Dear Diary - Lassie come home

Dear Diary, 

I RESCUED A DOG TODAY!

No, I don't mean that I went to the Humane Society and brought a dog home.  I mean that I found a dog that was lost and took it home again!

It was so amazing!

I want to share the story with you, dear Diary.   

I was at the coffee shop, walking to the car, balancing a latte and a cappuccino in one hand and fumbling with my car keys in the other.  I saw a dog out of the corner of my eye.  

I had no reason to react to it but somewhere, in the back of my mind, I knew something was wrong.

So I put my coffees in the car, grabbed a bag of dog treats and walked down the block to where the dog was.  I saw that he didn't have a leash and watched him run into the yard of a house next to the coffee shop.  We have sat at outside tables next to that yard very often, and I have never seen any sign of the people who live there being dog owners.  

I threw some treats into the yard and then walked in, closing the gate behind me.  The dog was obviously scared, so I gave him more treats, and slowly walked up to the front door.  I rang the doorbell.

The dog looked at me, looked at the closed gate and immediately knew what was going on.  He wriggled under the gate and took off, crossing the street and running up a hill.

Shit!

I ran back to my car, backed out of the parking lot and followed the dog.  I found him in front of a church.  I pulled the car onto the sidewalk, made reassuring noises at the dog and started luring it with treats.  

I eventually grabbed its collar and it was petrified.  The ears were all the way back and it was quivering.  I knelt down and stroked it, petted it on the head, massaged its ears.  It seemed to calm a little, but still tried to pull away a few times. 

This was clearly someone's pet.  He was well fed, well groomed and had a collar and tags.  Just no name tag with his owner's contact details on it.  

More treats, more soft voice, more petting.

Then I started to put the treats on the car bumper, and then in the back of the SUV.  The dog jumped inside.

Success!

I got in the car, cranked up the heat (the dog was wet and dirty and it was cold out) and headed home.  

I called Fluffy Bear out of the house and he brought water and more food.  We checked the tags, but only the pet license one was readable.  I had my laptop and tried to find a place online where I could look up a dog from the pet license number, but I couldn't find anyway to do it.

So we drove across town to the Humane Society and they were amazing.

We met a lovely lady who looked up the pet license, told us the dog's name was Jim, and called the owner.  As soon as she said she was calling from the Humane Society, he must've asked if they had her dog because she said:

  "No, I don't have your dog, some good Samaritans have him."

Then she passed me the phone.  I can't tell you how good it felt to talk to this man.  

Life is full of challenges, irritations, sadness interspersed with little moments of comfort, times with friends, love from puppies.

But, when you live in suburbia and work in corporate America, there are few opportunities to really do good in this world, unless you are one of those amazing people who regularly give their time and effort as a volunteer.  

Fifteen minutes after that phone call we were giving Jim back to his family.

He had crawled under the fence in his own yard (we saw the hole), somehow made it across a very busy road, and run 5 blocks West and 4 blocks South before I found him.

The smile on his owner's face, Jim's wagging tail... What a lovely sight. 

I rewarded myself later, dear Diary, with a Babe Ruth bar and a nice cup of tea.

Comments

[honora]

well done, darlin' . . . and I would expect nothing less of your kind heart. You rock!

[Liz C.]

Way to go! Sounds like he knew the jig was up. Glad he wasn't sick. That's how our son's dog contracted Parvo while under our care. $1,000.00 later, his dog was well and son decided to give him to friends, *Sigh*... I'll remember that when he asks where his inheritance went over the years, LOL!

[Ittybittycrazy]

Thanks, H!

Hello again Liz!

I don't think he was sick, Liz, but he never met our dogs anyway. We left them in the house and kept him in the car.

He was clearly a loved family pet, living in suburbia, so we are probably OK.

As for Parvo, that is so scary! Our vet recommended we get the puppies vaccinated and I didn't need any convincing. Apparently there are a bunch of raccoons around our neighborhood who have it.

And $1000! That reminds me to get Puppy Girl insured!