We all imagine at some point in our lives there may be a reason we will come into contact with the police. You may have a lead foot or a car accident there are numerous reasons good and bad. I work at a police department as a dispatcher. Work is the only way I have ever come into contact with police in my thirty-seven years of life. As you will find as you read on, as a whole those in law enforcement are like family. It is the nature of the job.
I have yet to introduce the key player of this story. One more detail you need before I proceed is that I have a teenage daughter. Now that you have the background, I shall introduce the star of this story. His name is Impulse. Impulse is a 140 lb Great Pyrenees/German Shepherd mix. Impulse is still a growing boy at only a year old. He is obedient most of the time, however, has his rightful moments of acting like the puppy he is. No one believes him to be a puppy only because of his enormous size. Impulse is huge and built like a Great Pyrenees, but has the black and tan markings of a German Shepherd. I want you to get to know Impulse as I do. He is a sweet, fun loving, generally obedient, wouldn’t hurt a fly kind of puppy. Don’t judge him by his size he doesn’t realize he is not small. He blunders about being the size of a calf, but with the mental capacity of a five year old child.
Now that I have painted the best picture I can, let the story begin! My dogs are inside pets, but I have a large fenced in backyard to let them romp and play. It was a typical evening after letting the dogs in the last time of the night and we all went to bed. Usually our dogs sleep through the night except on occasion, one or both feel the urge to wake us in the wee hours of the night. Unbeknownst to me Impulse had gotten my husband up to go out and was put in the fenced in area, my husband went back to bed. At approximately 3 am, I am wrenched from my slumber by the hardest knocking at the door that seemed to never end. I leap from bed and peek out the window to see three police squad cars blinding me with their red and blue lights. With the insistent knocking still assaulting my ears. My first thought was “What has that teen daughter of mine done?”
Ignoring the ear splitting knocking for a moment, I stumble to my daughter’s room thankfully she is fast asleep and unaware that anything was going on. That fear squelched, I creak open the door a crack to a police man asking if I had dialed 911? I respond with a shaky “No, why what is going on?” He said they had gotten a 911 call reporting a prowler in the area. It was bitter cold out, so I asked him to let me get a coat on and I’d be right out. I step out to meet with the officer that I already knew from being a dispatcher. He advised they’d gotten a 911 call about a prowler about 45 minutes ago, but hadn’t found anything suspicious. Seeing three squad cars and only the one officer I’m talking to it registers in my mind, where in the world are they? He explains they’ve spent last 30 minutes or so chasing one of the world’s largest dogs, he is laughing saying his partners are still after it.
He believes given the size of this dog, that it is more than likely the “prowler”. We talk shop for a few moments (assuming my little Impulse is in the house) when out of the corner of my eye, I see gigantic Impulse barreling down the alley, with the other two officers in hot foot pursuit! Impulse runs straight to me with total jolly abandon! The two officers arrive short of breath, but laughing, asking me if that is my big brown dog. Of course, it’s Impulse he must have jumped the fence. They tried to catch their breath between bouts of laughter and knee slapping. I say “let me put him inside the house” as the officers say they think he was the “prowler”. I am so embarrassed and apologetic, knowing completely how responding to 911 routinely goes. Fortunately, they were more amused by Impulse giving them chase for the last 45 minutes! They assured me it was great fun for them and Impulse. They advised his size was perfect for practicing some of their tactical maneuvers, but how Impulse was just too clever. All boys, human and dog, had a great time as well as a great workout. I am still embarrassed that my dog caused the police to knock on my door at 3 am Happy he was the “prowler” and nothing my teen did or caused. I never dreamed my gentle giant would cause such a scare to me, or so much entertainment to the local law enforcement. Those officers still drive by from time to time to see how much bigger Impulse “the prowler” has gotten. We’ll all re-live that night and laugh until we snort. Thank you my local law enforcement for seeing the humor in this incident. Most of all, thank you Impulse, for adding one more comical memory to your repertoire.