The sandpits are one of few off-leash areas in Yellowknife to take your dog. For one owner, what should have been a normal trip turned into a nightmare.
Trudy Hause would walk her two dogs in the sandpits every day, one german shepard and a nine-year-old yorkie schnauzer named Elwood.
On Oct. 15, she parked her car and began walking her dogs, the same as usual. But unlike any other day, this time something went wrong.
“This person came up driving really close to my vehicle running her dog, and Elwood turned around and he ran after her dog that she was running beside her truck,” Hause explained.
“All I heard after that was squealing and she had run over Elwood.”
Elwood suffered two fractures and a broken pelvis.
Hause rushed him to the veterinarian right away, but was told that there was nothing they could do.
The next day, Hause had to pack her and her severely injured dog into her car to make a 17-hour drive to Edmonton. At 2:00 a.m., she finally arrived and was able to get him looked at.
Today, Elwood is still recovering.
“It was devastating,” she said. “But I’m actually pretty lucky. There’s some dogs that end up not being that lucky. ”
It’s not uncommon for people to drive in the sandpits with their dogs running beside them, something that leads to several dog’s deaths or injuries a year.
“It’s usually the owners running over their own dogs,” said Hause. “Dog’s dart back and forth, if you’re in a truck you can’t see what’s going on out there.”
For Hause, people’s continued disregard for their pet’s safety is what frustrates her most.
“I wish I could have recorded [what happened] so that people can experience that, the ones who actually do run their dogs beside their trucks,” she said. “It’s not something that you’d want to hear again.”
She’s now calling for the city to reprimand owners who choose to drive and run their dogs at the sandpits.
