The past few days a pretty young black Labrador bitch had been hanging around. A fine-boned animal, she had no collar and was obviously on the edge of starvation with bones showing beneath her glossy jet coat. At first she was wary, maintaining safe distance. I talked to her in a soft voice, squatting with my hands extended. Eventually desire overcame fear and she was brave enough to approach me. As I touched her, softly petting and reassuring her, she became almost deliriously happy, jumping, doing everything she could to make physical contact.
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| Adeline, "We're going to call her Bella, because it means "beautiful". |
Now I had a problem. What to do? In these days of budget cuts we don't have "Animal Control". She may be someone's lost dog, but without the collar, it's not likely. But what could I do? I have an old Pug that is slowly recovering from a $300 round at the vet. I can't take any dog to Texas next winter. What to do? The two young girls from across the street solved the problem. They fell in love. Their mother fell too. The only issue was an okay from Dad who was still at work. In the meantime, I found a collar we bought for one of the pugs that was too big. It was just about skinny Lab size. We gave one of Bud's leashes to them and of course we had dog food, which we fed her sparingly. I was afraid giving a starving dog as much as she wanted, would probably lead to a sick animal.
Sometimes things just work out. Dad came home. It turned out he had been looking for a nice hunting dog. From the look on his wife and children's faces, his sudden interest in hunting was a good decision. So last night the dog was warm, fed and sheltered. This morning the girls were walking the dog. If you are missing a thin black Lab, bite your tongue. She is loved. As I look out the kitchen window I can see between the houses to the neighborhood park. Bella is running and playing with the children. Life doesn't get much better than this.
5 comments:
Gunnar:
Not to be a kill joy but did anyone check for a micro chip.
Considering the health of the pooch they didn't care anyway.
Happy Memorial Day.
JG
Do you have any idea how few pet chip implants there are beyond 50 miles of either the West or East Coast? I'll save you the Google effort. Seven. And I suspect Christy's dog Cricket next door may be one of them.
My Leila was a skinny, collarless, roaming black lab eleven years ago, when she was brought into the Humane Society. Since she already had some good learned habits, I figure somebody must still be wondering whatever became of their lost dog. She's been a joy--the best-behaved dog I've ever had. I've had some doozies!
Cheri
Two of those seven pet chip implants are mine. Although technically, the Cities is like a remote outpost of the coasts.
So glad to hear she was taken in by a family. One of our pups, the Beagle Basset mix, was a stray that a friend found living in a swamp. ( I guess "wetland" is the politically correct term)We've had her 2 years and she is the sweetest, friendliest, most loving pup you'd ever meet. Our other pup was a shelter dog. I like to think of them as the hobo country dog, and the jaded city slicker from the mean streets.
Labs are great dogs. Glad you found a loving home for her.
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