On my way from Cordova Bay to the University of Victoria to see astronaut Julie Payette speak, I drove through Mount Doug park and met one lucky dog.
I watched in horror as I saw in the near distance this little cream puff dog running playfully away from his elderly owner and into the street directly in front of an oncoming vehicle.
It first appeared that the dog stood no chance as he disappeared under her vehicle. The driver immediately slowed and somehow in that slowness, that rascal puppy was able to scamper along underneath the car and came out behind it.
The driver assumed the worst and through her shock opened the window, hollering to the owner of the dog that she was so sorry. Still driving my car slowly in the opposite direction, I was able to yell at her that the dog was OK and had run out the back.
The dog’s owner watched helplessly as that lucky pooch went running like a dart down the Mount Doug roadway.
As he was ahead of me with no apparent sign of slowing down, I drove cautiously and kept honking my horn at oncoming cars.
“Lucky” had two more close calls but thankfully, every on-coming car was able to spot the little dog as he careened along in a frenzy.
As I caught up to him a few hundred yards from his home, there was a short break in oncoming traffic and I yelled out to him to stop and amazingly, he did, just for a moment and turned to look my way. I could see that cars behind me were travelling slow enough in a queue that I immediately stopped my car, opened the door and tried calling the pup.
The woman traveling in the Volvo behind me did the same, and Lucky ran towards her and without stopping to greet her, jumped right into her car through the open door.
While our lineup of cars waited patiently, I helped signal oncoming traffic to give her a chance to turn around, and I presume she saw Lucky home to his distraught owners.
By my calculation, Lucky got run over (but not injured) and skirted two more car accidents in that short strip of roadway. I felt so grateful for the cautious, patient and compassionate drivers in our city.
Fay Melling
Saanich
