Latch gates and keep pets safe

I just heard a very sad story that could have been avoided with a simple latching of a gate. I got a phone call late one evening asking if I would go out the next morning to look for a lost sheltie that was adopted by a couple from the rescue group I adopted my sheltie from. Evidently a meter reader had gone into the couple’s backyard and didn’t latch the gate on his way out. The couple didn’t realize the gate was open and let their two shelties out of the house later. Both dogs ran out of the yard and were loose in the neighborhood. The couple was lucky enough to get the female back (the dogs were both adopted because they had always been together) but the male, seen a few blocks away, could not be caught. Sadly, the next morning I got a phone call that he had been hit by a car and was taken to the emergency veterinary hospital but didn’t make it.

I ask meter readers and anyone who has to come into our backyards to please take a few extra seconds and make sure the gate is latched before you go to the next house. I know you have a lot of houses to go to, but leave it the way you found it. This also is a wake-up call to pet owners to always check the gates to make sure they are closed and latched because we never know when someone has been in our yard.

Deborah Wilkalis

Palatine