Why did the Dog Cross the Road

Esther’s writing prompt: June 17 : Cross

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A mini-Australian Shepherd is crossing the street on a crosswalk.
A dog is crossing the road. Created with the help of ChatGPT.

Top Ten Reasons as to why the Dog Crossed the Road

  1. The dog got sick and tired of this side of the street.
  2. The dog wanted to stalk someone on the other side of the road and then not bark at them and get a treat for not barking at people.
  3. Because he wants to chase a cat on the other side of the road.
  4. The dog wanted to smell something on the other side of the road.
  5. A dog is barking at us on the other side of the road, and our dog wants to put him in his place.
  6. There was a scary noise on this side of the road.
  7. Someone the dog knows and love is on the other side of the road.
  8. The dog has to cross the road to get to grandma and grandpas house.
  9. Because someone said let’s cross. Note: our dog Rollo knows the word “cross” very well.
  10. Because someone accidentally said the word “cross”, for example, “After graduating from college, I found myself at the crossroads”. Now we all have to cross the road.

About number 2. Our dog Rollo loves getting close to people and not bark because he knows he will get a treat if he does not bark at people. So sometimes it appears that he wants to stalk people to get a treat. He even spots people half a mile away. However, we do not actually stalk people.

A mini-Australian Shepherd is lying on his side as in front of Bronco as if he wants a belly rub.
Our mini-Australian Shepherd with our Leonberger Bronco who was old at the time.
Rollo is biting a large orange volleyball.
Our mini-Australian Shepherd Rollo rolling a ball.

The danger of dogs crossing the Road

Our dog Rollo loves to cross the street when we are out walking, and we cross the street many times during our walks. He knows the word “cross” because we have taught him this word so that he understands that crossing a street back and forth is a special action that he needs to pay special attention to. We want him to know that when crossing the street, you have to be careful. Ideally, we would like for him to look both ways before he crosses a street, but we are working on this. We have had a bad experience with dogs crossing roads.

WARNING: the paragraphs below are very sad, so if you are sensitive, please skip to “My Other Responses to Esther’s Prompts”.

Close up photo of Baylor’s face.
Our Yellow Labrador Baylor

In December of 2008, we were planning a one-week trip. Baylor our yellow Labrador was maybe twelve years old at this point, and Bronco our Leonberger dog was a year and a half. We also had Baby our German Shepherd and Ryu our Japanese Chin. We needed someone to watch our four dogs while we were gone. Following a recommendation from our veterinarian at the time, we settled for a sitter who would visit the dogs, feed them, and walk them but not stay at our house full-time. This sounded like the best option at the time, but it turned out to be a disaster.

After we left on our trip, we got a phone call from the sitter, who told us that she was taking care of several other dogs in addition to ours and that she did not have time to drive back and forth to our house and attend to our dogs. The fact that she was taking care of several other dogs simultaneously was news to us. She asked if she could take our four dogs to her house. She stated that she had a fence like ours, and by having them at her house she could watch them 100 percent of the time.

We didn’t really like the idea because the dogs had never stayed at someone else’s house before. Moreover, we had never seen her house, and we had no idea how crowded it was with the other dogs there. But it sounded like the best solution under the circumstances, so we reluctantly agreed.

A couple of days later, the dog sitter called us again, but this time she told us that Baylor was missing. He had been barking at night, so she put him out in the backyard. Unfortunately, the gate at her place had been left open, and she didn’t notice that Baylor was gone until early in the morning. She asked us what we thought she should do.

We told her that she had to find him. “Go look for him; put up posters,” we said. She was reluctant to do any of that because she didn’t want to leave the other dogs alone. We told her that it was an emergency and she had to do it. We suggested that she recruit other people to help her. Baylor had to be found.

We were pretty upset about the fact that the sitter had put Baylor out into the backyard in the middle of a cold night and left him there. However, we needed her help, so we kept calm. We enlisted help from family members in Dallas, and I used an online service called My Lost Pet Alert, which sent 2,264 emails to people in our neighborhood that night. It didn’t help that it was cold and sleeting and the streets were icy and dark. Baylor also needed his insulin shot in the morning.

The following afternoon Baylor was found dead two miles from the dog sitter’s place. He had been hit by a car. He was found around midway between her house and our house, so it seemed like he was trying to get home.

