Friday, September 17

Stray

A few weeks ago, there was a puppy on my street. It was a black lab, about 6 months old. It had no collar. I watched her for a few seconds, wandering around, sniffing the ground. Then I went outside. I spent a good five minutes trying to get her to come to me, using all my most tempting lures, but she wouldn't come. I let her go on her way, and I felt like crap about it.

Last night, the same thing happened. This time, she came up to me, and let me pet her. Sweet, sweet puppy. Jan (OneAndTheSame) came by, and we talked about calling the police, so that she could hopefully find her way home through them. We worry, because she is so obviously not afraid of the street, and we've seen her a few times already. With no collar on. Sorry, that part is what pisses me off. Well, pisses me off the most, anyway. If you're going to be a stupid ass and let your dog roam the streets (and it's happened to me before, I'm including myself in at least the accidental-stupid-ass category here), at least make sure she's got a freaking collar on. Criminy Christmas! [Stole that line from an old high school friend, yes, he did actually used to say that]

Stupid asses everywhere:
  1. Do you have adequate dog-containment facilities? [A chain, or a pen, or a fenced-in yard, all are great options.] If yes, please move on to #2.
  2. Does your dog get away from you on a regular basis? [You might need to examine your "adequate containment facilities, because there's a flaw in there, somewhere. When you find the flaw, fix it, please.] Yes or no, move on to #3.
  3. Does your dog have a collar, with proper ID tags? A microchip? Any form of identification is good. [Do you want to get him back? Then make sure he's wearing a collar.]

Back to my story.

So this puppy is about 6 months old, and a beautiful black lab. Purebred puppy, I say that she's about 6 months old because I have a scale in my head for dogs, as they grow, and the posterboard representing size/age of dogs is a Lab. She matches up with the 6-8 month puppy.

Last night, she got away from me. I called the cops, and they came. By that time, she was gone. Off wandering a block that wasn't ours. Jan and I walked around with him, trying to find her, but it was dark by then, and we couldn't see her. The dogs on the block had stopped their tyrade, so we assumed she'd moved on.

This morning, I saw her again, on the streets. I was on the phone with my Bruce, and I didn't do the most logical thing in the world. Sometimes, when I get excited, I don't think straight. So instead of saying, "Ohmigod, she's-back-call-me-back-in-5-minutes!", I said, "Ohmigod,-she's-back-whaddo-I-do,-whaddo-I-do?!", and she was gone by the time my brain was working again.

At 8:45, she came back. She was in my front yard, sniffing the trees and playing. I was smart enough to grab the phone on my way, and I went out there. She came right to me, this time. We sat on the sidewalk, and I held her close as I dialed the phone. The sherriff's department answered, and I said, "Hi, my name is Sarah, I'm calling from 5453 Fake Street. I've got a dog here that's been wandering.." The lady asked if it was the black lab, which leads me to believe that there's not much going on in town. She was sending someone right away.

Puppy was getting restless after a few minutes, so I took her in the back, where we tie Augie up, and tied her there. I didn't want her getting away from me. Because I had no way to bring her, or be sure of her following me, I picked her up and carried her back there. She's about 30-40 lbs. Is that 6-8 months?

Lo and behold, "someone" turns out to be a girl I work with. Obviously she has a second job that I never knew about. She looks at the puppy, and leashes her. She thinks she knows where the puppy might belong. She's caught this puppy before, but that time, the puppy had a collar on. Jill Strebel has a puppy like this that's always getting away. She'll check over there. If not, I guess she's going to the humane society, where someone who really wants a black lab (and hopefully has proper dog-containment-facilities, and can afford a collar) will adopt her, and make her one happy pup.

People! Please make sure your dog has ID!


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