A mystery is solved…
I Wonder How She Did That
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Tag Archives: Pets
How Could Things Go So Wrong?
Yesterday started off very busy. A young man came over, and did some heaving lifting chores that mom and I needed help with. He brought his three year old daughter with him. The little girl was fun to be around, but she is a very curious, and active little thing. I spent a great deal of the day asking her to put breakables back where she got the, and telling her the elderly dog did not want to play. I was left alone with her for about an hour or so while her daddy ran a pick up load of trash to the local dump – while he was out, he picked up his wife from work.
By the time the young man and his family left, I was frazzled. Keeping the 3 year from breaking any of my mother’s knick knacks, keeping her from taking everything out of the refrigerator, and keeping her from bugging the old dog were full time activities. During all of this, I did my best to keep up with the dogs. I left mine in the kennel for most of the day, leaving me only two to keep up with. I knew where the oldest dog was most of the day. She was usually under my feet, in a dog bed, or outside. I even brought her in from the outside more than once.
As hard as I tried to keep up with the old dog, I failed miserably. Most likely after everyone had left, I lost track of her. I was too busy trying to collect myself to pay attention. The dog wandered out into the back yard, and I did not realize it. It was not until after Mom got home that I realized she was missing. I looked for her, thinking she was wandering around the backyard like she does. She was in the backyard, unfortunately she had passed away. I know if I had not been so busy paying attention to myself, I would have realized sooner she had wandered outside, and been able to bring her in before that happened.
Mom is horribly upset, her dog had been with her for 17 years. The timing sucks – happening so soon after dad died. I believe all of this could have been avoided if I had been paying more attention.
I am not sure where to go from here.
How Not To Get Good Customer Service
Remember when I told you about Minnie’s dog kennel mishap? If not, you can read about it here Not Good, Not Good At All . Both of us were very traumatized -probably me more so than her. At the end of that blog post I promised to write an email to the company who sells the product and let you know what their response was.
I did write them. However, in hindsight I probably should not have started off my email with:
Your product almost killed my dog…
It was not until I spoke with Gregory from ABO that I became aware of the position I had put him and his company in. Basically, I had placed them between a rock and a hard place. All I really wanted was an acknowledgement of what their product had done to my dog, but Gregory could not even do that. Why? Because of the society we live in. He honestly thought I was setting him, and his company up for a lawsuit. That was never my intention, but I could see why an email starting off the way mine did would cause someone to think that.
Thankfully, Gregory is a very kind man and overlooked my mistake – spending a great deal of time talking to me. From that conversation I learned about how Gregory and ABO work to rescue, and find loving homes for many homeless animals in the Atlanta area. He seems like a very caring man who is passionate about what he is called to do.
Now onto why I had contacted Gregory in the first place. He explained to me that the directions that came with the kennel specifically state that an animal should not be left unattended in it. However, it was obvious Gregory felt bad about Minnie’s trauma, even if he had to be careful about what he said. In the end, he told me I could pick out two toys from his store, ABO, email him, and he would make sure that they were sent to Minnie.
Out of all the things I learned from this experience, two really stand out:
1. I think ABO is a neat company – with a great mission – and I hope you check them out.
2. Never, under any circumstances, start off a letter of complaint with the words “Your product almost killed…” it tends to get people’s hackles up.
Not Good, Not Good At All
Sunday -the day I went to the aquarium -was not a good day for everyone. Minnie – my dog -had a horrible day. I had put her in a kennel since we were going to be gone all day. It was one of those fold up cloth kennels. It has bars on the side – which you lock into place – to prevent the kennel from collapsing. On each end of the kennel, there are two little openings, whose purpose is to allow access to the locking mechanism.
Somehow, Minnie managed to squeeze her head through one of the openings, and she became stuck. Not only was her head stuck in the small opening, she was also hung on the bars. Due to how short Minnie is, and the position of the opening, only her back paws were able to reach the bottom of the kennel. She had to of been very uncomfortable. I hope she had not been stuck like that all day.
Mom and I tried very hard to free her, but Minnie was tired of being stuck and was panicking. We made the decision to make the opening bigger. Once the opening was big enough, and we could maneuver her around the bars, she was free.
I am going to write the manufacturer, and suggest that a product recall might be in order. I will let you know what kind of response I get.