Some days you wake up and you are a super hero, other days you wake up and know that you are going to be lucky to make it as the last person picked for the kickball team. Most days you are somewhere in between. Today I got to be the Crocodile Hunter.
Everything started out like a normal day with 2 dogs, 2 kids, 2 parents, and 1 grandma. Our house has been alive with activity since Ranger (the dog in law) came to visit with grandma. He and Molly have not exactly "hit it off". Since his arrival we have been running from door to door making sure that Jeffrey isn't letting one of them out of the house for a run in the neighborhood and to check to make sure that the two dogs aren't eating each other.
Weeeeellllll, around 4 in the afternoon my worst nightmare came true. Jeffrey opened the door to the garage and sure enough someone had left the garage door open and out went Molly. Again, let me please remind you that she is part greyhound part lab. One part likes to run fast and the other part likes to swim. Immediately, after realizing what had happened I was on a foot pursuit to try and capture the escapee. I followed her yelling out "good girl, come here Molly" but she had found the scent of something and was hot on the trail. At this point I realized that the word hound in greyhound must indicate that she likes to hunt and being on the scent of this "thing" she was not going to come back to me.
I followed her around some houses and then behind their fence line into the swampy area near our mailbox. Now let me explain something to you. I don't go get the mail after a certain hour due to the reported sightings of rattlesnakes, gators, and other horrid FL wildlife. Where did Molly go? INTO THE MIDDLE OF THE SWAMP! No joke.
At first I thought, OK, no big deal. I continued calling her and trying to entice her with sticks and pine cones but she would start towards me and then head right back into the water where she loved to swim. I guess the neighbors heard the commotion because after only about 7 min of yelling I had two friendly helpers trying to coax this dog out of the water. The best part is that the woman was from Germany and the man from Poland so if Molly happened to speak another language we had those two covered. (Not lying, they were talking to her in those languages and I thought to myself, if she obeys German I refuse to take language classes to train my dog).
Seconds turned into minuets at which point we realized that we were making no progress. The woman said, "I know!" and she ran into her home and returned with a couple dog toys. We attempted to gain Molly's attention with the tennis ball and rope but she merely looked and then turned away and swam further out into the muck. The woman had another idea and once again retreated to her home and this time appeared with a plate of ground beef. I thought for sure Molly would come leaping and bounding out of the water for a chance at people food. I guess not feeding her from the table removed her desire for people food and once again our efforts were null and void.
We continued yelling for another 5 min and that is when the events became more intense. Out of the corner of my eye I saw movement coming into the swamp. I looked and sure enough it was a gator swimming right for my Molly Cane. Oh people, I about had a panic attack. I began to freak out. I just visualized that beast pulling my little princess underwater and drowning her for a later snack.
The woman freaked out with me and the man decided he had seen enough and was taking matters into his own hands. He went into his home and returned with a long extension cord. I couldn't imagine what in the world he was going to do with that thing. It wasn't plugged in so electrocution was out of the picture but seriously, what were we going to do with this long cord? That is when he did something I would NEVER have thought of. He tied the rope toy to the end of the cord and told me to get out in the water (remind you there is a gator out there) and be ready to catch her when she comes in. At that point he began tossing the rope out and don't you know, Molly started to swim back towards us! I couldn't believe it. She came close and I reached out to grab her but was very unsuccessful. Have you ever tried to catch a greased pig? I would think it would be very similar to trying to catch a very wet, skinny, fast dog. She returned to her swimming spot and I regained my footing (cause I totally fell forward in that muck). That is when I noticed that I was standing next to a snake skin measuring approximately 7 feet, oh yeah, I freaked out again. Now I was on the lookout for a vicious gator and a poisonous snake. Not my favorite moment in life. We attempted to capture the runaway several other times with gaining improvement but each time I became wetter and deeper in the swamp. Eventually, we were able to bring Molly in close enough that I was able to tackle her and hang onto her tail until the man could hook her collar with her leash.
As I emerged from the swamp with the wet dog I turned and looked back to see the gator only feet from where I had been standing. I thought to myself, WHAT WAS I THINKING????? I was in VERY unsafe water for a DOG!!!! Oh well, she is a part of our family now and I guess when she is in trouble I will treat her as one of my own kids. She just better not do this again. I don't think I will ever come this close to a gator again (on purpose). And that is the story of how a woman wearing crocks came close to a gator to rescue a dog with two neighbors, who now have a funny story about the woman who couldn't control her pet.
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