So April 2018, I found this guy wandering in the streets and posted his story here:
I found this little guy walking in the rain not far from my house yesterday. Weighed all of 3-4 lbs, wet. No tags, no chip, no idea where he came from, I let him sleep in my car (wrapped in a blanket sitting atop a puppy pad) all day while we searched for his owners. I thought it was less stressful than a crate and/or bringing him anywhere near my pups. It was warm enough that I wasn’t worried about him.
I let the Humane Society know I had him, put notices on the local message boards, drove around the neighborhood. Around 5 pm the HS called and asked me to bring him in for intake and I agreed. I’d felt like I ran out of options and he really couldn’t stay with me overnight, but told them to call me if no one claimed him.
He was a little grumpy old man – my guess part terrier, part Chihuahua – but sweet as could be.
Around midnight last night got a message from the neighborhood message board about a missing dog. It was him. They were successfully reunited this morning.
Happy ending. I on the other hand got absolutely NOTHING done yesterday.
==================
So tonight my niece – the same niece who was my accomplice when we rescued Mabel and Maddie from the park- and I turned onto my street after a day of driving to find this little guy once again wandering down my street – the complete opposite end of the street from where he was last time.
He still has no tags with his name or owners’ phone number. He does have a city license. So I’ll call the Humane Society tomorrow and see if there is a number on file. I don’t want to turn him in again because I think the fine is double the second time. I know last time he slipped out of a small opening (he weighs all of 3lbs, it doesn’t take much for him to get out, I’m sure) and they were worried sick. I’m sure something similar happened this time, too.
It was once again, pouring rain. He’s safely tucked in my garage in a crate. I’m headed out to get him a blanket for the night.
But how the heck we found each other again…well it is one of the mysteries of the universe.
Meanwhile…open thread.
CaseyL
He has spent the last year trying to find you and come live with all the cool kids :)
Are his people elderly? That might explain how he keeps getting out!
sukabi
You’re obviously his guardian angel.
RobertDSC-Mac Mini
I think you should keep him if you can.
eclare
Dogs know who they can count on.
John Revolta
It’s Kismutt.
rikyrah
This is so sweet ??
Yarrow
He’s adorable. Since the neighborhood message board worked last time, maybe check there again? Is he chipped? My local shelter will check for chips. Did that with a dog we found wandering the street. Turned out mom or grandma was visiting and somehow the dog got out when she was also trying to watch the kids.
SectionH
What a mess. No advice.
I’ve, um… removed a couple of cats from not-very-benign, well, gross negligence in the past. One was in a town in central Kentucky (she was the queen of our clowder until she died at 17). Pickles was about 7 months old at the time, and when we took her to vet, she was in the first stages of dying from a septic pregnancy. But it was early, and they saved her. The other cat was at least 15 yrs old when I grabbed her up in a not-quite-cyclone in San Diego about 10 years ago. Cali was with us for 3 more years. Warm and dry, well fed, not frightened…
That precious little guy? I guess if he learns to just head for your yard, it could be ok. But is he chipped? That could account for no collar etc. Well, it would with a cat…
But sorry, next time he could be not much more than a mouthful for a coyote.
@John Revolta: I’m jealous of that one…
TaMara (HFG)
@John Revolta: You win. Everyone else can go to bed now.
Belafon
Around here, people post on nextdoor.com about missing and found pets. There might be a setup for your neighborhood on there.
TaMara (HFG)
@Belafon: That’s the message board I’ve been using. He’s up there now. I’m sure we’ll all connect one way or another tomorrow.
BTW – with the exception of escaping once a year, he’s in great condition, well cared for and I know they are probably frantically looking for him. If the HS hadn’t been closed when we found him, probably could have reunited them this evening.
TaMara (HFG)
It’s a good thing I know his people love and care for him, or I’d be buying one of those puppy purses. LOL Nite all.
SectionH
@TaMara (HFG): TY for the update!
Aleta
He looks like he’s just arrived at Camp Ducky for a week.
Mnemosyne
I dunno, I have a feeling the little dude got lost and was wandering around trying to find the nice lady who helped him last time. Fortunately, he did.
It’s possible that he’s somehow shedding his collar when he uses whatever escape route it is that he’s found.
