So, anyone who knows me knows I'm a mush, especially for animals. Sometimes it gets me in trouble (like this time, a few months ago), but mostly it makes me feel good to help a dog find its way home, or just to help make sure it survives long enough to get picked up by its owner.
So, today, I'm heading out to the gym at about 7:45. I hop in my car, head out of my driveway, and before I even reach the main intersection this little tiny dog comes trotting along across the road right in front of my car. I stop, hop out, and the dog comes straight up to me. Sigh. What to do now? So, I pick up the dog and start looking around, trying to see whether anyone is out looking around with a concerned look on their face. Nope. No one. So, I get back in my car with the cute little thing. I mean, look at her...
So cute!
I drive around the neighborhood for a few minutes, still hoping to see someone looking all panicky, but no dice. so then it's back to the house. The kids, of course, go NUTS. A NEW PUPPY!!!! We explain that the dog is lost and we are trying to find its owners, and I assume the kids hear something like "bbuzzzzzzzzbuzzzzzzzzzzz puppy" cause all they want to do is hold her. My other dogs, of course, go into a frenzy immediately. Totally freaking out, wanting to get a look at the new competition.
Sigh. It's almost 8:30 now. Guess I'm not going to the gym.
So, I snap a couple of digital pictures and slam together a few posters to hang up. I mean, this is a small dog (no more than 5 pounds), and when I found her she wasn't even remotely tired or freaked out. She couldn't have been running around for long -- she HAS to belong to someone in the vicinity, right?
So we give the dog some water and settle her down in our newly decorated bathroom and head back out to hang up some "Found Dog!" posters. I see a woman kind of walking around her driveway down the road from me and stop, to ask if she lost a dog.
"Nope, but I just saw one running around."
I ask does she mean the little tiny brown one I found, and she answers "Nope, this one was gray, with a white ruff. Sort of a terrier mix looking dog."
Oh, Jeez. TWO strays running around. Someone must have left a gate open or something -- they probably don't even realize the dogs are missing yet.
So , back in my car, hang up the signs, start heading home and I spot the gray dog. I stop of course, chuckling at what it's going to look like when I bring ANOTHER stray home, but this one won't even get near me. I try to coax him to come over but he keeps skitting past me or growling if I try to corner him. So, I figure it's probably best I don't continue to alarm him -- don't need to feel like I helped panic him, causing him to dive in front of a car or something. Instead, I head back home, and call animal control. Better he be picked up by them, even if they have a (ugh) 3 day kill policy. If nothing else, 3 days of chances for your master to pick you up beats getting hit by a car today.
Anyway, I finally head out for work at about 9:45, figuring I've done pretty much all I can, and knowing that if the owners don't contact us, we've probably just added a new dog to our family -- I mean, she cute, she's small, and she's sweet. She sheds, which would be a problem (allergies), but Christine would never allow anyone to put that dog down, so we'd figure it out. Happily, I just got a call from my mother-in-law, who is at our house with my son right now. The small dogs owners came by and picked her up, and they found the other dog as well, unharmed. Both were theirs. A plank in their backyard fence came loose and the dogs decided to squeeze their way out this morning while the mom and daughter (about 8 or 9) were at the store.
The daughter was totally beside herself, laughing and crying at the same time. This is her dog, and she sleeps in her bed every night. I think some fence repairs will be completed post haste.
I feel really good about me, right now.
Unfortunately, I also know that MY daughter is going to be sorely disappointed when she gets home from camp and finds that the puppy is no longer at our place. But oh well, she'll manage.
Mood: Pretty darn pleased with myself, thankyouverymuch
Now Playing: "Horror Graffiti," Various
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