie would help by waiting for me to throw the dumbell(not very patiently, she would yell at me while hopping from foot to foot) She would fly after the dumbell, then when it hit the ground jump on it and kick it all around while telling it off.

The dog would be sent, Magpie would stand back, then run along beside dog, still yelling at said dumbell. Dog would come to the front and sit waiting to be told to give. Magpie would take that opportunity to peck dogs nails, My Dobe HATED anyone touching her nails - ever. Dobe would sit there holding dumbell with pesky Magpie pecking her nails. She used to sit there rolling her eyeballs, like oh for dogssake control the bird would you. Once dumbell was given up, Dobe would be rewarded while Magpie ran around like a chook making chirpy, happy noises hoping you would throw it again!

[Tassie]

OSS - what a good girlie the Dobe was.

A friend's barn cat/momma cat would 'help' with training with my first BC. One of her ways of helping was to chase after the DB then sit near it. No way was Sam going anywhere near his DB with the cat there. Same thing whe Momma cat decided to be part of a figure of 8 post :laugh: . Your proofing was obviously way better than mine :-)

[fainty_girl]

My dog Jessie used to be afraid of cats, then years ago when our neighbour got a confident little kitten, Jessie went from being afraid, to seeing red when she saw it through the screen-door. Gradually Jessie got better with the cat and I think she even liked him a little bit. Back when she was still getting used to him, one day the cat came into my backyard and strolled into the house when I was in the kitchen , fortunately they were absolutely fine. Sadly, the cat didn't live for long as he was hit by a car, but I think Jessie would have gotten even more comfortable with him had he been around longer. She even remembered the cat's name for quite a while afterwards and would look for him out the front door.