A reminder for dog lovers. It is not safe to leave dogs tied up in
public areas.

A friend took my dog (Redford) for a walk and left him tied up outside
Whole Foods for a minute while she ran inside to buy something. When
she came back he was gone. We have reason to believe that someone
tried to steal Red and he escaped by backing out of his collar.

In any event, Red ran across Wisconsin and was hit by a car. He got a
bad gash and a badly broken leg. It was about an hour later, when he
was, luckily, discovered by some great people at the Volvo dealership
and taken to Friendship Animal Hospital. After several days at both
Friendship and South Paws, a specialty Animal Hospital, lots of
stitches and surgery on the leg, he is expected to be ok. But first he
will have to spend a couple of months in a cast.

My reason for writing this is to urge people NOT to leave your dog
vulnerable to people you do not know, who might tease him, scare him,
free him, or steal him. Or for that matter even the best trained dogs,
might find something of great interest to them out of reach and manage
to escape. Of course, you also leave yourself open to medical expenses
and legal problems if your dog should nip (or worse) someone who is
scaring him.

Finally, a grateful thank you to all the people who helped search for
Redford while he was missing.