It takes a team to corral a dog

We’ve asked for your stories regarding what you feel have been acts of kindness in your life. Here is one of those stories:

Iam an evacuee from Green Lake. We have been out of our homes for three weeks now, but my husband and I feel very privileged to be on the Island, sharing the home of good friends, here in time for the birth of our first grandchild, and able to breathe in the wonderful air.

My husband recently returned to Green Lake to join the rest of the volunteer fire department — checking on the safety of homes, looking for hot spots and being available where needed. I get to look after the dog. I took her for a walk last Sunday about 3:30. Other pet owners were great in letting the dogs play together, but when it was time to leave, THEIR dogs went very nicely. Our dog decided to have a “moment,” which turned into about 45 moments. She refused to come no matter who was calling and what kind of treats were being offered.

I asked a young boy to interrupt his soccer game and see if she would come to him. He was very willing and did his best, but no luck. I then went by a group who had just finished a game of softball and asked that if my dog came near, would someone be kind enough to grab her.

Marly did not fall for that trick, so the group stood in a circle and slowly moved in, not giving Marly a place to go, and I was finally able to put her on the leash. This took about 10 minutes and quite a bit of co-ordinating.

Maybe not a typical act of kindness, but for a lady experiencing 45 minutes of frustration and a roller coaster of emotions for at least four weeks, it was a huge sigh of relief to get that leash on the dog. Thank you to all who did their best and to the team that scored for me!

Diane Sullivan