Baylor had a very special place in our hearts, and I was devastated. My wife Claudia was crying, and the kids were crying. Not only had we lost a family member in a sudden cruel twist of fate, but his death was also likely an unpleasant one. That it was the result of a dog sitter’s carelessness didn’t make it any better. In fact, it made it worse. It is a traumatic event that none of has yet gotten over.

Baylor crossing the rainbow bridge and it says “you were our favorite Hello and our hardest Goodbye”.
Illustration by Naomi Rosenblatt.

My Other Responses to Esther’s Prompts

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Author: thomasstigwikman

My name is Thomas Wikman. I am a software/robotics engineer with a background in physics. I am currently retired. I took early retirement. I am a dog lover, and especially a Leonberger lover, a home brewer, craft beer enthusiast, I’m learning French, and I am an avid reader. I live in Dallas, Texas, but I am originally from Sweden. I am married to Claudia, and we have three children. I have two blogs. The first feature the crazy adventures of our Leonberger Le Bronco von der Löwenhöhle as well as information on Leonbergers. The second blog, superfactful, feature information and facts I think are very interesting. With this blog I would like to create a list of facts that are accepted as true among the experts of the field and yet disputed amongst the public or highly surprising. These facts are special and in lieu of a better word I call them super-facts.

61 thoughts on “Why did the Dog Cross the Road”

  1. I’ve been in both situations. One was losing our dog when he had taken off after a bitch in heat and he got run over by a car. The other was trusting someone to housesit and coming back to find they had left the province to run after her boyfriend without letting us know she was leaving us in a lurch.

    Hard lessons for us.

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  2. This is absolutely heartbreaking. No animal should ever have to die this way, and no family should have to go through such a tragedy. My thoughts are with you and your family. Rest in peace, Baylor.

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  3. Thomas, I am deeply sorry for your loss. Loss is hard to endure, at any time. The very sad circumstances of his passing, possibly on his way to your home, hurt my heart even more.
    I can not imagine you and your families sadness being far away and hearing this news.
    Thank you for being willing to share your story. Sending words of great peace to you, Thomas.

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    1. Thank you so much Suzette for your very kind words of comfort. It warms the heart. It was indeed devastating and someting I don’t think we’ll ever get over. It is very important that the people taking care of your fur babies while you are gone are responsible, honest and have integrity, which is why you need to know who you are leaving them with.

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  6. So sorry to read about Baylor and not sure I would have been very forgiving of the sitter who seemed to be money focused rather than the dogs in her care… We lived on a country lane and when I walked Sam even as a young puppy I taught him to sit when he heard of saw a car coming. He always sat at the kerb automatically when on roads with pavements and waiting to be told to ‘cross’.. it made it more pleasurable to be out walking with him on busy streets, except for everyone wanting to stop to talk to him.. I am sure Bronco had that issue too. xx

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    1. Thank you so much Sally. Teaching him to sit is a good idea. We are not quite there yet but we are trying to instill in him that crossing a street is a special event and we look around and make a big deal out of it. Yes you are right, the pet sitter was not honest about how many dogs she was pet sitting and my wife smelled alcohol on her breath a couple of times. She was possibly drunk while watching the dogs. We learned that you really need to know your pet sitter, and that recommendations, even from a veterinary might not be enough.

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  7. Oh, this starts off with the importance of how a dog might cross a road. So sorry that you had to lose your dog through carelessness. Tragic. I am always so vigilant and anxious when looking after my family’s pets. These animals are a responsibility and need to be kept safe. Prompts do bring out a mix of memory and emotion.

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    1. That is great navasolanature. Being vigilant when looking after pets is very important in a pet sitter. This pet sitter was not honest about how many dogs she was pet sitting at the same time and my wife smelled alcohol on her breath. You need to be able to really trust the pet sitter and we did not really know her.

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    1. Thank you so much Alex and you are right she was terribly irresponsible and dishonest about how many dogs she was pet sitting at the same time. One thing I did not mention in my book was that my wife smelled alcohol on her breath, She may have been drunk while pet sitting.

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  9. I did skip the paragraphs, thank you for letting us know, there can be so much sadness sometimes. I am glad I discovered this blog too, Thomas, I don’t know why I wasn’t aware of it until now, glad I found it.

