Wow! After a day of being Kennel Girl I think
Sue is SuperWoman. How she takes such wonderful care of a houseful of Porties every day is beyond me. By the end a day of exercising, walking and feeding my dogs and the lost dogs in shifts I was exhausted. I told my husband he could rest assured that I would never ask for a 4th dog. The other side of that, of course, is that when they all live together, the shift aspect of feeding and exercising goes away. As time was slipping by, I was becoming more and more apprenhensive that we were going to have to find a new home for them.
After dinner, I crashed on the sofa and let my husband take over the kennel duties. He and Jackson had gone for their walk, while Sunny and I were relaxing, when the phone rang. Caller ID shows a number I don't recognize. Could it be that the 'lost girls' were found? The woman's voice on the other end of the line said, "Yvonne, I think you have my lost dogs." "Hallelujah!", I exclaimed. (hmmmm....how did she know my name?????) She described them and asked if they were here and they were. She was so happy. As it turns out, they only live about 3 blocks from here. They had taken the flat collars off the dogs to put their pinch collars on for a walk, but one of them opened the door before the girls were tethered and off they went. They did go looking for the dogs but just missed us by going in opposite directions. For some reason, they didn't see our signs. ???? After she got home from work, she looked on the county animal control website and saw my ad.....That's how she knew my name. (they don't let you post an ad anonymously.) She had to wait for her husband to get home, before she came for the girls so we chatted a few minutes. As it turns out, the lab is microchipped, but for some reason it didn't read. My husband says one of the readers that the emergency vet used didn't have any indication of power at all so perhaps it was not reading. The other dog, pitbull / lab mix (do I know my breeds or what?) is not microchipped. The owner swears the girls are going to the vet today to get the one chip checked and the other dog chipped. We had been correct in thinking that they are used to being crated. They sleep in crates every night. Everyone was happy when the couple got here and were reunited with their dogs.
My husband and I high-fived each other and went back into the house to enjoy our pack. Would we do it again??? You bet! Yes it is a P.I.A. but what comes around goes around. I would hope someone would do the same for us.
Lessons to all. If you find a dog you need to act quickly to get the information out there. I (being old) would have never thought of Craig's list but was told that is a primary place to post lost and found dogs. The local authorities, such as SPCA, county and city animal control will take the information. In our area (and I'm sure most areas) they have a website to post lost and found pets. Despite our signs not being the solution, signs do make a difference. Check for microchips. Vet's offices will gladly scan a found dog at no charge.
You do have to proceed with caution. If there is any question about the health or social behavior of a stray, call authorities. Your own health and the health of your pets depends on your using good judgement. In our case, the girls came up to us like long lost friends. They were clearly well cared for; clean, nails done, in good physical condition. That, plus the fact that the one girl was a pit bull or stafforshire, made us make that decision more quickly to protect her. People who are not 'into dogs' don't understand that it is not a breed name that makes a dog behave badly but how they are raised from puppies. This one (as with several I have known over the years) was as sweet as any of our 3 dogs. I had visions of her showing up in someone's back yard and their having called the police saying "There's a pit bull running loose in the neighborhood" only to have the authorities show up ready to confront a mean dog. Her name is Annabelle and it fits her perfectly. What a neat girl. I am so glad we had a happy ending to this story.
Today, my pups and I are chilling out at home in the rain with my knitting, a cup of coffee and Sunny on my lap. Life doesn't get any better.
(sorry I had no pictures of our guests. I tried but they are solid black and wouldn't stay far enough away from me to focus the camera...I tried.)