NJ Firefighter Shoots Down Waterfall to Rescue Stray Dog

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Paterson is the name of a stray dog in the state of New Jersey that was rescued by a heroic firefighter on August 12 of 2018. In short, what happened was that the stray dog had become stuck at the base of the Great Falls, though since no one saw him, no one knows for sure how that happened. Fortunately, Paterson’s predicament was noticed by local residents, which is how the firefighters were called in to pull off a rescue.

Eventually, one firefighter named Scott Parkin was able to rappel down the Great Falls, thus putting him in a position to help Paterson. Thanks to a combination of fast thinking as well as excellent preparation, Scott was able to win some of Paterson’s trust, which was enough for him to put the stray dog into a net so that he could be brought up to safety. This was rather fortunate to say the least, seeing as how the authorities now believe that Paterson had been stuck at the base of the Great Falls for days and days before he was rescued. Better still, it has been stated that the fire department will be adopting Paterson once he has been trained up, which seems like an excellent outcome for the pit bull mix.

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How Are People Supposed to Approach Stray Dogs?

Paterson is far from being the sole stray dog that can be found out there in the cities of the United States. In fact, both the United States and Canada are over-populated with both dogs and cats, though this particular problem has been improving in recent decades because of a sustained effort in educating pet owners as well as encouraging the spaying and neutering of their pets. Regardless, the sheer number of stray dogs out there means that it can be useful for people to learn how to approach stray dogs so that they can offer help if that is their wish.

For starters, it should be mentioned that while stray dogs are still dogs in the sense that they have the potential to get along well with humans, their experiences with humans are not likely to have been the friendliest. As a result, it is not uncommon for stray dogs to be cautious of humans, meaning that chances are good that it will take considerable time and effort to befriend them. Still, so long as people are willing to put in that time and effort, the results can be more than worthwhile.

To begin with, it is recommended that interested individuals move in a slow and unhurried fashion when approaching stray dogs. This is because fast movement causes them to enter a more excitable state of mind in much the same manner that fast movement can do something similar to humans. As a result, a stray dog that sees fast movement might react in one of two undesirable ways. One is that they might attack, which would be unpleasant to say the least. Another is that they might run away, thus defeating the whole point of the exercise.

Having said this, the point to approaching a stray dog is to win its trust. The simplest and most straightforward method for doing so is to offer the stray dog some food, which is how Scott managed to win the trust of Paterson. Generally speaking, interested individuals are recommended to take things slow by feeding stray dogs over the course of days, getting a little bit closer with each successive feeding. However, there are cases when there isn’t enough time for that, as shown by the waterfall rescue. In those situations, interested individuals are sometimes recommended to lure the stray dog towards them by throwing food a little bit closer to themselves each time, which works on more or less the same principle but is more challenging because there isn’t a chance to build up trust beforehand.

Finally, it is worth noting that interested individuals are sometimes recommended to bring their own dog with them to meet a stray dog because stray dogs sometimes respond better to dogs than to humans. However, this comes with an element of risk, which is why they should look at the stray dog’s behavior while taking things slow. If they see aggression, it is best to move away; if they see happiness, then they should feel encouraged to move closer and closer.

Of course, there is more information out there, meaning that interested individuals should look up more if they are hoping to get closer to a stray dog that they have encountered for the best results.