Last weekend I was asked to look after Angela's dog Taz as she was going to a wedding. She was staying in the wedding hotel for 2 nights, so it meant that I would have Taz from Friday through till Sunday.
I was really looking forward to having him. When Taz is here I get out for walks more often and most of the time i go further too. I think it really benefits me having him around. So Friday was great, we had lots of walks and exercise, and as Luke was here, he had loads of fun with Taz too.
On Saturday I got Taz dressed in a bandanna for our walk (as shown in video). It is actually Luke's as he has a fascination with them at the moment, but Taz took a shine too it. Whenever I walk Taz I take him to a big patch of grass where he can run wild and tire himself out. Obviously this means he is off his lead. So after lots of games of fetch we headed for home. When we got to my street I noticed a man walking with 2 HUGE Akita's and I decided I would take a different route to avoid them.
Taz casually walked beside me until we reached my neighbours garden, and it was then that he spotted his biggest nemesis... A CAT. Well I am rubbish in these situations. Taz casually approached the cat and started to sniff, which seemed harmless but since I know he doesn't like cat's, I was getting very nervous. I am not the biggest fan of cat since I have never had one and I think they can be a bit unpredictable, but mostly its the hissing noise and the scratching that scares me. Anyway the cat began to hiss, my stomach actually flips when I think about that. He hiss in Taz'z face and then the claws came out as he took a swipe. Suddenly Tax lurched forward and had the cat in his mouth.
Well... I screamed! I was shouting on him, pulling at him, even tried slapping his bum, but nothing worked. I am sorry to admit but at that point it all got too much for me, I freaked out and i RAN! I was only seconds from my house and I burst in screaming asking people to come and help. TAZ HAS A CAT, TAZ HAS A CAT. Gerry was in... he wouldn't help. My dad was in.... He wouldn't help (they were scared. Big burly men and they didn't want to face it). And so my poor mother headed over. I am ashamed to admit that I couldn't help at all. I physically couldn't make myself go back round there as I had no ides of what I would find. I was pacing the house and by this point I was on the verge of panic.
I stood at the door and I saw my mum come back with Taz, and I asked the dreaded question. Is the cat dead? Yes it was dead. I now felt sick and very anxious. I was trying to hold it together and really thought the panic was going to take over. I couldn't even look at Taz as he had now changed to me. He wasn't my gentle little friend anymore. So we had to tell the owner who was surprisingly ok even though their cat was 18! 18 years that cat had survived until i came into its life! He said the cat was a wanderer and he had hardly seen it in the last 2 years. My mum bravely disposed of the cat. When she brought it to our house i was hiding. I couldn't look, i think that would have tipped me over the edge. Plus i was looking after 4 kids at the time. I tried to ring Angela over and over again but i don't know why. She was at the wedding and what could she do to help, plus i would have ruined her day but thankfully her phone was off. I called my uncle to ask what to do here. He is a big animal lover and has had animals of all kinds all his life. He told me that it wasn't really Taz's fault. He was just doing what dog's do. It was my fault. I mishandled the situation. Of course he was right. Taz and i didn't talk for an hour or so, but eventually i warmed to him knowing it was my fault anyway. The kids didn't really help as they said things like 'Does that mean Taz has Cat inside him'. But the rest of the weekend went without a hitch.
Taz went home on Sunday evening and just after he arrived I got another visitor. But more on that next time.
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