Warning for parents

[Pearlulm]

Last Thursday in Ownings, MD a little 7 year old boy was walking his dog when the dog got away from him. The boy chased the dog into the woods. The dog returned home but the boy did not. The temps that night were in the single digits. The search team did locate the boy after he had been in the freezing woods for 7 hours.

Please tell your children if their dog runs away DO NOT chase it but return home and tell you immediately. Dogs think that chasing is just a game. I cannot imagine the worry the parents went through for those 7 hours. Thankfully, the boy was found safe!

[PitBullGrrl]

Whew! I can only imagine what the parents went through.

[Dogsareme]

Very good advise Pearlulm.

I'm glad they found the boy alive, that would of just been horrible if they did not locate him.

[Rivsky]

That poor boy and his family - what a horrible 7 hours it would have been for all of them.

Still I don't think they should have allowed their 7 year old out walking the dog by himself though - hopefully the parents have learnt from this.

[Beryl]

This is excellent advice for parents, Pearlulm. The same goes if someone takes their dog or if they see a dog might be in trouble. There are some evil people who use animals to attract kids.

[Swiftwind]

I don't think they should have let their young boy wander around by himself in the first place... then hopefully none of this would have happened.

[calgal]

Great advice. That poor little boy. I'm so happy he was found safe.

[Cassiepeia]

That is good advice.

But no responsible parent should have allowed a 7yr old boy to walk a dog on his own. Completely stupid thing to do.

Cass.

[Pearlulm]

I thought the same thing. 7 is really young. Sometimes I think people let their kids do things way too soon. I remember when my daughter was 8 she wanted to get off the bus and come home alone. We told her no because someone could be in the house and take her at the end of the drive. Sure enough, about a month later our house was buglarized. I don't want to know what could have happened if she had come in on them.

[KennelMom]

Very good words of advice.

I remember at a recent lure coursing trial, one of the pups decided he wasn't done running so he was having a grand old time dodging and weaving among all the people. Every time he'd get close enough for someone to catch him, a little boy (child of the owners) would run after him. All the adults were like "nooooooooooooo!!!! don't chase the doggy!"

[Dogsareme]

Originally Posted by Pearlulm

I thought the same thing. 7 is really young. Sometimes I think people let their kids do things way too soon. I remember when my daughter was 8 she wanted to get off the bus and come home alone. We told her no because someone could be in the house and take her at the end of the drive. Sure enough, about a month later our house was buglarized. I don't want to know what could have happened if she had come in on them.

That's scary.
I was really lucky I grew up in a very small town so far out of the way, barley anyone knew it existed. We didn't have robberies and stuff happen. It was very safe. I remember I was 7 and walking down to my friends house almost everyday, or to the store (but I always had to call my parents when I arrived). I don't live in such a safe town anymore, I would never trust a young child to walk by themselfs around here. With all the sickos in the world today its almost just as unsafe for women to walk around by themselves.