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    1. That is a good idea. Some people can read it but some people get really sad. It is a very sad story. I had this story in my Leonberger book but on grey background with a warning in the beginning of the book (like here). A few sensitive people who read it anyway told me it made them very upset.

      Thank you for discovering both my blogs Nicole. I was following some other bloggers with two blogs for a couple of years before I realized they had two blogs.

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    1. Thank you so much Crafts Inspire Me. Some people can read it and some people get very upset, which is why I put the warning. It is a very sad story. I was telling the story in person to my family in Sweden and there were family members who almost started crying just hearing about it.

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    1. Thank you Mindful Mystic. It was certainly Heart Breaking. We were so taken by it that we did not do much about it. The whole family was just so depressed. The only thing we did was tell the veterinary who had recommended her and we switched veterinary. Not only was she dishonest about the number of dogs she was dog sitting at the same time, but I can add that my wife smelled alcohol on her breath. Maybe she was drunk while watching the dogs. We don’t know, but I hope she did not continue pet sitting after that.

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  12. This started out as an amusing story about Rollo – clever use of Esther’s prompt. 🙂 I only skimmed the sad tale of Baylor, as I had read it before and cried a lot. I’m so sorry that happened to you and your family Thomas, and you’ll probably never get over it! 😢 That sitter should have been drummed out of the business and charged with some form of neglect, at least! 😠

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    1. Thank you so much Debbie. Yes I had not intended to add the story about Baylor’s passing. I just started thinking about it as I was writing about dog crossings, and it popped out. I guess I am a bit traumatized by what happened and it came out. I think you are right but unfortunately we were too depressed to do anything about it. I can add that my wife smelled alcohol on her breath twice, so she may have been drinking while pet sitting, but I admit, I don’t know that.

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  13. Thank you for the warning that we could skip the sad part. Some days, I’m just not able…. We live near a rural highway, so I had a lot of solid fencing put up and a gate on the front and back porches. Some might say I’m paranoid, but I think I’m being careful.

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    1. I think it is a good idea to be paranoid about this. Not just for the sake of dogs and other pets but kids too. I’ve seen the horror movie Pet Sematary and it would make anyone paranoid for the sake of both pets and children.

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  14. I always love your photos, Thomas, but I had to skip the sad part. Emotions are still moody with missing Copper, even if it’s been over a year. He was never street smart, so he needed a leash for his safety. But he walked right next to me and never pulled. He was a good boy.

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    1. Thank you so much Lulu and Oona. I certainly feel the same way, but the only thing we did was tell the veterinary who recommended her and we switched veterinary. But we probably should have done more than that, at least a review to warn others.

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  16. OMG Thomas, I cannot get this image of poor Baylor looking for you and found dead. I cannot imagine how devastating this had to be and probably still is thinking about it, missing him this many years ago! That was inexcusable of her. It’s soooooo hard to find someone to care for our fur babies, no matter how diligent we are. I am sooooo sorry! ugh!!!!! 😘
    BTW Happy Father’s Day to a great dad!❤️

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    1. Thank you so much Cindy for your kind comfort. It is very difficult to lose a dog but the way it happened was devastating, and we will never get over it. Thank you for the very kind father’s day wishes and I wish all of the father’s in your family Happy father’s day too.

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      1. You’re so welcome, Thomas! It was just heartbreaking and that is something that sticks with you! I hope it helps knowing you gave so much love and did everything you could to help her the best you could but something just leave us changed forever with a festering wound, never reparable! You’re so welcome! I hope you had a good day! We had a lovely time! 💕🙏❤️‍🩹

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  17. This is just terrible! Now that we have dogs my husband and I take seperate holidays to avoid any problems. What a terrible dog sitter. We have taught Dot, our older dog to only cross the street at crosswalks.

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    1. Thank you so much Darlene. We are very careful with dog sitters now a day. Either we do like you, go on separate vacations, or we get a dog sitter that we know, who stays at the house at nights and part of the day and is not watching any other dog while watching our(s). It is amazing that Dot to only cross the street at crosswalks.

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    1. Thank you so much Robbie. The dog sitter was indeed very irresponsible, but you are right sometimes we experience horrible things, and there’s a lot worse that we have been spared.

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