Thanks to those who helped us catch the dog

Lara Killian writes:

On 26 March 2015 at around 11am I was turning onto Hendrik Potgieter road.

As I got to the intersection at Jim Fouche there was this small little Yorkshire Terrior (dog) running wild in the traffic.

There was a guy who was running after the dog trying to catch him.

This little dog was so scared had never been in traffic before.

There was a tow truck parked on the side of the road and he drove behind the dog blocking the traffic. I managed to stop all the traffic. This little dog then ran onto the other side of the road where trucks and cars were just speeding down. One guy in a white 4×4 also tried to help.

This little dog ran under a moving truck and went up into the Constantia Kloof suburb. It took us about an hour just to get him off the main road.

Then I drove all around Constantia Kloof up and down every street. The guy that sells things on the side of the road walked the streets in the area.

We just couldn’t find him.

Then our worst fears was that he was back in the main road or someone picked him up. At about 1.30pm we drove down one street and saw people standing outside their house. I stopped and asked if they had seen this little guy. They said that they managed to catch him. He had run into a complex and the tow truck guy Johnny managed to corner him and catch him.

He had a tag on his collar. Johnny called the number and the owner said she would meet him at the 711 on Jim Fouche.

Channel stays in a complex not far from the 711. He took the dog to her and she took the T-Rex home.

I then called Channel (079 383 6438) to find out how T-Rex was she said his paws were bleeding from all the running around and he was frantic.

She said she was at work and the gardener who works see to everyone’s garden and he left the gate open which apparently was not the first time.

She also said she had on numerous times complained to the Managing Agents of the complex about the gardener leaving the gate open. They did nothing about it. She has this last weekend moved out of the complex.

Anyway she gave him a bath and after 2 hours managed to calm him down. She was very grateful to all concerned and was extremely upset knowing that he could have been killed.

For those people it is just much easier to drive on and pretend you never saw anything. I was disgusted in the way that people reacted because the traffic was stopped. Police drove past didn’t bother to stop.

Metro Police drove past didn’t even bother to stop get out and stop the traffic they just drove on.

What I would like to say to people who have dogs, and I see it all the time if you know your gardner or domestic worker is working on whichever day ensure that they do not have access to a remote of the main gate of your property and if you are home let your dog stay inside whilst the gardener is there.

When leaving your property ensure that the gate is closed before driving off.

It is not fair on the animals to run around in heavy traffic because of someone’s carelessness.

I have seen it with my own eyes, a domestic worker standing outside the gate chatting away to someone and the dog gets out.

Even on days where domestic workers put the bin out for Pik-It-Up they open the gate casually walk with the bin take their time going inside and the dog gets out.

I just would like to thank Johnny from Tow-Assist (0607574777) and to the guy in the white 4×4 for going out of their way to catch this little dog which took about 3 hours. The guy that sells things on the side of the road, I did thank him and did give him a reward for his efforts.

Editor’s note:Unedited letter shortened.