Saturday, Lynn and I were returning home from an estate sale. We were cruising down a major, VERY busy 4-lane highway through town. We spotted a dog in the south side lanes dodging cars left & right trying to cross the highway. I didn't see any way he'd make it without being hit, but I went to the next intersection, made a U-turn and came back to see if we could help him. By time we got back to him, he'd somehow managed to get across and was walking up a side street on the north side of the highway. Problem is, this was in a VERY seedy part of town ... VERY "dark" ifyouknowwhatImeanandIthinkthatyoudo! We pulled up beside him and as I was parking on the side of the road, Lynn jumped out to grab him (NOT the smartest thing to do, but she's a big-time animal lover). He was trailing a broken leash ... looks like he'd been tied up and broke the restraint ... then ran off to do some exploring.
We always carry a stack of small styrofoam bowls, bottled water and CAT food in the trunk because Lynn is always on the lookout for strays and will stop to leave food out for any she sees. Anyway, she gave him some water and he drank all we had with us. He was EXTREMELY friendly, well-mannered and seemed to be a generally all-around sweet dog. She sat with him and he simply laid beside her the whole time ... never once tried to cause a problem or continue on his journey ... just seemed happy to lay next to Lynn and relax.
Of course we attracted plenty of attention in the neighborhood and I stood leaning against the car with a loaded .45 in my pocket watching the "neighbors" more than I watched Lynn and the dog. I called animal control and they said they were VERY busy, back-logged and it would "be a while". I explained the situation, described where we were and the dispatcher said she'd send somebody right over. As we waited, I noticed a LOT of activity at the house right next to us. A car would pull up, some dude would walk to the door, knock, go in, then come out after about 5 minutes, get in the car and drive off. This happened about 3-4 times. THEN, a car drove up, parked in front of the house, the driver blew his horn, some dude came out of the house with a stack of car stereos in his arms, laid them in the front passenger seat of the car and the guy drove off. The guy who came out of the house didn't go back in, but walked down the street in the same direction in which the car drove off. This all went on no more than 50' of us and they seemed to care less that we were there! I decided it was time to cock the Colt and chamber a round, then returned it to my pocket.
Animal Control arrived in about 40 minutes and took the dog off to "doggie jail"! They stayed and talked to us for quite a while and were really a nice couple of guys (TWO trucks showed up). They commented on how even natured the mutt was and somebody would probably claim him. The dog went willingly with anyone who led him with the leash and they got him loaded up with no problem. Once in the TINY cage on the truck, he simply laid down and waited for whatever was in the cards for him. We were told they'd hold him for a week and if nobody claimed him, he'd go up for adoption IF he was "adoptable" (which I'd have to think he is). 'Course, after a certain amount of time .... well, they don't hold 'em forever. :(
I sure hope somebody adopts this guy ... he's pretty lovable. Not the handsomest dog in the pound, but calm and friendly. The Animal Control dude snapped this pic before loading him in the truck. That was 5 days ago and as of today, it appears he's still in doggie jail. Sad ... in the short time we "knew" him ... we became a bit attached ... BUT ... he'd eat cats for breakfast, so it just wouldn't work for us. :(
http://www.polksheriff.org/InsidePCS.../LostPets.aspx
Well, heck, the url won't take you to the individual dog. The site won't even let me cut & paste. I'll work on it and see if I can post his mug shot.
Dang! Typical gov't website. I used their e-mail link to mail the listing to myself so I could save the pic and post it here ... it said it went through, but I haven't received anything (did it TWICE). Oh well ... I think he's on page 3 with the ID#A703112. All I entered in the info section is "DOG" and "Male".
