My Guide Dog Walked in TAR & It Was A Nightmare…

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I'm Molly, a typical sushi, makeup, and fashion loving millennial girl who just so happens to be blind! I was diagnosed with Retinitis Pigmentosa at just 4 years old and began public speaking at age 5. I started just doing motivational speaking, but now I make videos and even model! Even though I can’t see, I know that there are bright spots in everything we face. Let’s find them together. 💕

[Positivekitten]

It’s frustrating to think that the roadwork guy could not have just said “hey guys, there’s fresh tar right there” rather than just telling a blind person that their dog might want to be wearing shoes!

[SlugcatEmporium]

Oh my GOD. This near-exact thing has happened to me and my guide dog, except it was *wet cement* on one of my everyday sidewalks that workers had failed to block off. Both my guide dog and I waded right into it. That stuff hardens so so fast, which is scary. Luckily, the company manager was on-site and rapidly got us to one of the high-power hoses attached to the trucks (used for spraying off workers' boots and such). He hosed off my dog's paws before anything could harden. Then he hosed off my Converse as best as possible and paid me a bit of money to get my shoes replaced out of kindness😭

I've had more than one wet cement disaster over the years, which is unbelievable. Even to sighted people, wet cement can look just like darker/rained-on cement if not cordoned off properly or effectively, and a lot of "barriers" are shoddy/half-baked, like a random piece of plywood propped up across a park path.

I am glad you guys are okay. 🖤

[yllwClusterduck]

Yeah, that construction worker should have been more clear on why he said Elton should have had shoes on. He obviously knew there was a reason for concern but stayed quiet. Glad it all worked out well in the end!

[cindygronbach]

I'm a dog groomer, so have lots of experience with gunk in dog's feet. Coconut oil works to break up tar, pine pitch, etc. that gets in dog fur. Pile it on the goop, let it sit a few minutes, and the tar or pitch will break up and come right off. Then wash the dog as usual.

[MossyBear]

This must have been so terrifying for you, especially since you were so new as a team. I'm so glad you were able to get it resolved

[ToriAguilera]

Thank you soo much for making the point that friends can be of various ages. I too have friends who are older and younger and for some reason it's often not normalized and people just assume friends are the same age. A side note, but very important !

[eilishf]

One thing that Gone to the Snow Dogs suggests that before they travel anywhere, they make sure they know where the emergency 24-hour vet is and have it written in a safe place. I believe this would be especially important for you, Molly, and how important your service dogs are.

[JustACitrus]

The same thing happened to me with my (pet) dog! There was a sidewalk with this stuff on it - it looked the same as it does once it's set, so we just walked on it as normal. There were no barriers or signs or anything. It got stuck to my poor dog's feet. I noticed right away because she started walking funny, and it wasn't too bad to wipe off with some nearby leaves, thankfully. I don't understand why they wouldn't prevent people from walking on it!

[maddie]

My small dog walked in beach tar and getting it out of his toes was HORRIBLE, I'm sorry you had to deal with it on Elton John who is HUGE 😭

[SketchMyStory]

Oh wow. What a scary incident. I wonder why the worker didn’t express any concern that it would stick to your shoes too and that would have clued you in!

[vivica]

Can totally relate to panic-mode when your dog is concerned. Mine didn't walk in tar, but she got a huge thorn stuck in her paw. I'm walking her, she runs off into some underbrush, I hear her whimper and you better believe me I was there SO fast. Luna comes limping out and when I got her to show me her paw, there was this enormous thorn stuck in it. Call my grandma, completely panicked. She says pull it out, apply pressure, she's coming with the car.
Turns out after removing it she was pretty much fine and vet agreed. Limped for another day, then was running off into bushes again already.
We fear so much for our furry children. Don't feel bad for panicking when yours is a new guide dog on top of it all.

[kathrynmilesfenton]

OMG!!!! What an ordeal! I'm sorry you had to go through this and poor Elton John!!! In the US we have the ASPCA with a Hot Line for Poison Control. You are correct, it is (or was) $75 to talk with someone and they are VERY helpful. Glad it's over and you now have a story to tell with a good outcome!

[Kyrriie]

A similar situation happened to my cat once: he decided that he was going to walk across wet cement. Queue a few hours of my dad holding him and both of us trying helplessly to sooth him while I used vegetable oil to break up and massage out all the chunks of fully cured cement out from between his pawpads and up in the fur on his feet. He did not understand that this was HIS OWN DOING and we were trying to help him haha

[terrymay]

Molly, I just have to say this: You can really tell a story. I was riveted the whole time you were speaking.

[poodleeyes]

I’m sorry this happened Molly. I have a sort of similar story with my guide Cindi. We were ironically up in Canada, visiting family over the summer. We had traveled to a museum, and there was a hiking trail close by that had really cool stone formations that my friends and I wanted to visit. There was a sort of cat walk and staircase, leading up to the hiking trail. We started walking up it no problem, but then my dog started to hesitate and slow down. I urged her on, thinking she might be just a little unsure about how high we were, but she eventually just stopped. I bent down to see what the problem was, and realized that this catwalk was made up of spikes that acted like cleats to help with traction when it got icy in the winters. They were digging between her toes and paw pads and bruising her feet. I absolutely freaked out! I felt awful. There was no way I could have known since I of course couldn’t see the texture of the cat walk. But it had to be very painful. Luckily, I always carry her shoes in my bag, and got them on quickly. After that she could walk through the spikes no problem. But ever since that day she’s had issues walking over grates. Poor girl. I’ll check the texture of outdoor stair cases and grates every time now.

[JennaGetsCreative]

Why couldn't the roadwork guy have explicitly said "there's wet tar here" when he commented about boots? You said he's a guide dog. That means you can't see the wet tar.

I haven't had a dog get tar on their paws, but I did have an Australian Shepherd walk through wet concrete. I'm so glad I was able to see it and catch it while it was wet so we could go hose it off before it dried.

[autumnstarr]

I've been watching for so long, but every time I see a title with "guide dog" I see gallop still in my head. It's sad but remembering Elton then feels like a gift.

[erinnstreeter]

Wow. That friend with the cottage? She's an amazing friend!

[Scarletlight]

Elton was probably like "this is the weirdest effin' pedicure EVER! What are you people on???" But I bet he felt a whole lot better afterwards!

Edit: I never had something like this happen with tar, but my family's old dog did step on a piece of gum. it ended up stuck between one of his toe pads and the big paw pad, and I mean not only stuck to the fur, then I could have just cut it off, no it stuck to the skin! At the time we were in my family's camper at a campground. There was nowhere with like a shower or anything where dogs were allowed. My parents and brother were away shoppijnjg... Thankfully there was an outdoor sink outside the bathroom building, so what I ended up doing was grabbing some soap, bringing this poor dog over there, and making him stand on his hind legs so I could put that sticky front paw in the sink and scrub away with the soap. it took a good while (it felt like forever but we're talking a couple of minutes) but I finally got that disgusting sh*t off! He was so unbelievably patient with the whole process and actually gave me a kiss before putting his front paws back down, as if he realized what I just did for him and wanted to say th anks.

[ginadomenique]

Ohhhh man I'm very familiar with this struggle. I grew up on 19 acres in the woods and tar would just bubble up out of the ground, so our dogs were always roaming and coming home with paws caked in tar just itching to jump in our laps. Vegetable oil and some goo-gone-type solvent my dad had were our best friends. When we'd go on walks my dad would yell "DON'T WALK IN THE TAR" and they'd listen, so they KNEW BETTER, but they just didn't give a single F between them and they'd frolic in it with impunity if unchaperoned.