cont'd...
The trip to the store went particularly smoothly and we headed home with the inside of my van loaded with groceries. This should be the end of the story, but as we arrived in our development, I spotted two dogs running around the streets loose and obviously alone. I couldn't drive by and leave them, so I stopped to see if they would come to me....
Well, I guess the dog training paid off because both dogs came bounding over. Since the inside of my car was loaded with groceries, I had to get them both into the trunk area. Thankfully they were very obedient and jumped up without a problem. I want to mention here that they had been swimming in one of the neighborhood lakes and were soaking wet and very friendly. Eeeeww!
I took them straight to our main gate to see if they had been reported missing, and unfortunately was greeted by the usual incompetents. After leaving my name and number with them, I took the dogs home to wait for their owner to notice they were missing. Can’t take long right?
At this point I need to mention that the dogs were a small female Schnauzer and a GIANT male Labrador. This dog was so big; I didn’t know for sure what it was. It was the size of a Bull Mastiff or something – absolutely Huge! After putting my own dogs into the laundry room, I bought the wet dogs through to the back yard and then proceeded to bring in my groceries from the car. I gave the kids strict instructions to wait until I was back in the house, but of course true to form Cadence did not listen and decided it would be fun for TK (my unsocial Lakeland terrier) to meet his play date friends. All 3 dogs were together for less that 60 seconds, before the growling and gnashing of teeth started. TK made a smart decision that maybe arguing with the Giant dog wasn’t a good idea and heeded my advice and went back to the laundry room to bark from a safe distance.
This is my dog TK, he is now almost 12 years and is moodier than me when it comes to other dogs. He is great with the kids and they all adore him.
I then contacted our development security and the Humane Society to let them know I was willing to keep the dogs overnight, if necessary, but please could they let everyone know where they were so they could be reunited asap. The kids spent the next hour or so entertaining the ‘visitors’ by playing ball and feeding them snacks. We all settled down for a quiet afternoon (!) and I let TK out of the laundry room only to discover that he had suffered a puncture wound to the top of his head. It really didn’t look bad, but I called the vets office to get a 2nd opinion. We decided that TK could wait until morning when the Vet would be in again, but that Aimee and I would take the two lost dogs to have them scanned to see if either of them had microchips in and hopefully speed up their family reunion.
It was yet another mad moment of juggling dogs as we loaded them into the car, not to mention struggling to keep the big one under control – he was definitely taking me for the walk. The funny thing was that he was so big, that we did not have a leash and collar big enough for him. I had to use one of Widget's leashes as a collar and it only just fit around his neck. It felt so good to be out of the house, away from the constant barking, and over-excited kids for a while. The two dogs were amazingly well-behaved in the car so for a few minutes life was calm. At the vets office we weighed the dogs, the little one was a Schnauzer and weighed 20lbs, and the giant dog was indeed a GIANT Labrador and weighed a whopping 120lbs!!! Even the vet’s assistant could not believe how big he was, especially since he was just all dog and not in anyway overweight. Unfortunately, neither dog had a micro-chip, so we set off for home again. Rather than suffer the chaos at home, Aimee and I drove around the neighborhood for an hour asking any dog walkers if they knew the dogs. It also proved fruitless, and it was still very cold and getting dark, so we headed home. Of course, as soon as we arrived home the chaos ensued and it was obvious that we could not keep the dogs overnight, it was impossible for any of them to relax and I would need to be committed by morning. Not too mention that no one had called in the almost 5 hours they had been with us. What if the owners were away and whoever was pet-sitting them did not come back????
Poor Richard walked in the door at 6.20pm and was immediately sent out again to take the dogs to the Humane (No Kill) Shelter over near I95 and Griffin Rd before 7pm, when they closed for the night. During the loading of the dogs, poor Dr Liang rang to discuss Hansen’s blood-work results (see later entry for this drama).
What a relief when Richard left, the normal level of chaos resumed and for once the house seemed calm. Of course, he was heading out into the rush-hour traffic again, poor thing. Thankfully, he made it just in time and after making a generous donation to the shelter to ensure the dogs were well-cared for and confirming they would be okay until their owner came forward, he and Aimee headed home again.
The rest of the evening passed without real incident, other than my feeble attempt to clean up TK’s head – first shaving his fur and then cleaning up his wound. After having kids, it is incredibly what gross-ness you can stomach. There was no frantic phone call from a worried owner and the only real sound in our house was my constant worrying that the dogs would be okay in the shelter. I felt so bad that we could not keep them overnight. They were such beautiful and well cared for dogs, it was obvious someone would be heartbroken they were missing.
It was a real relief on Wednesday morning when the security gate staff called me to say that the owner had notified them. I immediately called the owner and told him that his dogs were safe and well. He was so pleased to know that they were okay as he had been frantic that they were out all night in the cold weather. He was so thankful and told me the dogs names were Luna (moon) and Sol (Sun). It was nice to know their names since we were still calling them ‘Giant Dog and the little one’. The annoying thing was that he told me that upon returning home on Tuesday he immediately called the security gate to report the dogs missing, but was told no one had contacted them and if they heard anything they would call him. They had only just called him prior to say that I had them at 7.30am on Weds. This was so frustrating since I had told them first at 2.15pm on Tues and a lot of pain and heartache could have been saved for everyone. I also want to add that the head of security had even typed up a flier and taped it on the gate office doors for visitors and staff to see. So how the gate staff did not know is a worry… (but, that is another story)
In comparison to Tuesday, Wednesday was a peaceful day, I even remembered to collect Hansen from school on time. Joyce and I spent a fun evening shopping for private school interview clothes for her, while Richard took care of the little ones. It was only when I returned home at 9.30pm, that I noticed that TK’s head was looking yucky. I cleaned it up again, and suggested we take him in to have it checked in the morning. We didn’t hear anymore from Sol and Luna’s owner, so I assume he got them back okay.
This is Luna - Ain't she cute?
This is the big guys himself, gorgeous Mr Sol
