Dear people who were out walking with their cat in the Oroville Wildlife area a week or so ago when you saw a lady and three off-leash dogs emerge from the woods,
I am so sorry that we startled you—and I am so glad that you immediately split up, leaving the woman behind to hold up a hand and shout to me. I couldn’t hear what she said, all I heard was the word “cat,” but I understood that I should leash the dogs, which I did immediately. Because of your quick action, my dogs never even saw your partner until after I had them on leash and we were again walking in your direction.
You see, even though I walk with my dogs off-leash in that area frequently, and it is 100% legal for them to be off-leash, and we hardly ever see anyone out there, I practice calling them back to me at least once on every walk. Sometimes I’ll spot a deer, because I’m taller and have a better view, and I’ll call them to me and give them treats for coming so that when they do hear the deer crashing away in the woods, they are right with me and don’t chase the deer. We practice so much, in fact, that I can usually call them back to me even if they have spotted a deer and are thinking about chasing it. So, because of your calm signal, I understood that I needed to call the dogs to me and was able to do that in a flash. And then you turned and started walking the way your partner had gone.
We were following a couple of hundred yards back, with the dogs on leash, before I saw you both approaching your car and understood why you had signaled to us and then quickly retreated: You were walking with a cat on a harness and a long leash! How wonderful! I was so impressed that you are that committed to your cat’s mental and physical health; very few people take the time to train and habituate a cat to a harness and leash, much less take them exploring in a woodsy area! I was so impressed and happy to see that!
It was also impressive that you knew what to do if you saw dogs, whether on-leash or off-leash. Your immediate actions of splitting up, leaving one person behind to communicate to the person with the dogs, and having the other person immediately retreat to a safer place with the cat—that was genius. You prioritized the safety of your cat, rather than “chanced it” that some unknown person would be willing and able to control their dogs. My dogs never even saw your cat, and only had a glimpse of you holding up your hand to me, because I called them back to me and they all came to me immediately, even the foster dog! And you were both so calm; no hysterical shouting or threats. You must have done this before.
When I heard the word “cat,” even though I hadn’t heard what else you said, I thought that perhaps you had seen a cat, and I immediately thought that perhaps you had found a cat that had been dumped out there. (I was once walking with a friend and our dogs in that same area and found a dog that had clearly been abandoned. It was startled when it first saw us, and it kept running toward us, excited, and then running scared to a sort of a nest-like area under a tree. I thought maybe it was a mom with puppies, but when we got close to the tree, we could see a bunch of fast-food wrappers; the dog had clearly been raiding one of the garbage cans by the river to live on. My friend and I managed to catch the dog and take her to the shelter. But that’s how I know that people sometimes do dump animals out there.) It made my heart so happy that the cat you had shouted about wasn’t a dumped or injured cat, but obviously a much-loved and amazingly well cared for cat who was receiving more enrichment than most cats receive.
When you got to the car you opened the back and the cat jumped in; you both got in and drove away before I got close, and that was the only sad part for me, because I would have loved to tell you how impressed I was with your cat ownership. And, gosh, I would love to know other pet owners like that, even if we have different species! After all, we were out there, apparently, for the same reason: to give our animal companions an opportunity to practice behaviors that are immensely enriching and satisfying for them, in a natural environment, without hurting any other animals.
I hope to see you out there again sometime!
With massive respect,
Nancy Kerns, and Woody, Boone, and foster dog Maeve
