Then what do I see? A stray dog running down the street. Have any of you noticed a dramatic uptick in the number of stray dogs who find you since you got a dog? I definitely have.
I parked and went to go wrangle the dog. He was relatively friendly and with the help of a store owner, we were able to coax him into the store. He had a collar on but no tag. Why do people do this? We posted his picture online and then I took him over to the vet clinic to get checked for a microchip.
Big dogs can pull. I don't know how you all manage on a regular basis. So I take him to the clinic (or rather he takes me) and it turns out he has a microchip. Yay right? Well it turns out that it was not registered.
However, the dog had been seen there a couple of years ago so they dug out his file and called the owner. She eventually answered and came to pick the dog up at the clinic an hour later (so I was told).
I'm getting really frustrated with how many stray dogs are wandering loose in our neighborhood. The vet tech told me there were three other people who brought in strays that day to check for microchips.
Out of the dozen or so dogs I've found this past year, only one had a tag and it had a Florida address on it and the number wasn't valid. So it usually takes at least an hour (usually several) to corral the dog, post his picture online and wait for the owner to see it or wait for animal control to get here.
And this always happens during walks. So the dogs' walks get cut short. Which they are not happy about.
After all that, we finally made it to the garden store to pick up the present. The boyfriend wants a terrarium to put on his desk at work. The one below is not the one I picked but I didn't have a photo of the other one.
Do you see the store bunny? Mr. N's little terrier brain was in total overload.
The dogs got all excited about the bunny (although I think Onyxx was just imitating Mr. N) and Mr. N almost knocked over Onyxx to try and get at it. We left shortly afterwards.
When we came home, we discovered that the box of treats from Be Pawsitive (from She Speaks Bark's giveaway) had arrived. I made Mr. N pose before he could eat his.
The dogs approved of the treats (Mr. N can be picky about hard treats) and gobbled them up. Onyxx even stole a piece of Mr. N's biscuit.
Hi Y'all!
ReplyDeleteOh, Mr. N you are so cute sitting there with biscuits on your paws!
As for dogs with collars and no tags...they are easily lost and we don't even know where. I lost my rabies tag after only a year. I have a microchip and one of those tags you can scan with your cell phone. Some of my friends have tattoos on their inner thighs. More than one ID is important and if we're traveling with us either have your cell phone number connected to our ID or call forward your home phone to your cell...just in case!
Y'all come by now,
Hawk aka BrownDog
Mr. N and Onyxx wear Boomerang tags. We've never had a problem with them falling off and they have a guarantee that the lettering won't fade or they will replace it.
DeleteMr. N, we are so impressed with your posing skills. We may have to work on biscuits on paws!
ReplyDeleteThat was quite a shopping trip you had. Like Hawk says, more than one ID is the best! Glad the owner was found. As for the store bunny, I think Rocco's head would spin off if he say that!
Your pals,
Diane and Rocco
Thanks! They usually have ducklings or bunnies in there but they're in a pen. I might not have brought both of them if I knew that one was hopping around loose.
DeleteFirst of all, thank you for taking the time to help that dog find its home! That is one valid excuse for shortening a workout.
ReplyDeleteI hope that the poor thing had been to the vet more recently than "a couple of years ago". Makes me wonder about the owner's 'fitness' for having a dog companion.
I think so too. I just wish it didn't happen so often! Yeah, I don't know if they just switched vets or if he just hasn't been to the vet in a long time. His coat looked to be in good shape but he could definitely use a nail trim.
DeleteOMG. that store bunny would've been an eaten bunny if Scooter had spotted it. Well done for finding that pup's home - it's worth the effort & I'm sure the good karma will be repaid at some point in time, even though it did cut your walk short. Happy FitDogging
ReplyDeleteIt was quite the task keeping Mr. N away from that bunny. Unlike bigger dogs, he could have totally fit under those shelves too...
DeleteTorrey and I would love to chase a bunny, especially in a store. BOL..So glad you took the time to help the lost dog, awesome!
ReplyDeleteWho doesn't want to chase a bunny?
DeleteVery nice of you to help the dog- weird people are so careless. Very cute pics with treats. Have a great weekend
ReplyDeleteIt's so irresponsible. If I haven't gone to that particular vet (dog was quite far from home), he might have had to go to animal control. Mr. N wears tags, and has a registered microchip and at least half the store owners in our neighborhood know him by sight and name.
DeleteCute posing! But a store bunny? And they let folks bring dogs in?? That seems like a recipe for disaster - or at least knocked over displays.
ReplyDeleteLuckily I don't see too many dogs wandering loose around here, but my sis sees them in her neighborhood a lot. Sometimes it's the same dog, time and again. I don't understand people!
I'm not quite sure what their rationale is either.
DeleteI have always been aware and never actually ran into a stray dog. However, I do notice when one is off-leash and I see it before I see the owner. I am always looking at an off-leash dog to make sure it did not get lose or is a stray.
ReplyDeleteI know what you mean about big dogs pulling too. Gretel is 10 lbs and about rips my arm off. I actually feel a little uncomfortable walking big dogs :)
We need to move to your neighborhood. I see stray dogs all the time. And nine out of ten times, they're big dogs too.
DeleteMy arm got a nice workout for sure. If that dog suddenly ran after something, I don't think I could have held him back.
We LOVE that pic of Mr. N with the treats on his toes. What a well behaved boy who deserved to win those treats!!
ReplyDeleteAww how nice of you to spend your day wrangling that cutie pup! We admit, we do the same. Since mom walks dogs for a living- she deals with this a lot too. It is very frustrating because it seems no one has their dogs tagged or chipped properly!
The terrarium is beautiful we bet-good choice! We are slightly obsessed with them over here, make them mostly, we have 8 in our apt ;) One of them is carnivorous which is pretty fun (http://justawhimsicalworld.blogspot.com/2013/09/pitcher-plant-terrarium.html)
How do you deal with stray dogs when you're out walking? I'd think it would be harder for you with more dogs to wrangle. If I don't have the car with me, I can't really chase after them because of Mr. N.
DeleteThe store also had these gorgeous terrarium ornaments. I'm thinking of going back for one. Or making one. They have classes.
Was it Artemesia? Or Hammer & Vine? Those are two of my faves <3
DeleteIt IS difficult, often I find them when dog-walking clients dogs, many of which are not dog friendly. That's always interesting. The strays like to follow us. So I can sometimes get the clients dog home, then wrangle stray into my car which is at the house, and finish up with clients dogs. Not a pretty site always. ;)
Haven't been to those. It's City Farm up in North Portland. They're mainly a farm and garden store hence the bunny.
DeleteWe don't have stray dogs where people live... they are mostly feral in wooded or industrial areas. That said it is very important to update the microchip information when one adopts the dog. All the shelter dogs come with microchip but, we were never told that we need to update the microchip information point our own contact information, if we never thought about it and did the research!!
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on the win! :)
Whereas I doubt we have any feral dogs (or very few) around here. They're all strays or abandoned or something.
DeleteI don't know if you do this already but I try to have Mr. N scanned for his chip whenever we go to the vet. They migrate sometimes or in his case, they couldn't find one at all and he had to get a new one.
Hahha! Mr N are those treats holding your paws down? They look pretty hefty (and tasty!)
ReplyDelete