A short-term love affair

Britt's entry -

Driving home from the mall on Wednesday night, I came to a 4-way stop and noticed a medium sized terrier trying to climb up on a motorcycle at the stop to my right. The biker took off and the dog ran alongside for a few blocks. The whole time the biker kept looking down until she (that's right, she!) finally pulled on to a side street. I pulled alongside, thinking that if it was her dog, I, having a car, might be able to help get the pooch home. But it wasn't hers. No collar or tags. No one in the area looking for her. So sad!


We held the dog by the scruff of the neck and she didn't struggle or bark, she just sat there smiling up at us. She was being a very sweet dog! After 7 phone calls to various places, I finally had a Sheriff's deputy pull up. (We're in an unincorporated area.)

The officer said that Animal Control closes at 4, PAWS at 6, and he couldn't transport any animals, which left me with three choices: I could take her and try to find her owner myself, take her and drop her off at a shelter the next day, or leaver her to wander the streets. I called Sean and he was great about going along with whatever I decided - to take her back to our place for the night. Of course I wasn't going to allow her to run back into traffic!!

I put her in the backyard and she and Roscoe carvorted, frolicked and ran circles around each other. (You read that right. How often do you get to use the words cavort and frolic?) They went into playful stance - front elbows on the ground, butt raised in the air - and tumbled across the lawn. It was adorable! Then Cooter came out and joined the fun. The new dog was fascinated yet gentle with the kitten, which was very encouraging.

Since she was smelly and wet when I found her, we gave her a garden hose bath with shampoo, and she took it patiently; pretty surprising considering we were two strangers soaking and scrubbing her!

We gave her treats and she "sat" for us, no food issues when Roscoe tried to steal them! All in all she's a pretty great little dog! Oh, and in keeping with the Dukes of Hazard theme, we gave her the name "Lulu", Boss Hogg's wife. We may use that one again at a later date, though!

We put flyers up at the intersection where I first saw her, and posted Found ads on Craigslist. Luckily, the daughter's owner is a savvy young lady and went online this morning and saw their dog! They gave me a call and I took "Missy" home. Apparently she is quite the escape artist. She had jumped off the back deck and on to the roof of a nearby shed and then took off for an adventure!

Oddly enough, I got a call a few hours later from a man who said he had "rescued" Missy a few weeks ago and had the impression it was far from her first time. He actually told me that if the owners hadn't called, he was going to offer to take her because she was such a great dog and didn't deserve to keep having this happen to her. Well, hopefully they'll get the message this time, because next time she might not run into someone who wants to help!