Thank you thank you very much. I try to honor requests so here goes, as tanstaafl has requested a dog blog.....
Monday, I worked late shift, which means I had to be at work at 1 pm, Which means leaving abut noon to take Shel to Mom and Dad's so I can get to work on time. Now I had no real reason, once I got up that morning, to open my front door. I could tell it was sunny, knew it was going to be warm, so Shellie and I went about the business of just hanging loose til time to go.
As I was putting my shoes on, Shellie opened the front door and said,"Mom, why is there a dog on our front porch?" Well heck if I knew, and told her so. But sure enough, between the step and the porch swing, there was a yellow dog, maybe a retriever or something, and he/she did not look good----I did not get close enough to find out the male/female thing. Well Shellie had startled it when she opened the door, and it stood up and looked at us. It's right ear was crusted with mud or blood---it was dark looking and I really couldn't tell. But I could tell it was alert, but not in good shape, panting and not able to walk too well. So I closed the door back and went to the phone to call my husband. I told him what was going on and that I was running late anyway, I was going to give the dog a bowl of water and would he check on it when he got home that evening. No problem.
By this point the dog has laid down in the corner behind the porch swing, so I set the water down in front of it and we walked to the car. As I was getting in the car, my neighbor stopped as she was leaving and asked if we had a visitor on our porch. I said yeah and told her and she said she had already called the pound on it, that she thought maybe it had been hit by a car or something. I said ok and we left too, thinking it would be gone by the time any of us got home.
Now don't get me wrong--I have great compassion for animals. I just do not care for dogs too greatly. I couldn't just blindly walk away from this one, as it planted itself on my porch, but I don't have pets for some very good reasons----no time to take care of them properly, allergies, and I believe in feeding my kids before feeding the animals. Not exactly in the animals best interests. But this one was obviously not in too great shape, so I did leave it some water.
Well, husband got home around 5ish, I guess and dog was still here. He got it off the porch and cleaned the blood, mud and maggots off its ear and realized that the dog was hurt, but not how. The neighbor that earlier had called the pound had called them back later and told them she had found the owner, a person living down the road, who had assured her that she would be by to get the dog. As of 8pm she still had not shown, and that was when I had called my husband to see if it was gone yet. He said he and neighbor's husband had checked the dog over and, though not vets, knew enough about dogs thru raising them over the years, to know this one was not much longer for this world.
As husband and I both had to be at work early the next morning, the neighbor said they would call pound again. When Shellie and I got home about 4:30pm or so, the dog was gone, so we went to neighbor's house and their daughter said she thought someone had come and got the dog. Cool by me.
Later the neighbor said that they had not been able to get thru to the pound that morning, so we are hoping the owner came and got it. If she did, then I am semi-sorry for saying the things I did about her the night before---about how people should take care of their animals and so on. They should, and then this poor dog would not have been on my porch in the shape it was. If you cannot or will not take care of your animal then give it to someone who can. Don't just let it run over top of other people for them to take care of.
And yes Mom and Dad, we did check around the house looking for places it could be hiding----no sign of it.
So there is the dog blog............
4 comments:
Stupid question, maybe, but did you also look under the house? Really well?
yep, sure did----the only way under the house unless you dig a hole somewhere is via the entrance to the crawl space----not enough room for a dog that size to even attempt it--a cat would have a hard time, but we checked anyway--I even made Ron check it again last night after I got home.
I wish I'd been keeping up...sorry to be so late on this one, but...you did what you could, and were kinder to that poor dog than a whole lot of folks would have been. You are right--people should keep their animals on their property. I know a whole lot of folks who love dogs, but that doesn't mean they have one, and there is usually a good reason they don't.
It bothers me when kids in the neighborhood disturb my dogs by throwing things over fences and what have you...and it bothers me because I make a point of keeping my dogs where they can't be a bother to anyone else. They are, solely, my responsibility--and I gotta say, I wouldn't have it any other way. I love them dearly, and just the thought of one of them being hurt or sick and roaming around at the mercy of others makes me anxious.
You did what you could, as did your neighbors, who also sound like fine folks. I hope the owner did come get the dog. If not, though, Kelsie, I'm a firm believer that animals recognize kindness and God smiles down on those kind to his creatures. I know that sounds hokey (so I'm hokey), but anyway, I wanted to be sure and say a thank you to you and your husband, and your neighbors, for showing this poor creature the kindness you did. If it left this world, it did so having been shown that generosity, instead of being yelled at and chased away like a nothing.
This breaks my heart. Thing is, to some extent, I can understand why a person might not notice their dog isn't home for a few hours, if they let it roam loose...but beyond that? Can you even imagine not knowing where your children were for that long? I wish people were more responsible with their animals.
thanks, chelle.
The sad update to this is that a couple of days later my husband and I were standing outside about 10:30 at night, watching the lightening as a storm rolled in--one of our quirks--and as the wind blew, we got a whiff of , you guessed it.
Poor dog had walked down the hill to another neighbors yard---the kind who isn't mowing his grass, house ready to be foreclosed on, etc. she had laid down in the cool grass at the bottom next to the ditch line on his side of teh line where we cannot see her and simply gone to sleep.
The nieghbor who had been helping us also helped my husband cover her over with lime and dirt, and a couple of nights later my husband found a flyer from the dog's real owner and called to let him know what had happened. The guy used to live in our house and the dog had simply come home to die. He has since come and taken her body away to re-bury at his home---about 3/4 mile down the road in new subdivision.
At least once he knew for sure where she was, he came for her.
There is a place in Heaven for animals, I am sure, and she is there......
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