Beacuse people are idiots, that's why!
I know the Good Lord guides these animals directly into my yard...I swear He does.
Remember Spencer?
Okay, so Maria had just gotten on the bus, Naomi was sleeping soundly and I just came downstairs to work on the computer and have some "me time" when that was all shot to hell. Out of the corner of my eye, I see two sets of eyes and two tails wagging in my office window. I look over and I swear they both smiled at me!
At first, I sat there hoping they would go away. No such luck. This was on the coldest day of the year so far. At the time it was 18 degrees and dropping.
Then I just asked God what he wanted me to to do and I willed myself to go out the back door. Up walked the gentlest old soul with the kindest eyes. He was a brown shepherd mix with a tag that said Buddy. The other one was a neurotic female beagle that ran away when I opened the door. I brought the old man into my basement and called the number on his tag. He just sat there...smiling at me. Of course the number on his tag was no longer in service.
I went back outside to see if anyone was coming after them or to listen for anyone calling. I could only stand to be outside for a few minutes, and eventually the beagle followed us. It was apparent the two dogs were friends.
I brought them in my garage and laid a few towels down while I tried to figure out what to do. They gobbled up a bowl of food and drank a bunch of water. Buddy seemed to be content but the crazy beagle just wanted to come inside. It was getting late and I had to get dinner going. Maria was going to get off the bus soon.
I reluctantly left them in the garage when the beagle started scratching the door. I opened it up to tell her "No" and realized she had scratched some of the weather proofing strip off the door! Gerry is going to love that! I also realized the beagle was in heat. Great! That just put me over the edge! Luckily the shepherd was neutered!
I made a few phone calls to animal control and the humane society but they hadn't been reported as missing. I had the neighbors looking for signs as they were driving home from work. Of course Gerry was working late that night so my neighbor Theresa helped me load up the kids and drive around posting signs in our neighborhood. God bless her...it was so cold that night.
In the mean time, I put the dogs in crates in our basement. Yes...I do have random sized crates laying around from our fostering days. Luckily the dogs were really good and spent the night being very quiet in those crates. I guess they figured it was better than being on the street!
I told Gerry I would call animal control to come get them in the morning. But thank God, the owners saw the signs and called at 8 am the next day. What kills me is that the man knew the beagle was in heat and even admitted they had no plans of breeding her. The woman said "She always gets so crazy and tries to get out when she goes into heat." I wanted to say "Duh!" but I didn't. I did mention that they should consider spaying her so this doesn't happen again. They just blew me off. They did offer me money for keeping them, which I thought was nice. They also thanked me 1000 times.
So, it was a happy ending after all. There are a few morals to this story I would like to leave you with:
1) Keep tage with CURRENT phone numbers on your dogs!
2 )PLEASE spay and neuter your pets. I guarantee you don't need to breed them...go spend 10 minuets in a local animal shelter, then tell me if you think breeding your dog is important. If you don't spay/neuter them and you think they won't ever get out...you're wrong. It will happen at some point. Their hormones affect their behavior and it is instinct for them to want to mate. And don't use the money excuse. There are low cost spay and neuter programs available all over the city. I'm talking $10. It's a totally irresponsible excuse.
Okay. I am done now. We really need to move because the way people feel about and treat their animals in this community only causes me heartache!
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