The Dog...

So... the other day, I'm watching all four boys and I look out the window. There is this little mangy white fluffy dog darting all over the road, almost getting hit. I am really not much a dog person anymore, but I still went outside to see if I could call it to me to check for tags.

At the same time, my neighbor steps out of his house, jumps in his truck and yells at me, "If I get it, will you take it??", as he is pulling out of his driving. "Um... " (the dog has already had several close calls on our little street and it's heading toward the busy one), "okay, " I said, assuming it had tags. It looked like the pet of our neighbor's a few roads down. I've returned their dog to them in the past with no problem. Dumb Move!!!

So he manages to rescue the dog, but not before it did run across the busy road, causing traffic to stop and honk several times. My neighbor brings it back with a rope tied to his collar. He handed it over to me. With. no. tags. What am I supposed to do with this dog?

I tied it to our front tree in hopes of someone looking for it or driving by to notice it. Did I mention it had rained earlier in the afternoon, so this dog was wet, dirty & smelly. I was able to even have a different neighbor drive around the neighborhood knocking on doors of people we knew who had similar dogs... no dice.

So, as soon as the other boys were picked up, I packed up the boys and the dog (in a large rubbermaid bin, with no lid) and we raced to the vets office before they closed. They scanned him for a microchip. No dice. And while they were nice, offered no help as far as taking the dog off my hands. They did offer me a few dog food samples for it as I had nothing. I swung by another vets office on the way home, with the same results (minus the food.) I called the Humane Society and Animal Control only to get voicemails.

As soon as we were home, we took the dumb dog for a walk in hopes of finding an owner out looking for it or it recgonizing it's home. Get this - While out, we actually did run into someone who was out looking for thier little white fluffy dog. But ours wasn't thiers. Isn't that meanest trick?!

So I tied it back outside again, gave it a little food and prayed that someone was out looking for it. I was not keeping this dog overnight. Plus I was babysitting again the next day, so it's not like I could have taken it anywhere anyway.

Then the barking started. Non-stop barking. I don't know if I have ever been so frustrated with a dog. He took up our whole evening and now he's barking non-stop. I finally went outside, untied him and told him to "Go Home!" and walked back inside.

Then the guilt kicked in. Guilt that made me even more mad at this dog. I couldn't help but watch him from my window. I mean, he was almost hit earlier today several times. But the stupid dog wouldn't leave our yard.

Finally, another dog walker walked by. She noticed the dog (I hid behing my curtains... I wanted nothing to do with the dog) and after realizing it was a stray, she took it. I'm sure she was better equipted to deal with a stray than me. And I was SO thankful to get it off my hands! It may not have been the best way to handle it, but I hated being responsible for this dog. I am mad at it all over again, just typing out this story. It may be heartless, but no more strays for me.

October 27th, 2006
Marc got home last night from his Chicago trip and was greeted at the front door by a dog. A dumb adorable golden retriever. This stupid dog got loose from its owners (still was dragging it's chain). I win it over so I can read its tags since it is obviously someone’s pet (well cared for, friendly, obedient, etc..) What do you know... he (or she) has no tags. And now it won't leave our front step. Darn it. Still there as we were getting ready to go to bed last night, so we at least gave him an old Rocky pillow to help keep him (or her) a bit warmer. And that dumb dog was STILL there this morning!! Augh! I don't want to be responsible for this dog. Just GO HOME! I don't even have anything to feed it.

November 9th, 2004
SO.... anyway, Andrew goes down for a short nap, while I clean up a bit, get the mail, chase a stray dog half way to Kalamazoo with a handful of Rocky's dog food, work on some Christmas gifts, etc... After Andrew wakes up and eats some peas and bananas, we head to the park with Rocky for a while. It was really chilly but a beautiful sunny day. When we got back, Andrew chased me around the front yard for a while.