One of G’s family’s dogs was a neighbor’s dog that would escape and wander over to their house, and the neighbors finally got so fed up that they said G’s family should keep it. He stayed a wanderer at heart, though, and they had to keep an eye on him because he liked to bolt when he was given an opportunity.
Anne Laurie
Some dogs just have the runrunrun program encoded a little *too* firmly in their genes — and they can be real Houdinis about escaping, too. Our oldest rescue is one of that clan; within 24 hours of coming to live with us, he jumped out an unguarded window, fell six feet onto gravel, and had disappeared into a cold, mizzling November night before I could get my shoes on & go after him. Spent one of the worst nights of my life dragging the other two dogs around the neighborhood, trying to call his name loudly enough for him to hear and softly enough not to wake anybody inside the houses. Next morning I called Animal Control as soon as they opened… and, of course, the little fiend had managed to safely cross the third-most-dangerous street in the state and ramble around until a couple of college kids noticed him. They couldn’t chase him down on foot (“He’s really fast!” they told me), but he happily jumped into their car as soon as they opened the door for him…
That’s when I renamed him Zevon, after Warren Zevon, because of the smirk on his face when he was handed over to me.
He was five years old then, and he did get *slightly* less adept at escaping as he got older. But even at the age of almost-17, he still managed to slip between the Spousal Unit and a delivery guy requesting a package signature last fall, and take off down the street with that smirk on his face!
So, if it’s a once-a-year escapade, I wouldn’t worry too much about your little dude’s (no doubt properly terrified) owners. Zevon’s harness, complete with ID tag and the tag from his micro-chipping company, never comes off except in the bath. Maybe, TaMara, you should suggest they get a harness instead of a (much easier to wiggle out of) collar for Mr. Happy!
frosty
@Anne Laurie: I’ve only ever had one dog who didn’t have the runrunrun instinct and who would come when called.
We had a German Shepherd escape artist who shredded a screen on a second story window, got on the sill and jumped. We pieced it together from clues (why is the shrubbery all mangled?).
Ruckus
Ex had a beautiful german shepherd who would run through the woods east of the reservoir just outside Columbus, OH and if you saw her you’d figure she’d never come back. One whistle and she’d stop from a full run and come walking over to me. I have no idea why because I’d only known her for a while but she was one of the smartest dogs I’ve ever known. Once while at the reservoir and she was trying to teach her approx yr old pup how to swim but that one was the dumbest dog I’ve ever known and mom couldn’t teach her. When she came back to me after trying everything, she looked up at me and started shaking her head. I almost fell down laughing. An amazing dog that one.
Aleta
Serena
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⽕
Sab
We found a shepherd mix adolescent on a dog walk about a year ago. We brought her home, posted her picture on FB, and entertained her for about 6 hours. Our dogs were not amused.
At the end of the day our niece called us. The frantic owner of the newly adopted dog had been riding around all day (boyfriend driving) looking for her while sobbing.She finally gave up, came home, looked on the internet and found us.
Her dog barks at us every day when we go by on our dog walk.
Mnemosyne
@Ruckus:
Our youngest cat Charlotte has learned how to say “no!” loudly and distinctly when we do something she doesn’t like, like picking her up and putting her in her carrier.
She learned the word because we say it to her a lot since she insists on being a little stinker by jumping on the other cats, casually clawing the furniture, biting us, etc.
(I mean, it’s not like she speaks English in sentences, but she has learned that a particular mouth-sound means that we are annoyed with her and she makes that sound back at us when she’s annoyed with us.)
prostratedragon
“Song of the Wind,” Carlos Santana
Sab
@Mnemosyne: How many cats do you have?
I married a crazy cat man. He only had one then. Now we have five.
Aleta
I was in a cabin in the woods. Not that far from other cottages, but not that close to town. Late at night a dog showed up on the porch. Nice fellow. We talked to him (my sister and I), tried to figure him out, but he wasn’t planning to go anywhere else. Finally we brought him inside for the night. Pretended we had a dog for a night. Next morning we went asking around. Finally found someone who knew he belonged to someone who lived miles away. My sister drove him home. There’d been some fireworks and he jumped the fence and left. He does that, they told her. It was a long ways to run through the woods though.
Ruckus
@Mnemosyne:
A cat that talks. Damn. That sounds like it could be dangerous. Strange deliveries of catnip in the middle of the night and that kind of stuff.
@Aleta:
That smart dog? Chasing a deer at the time I whistled, running pretty much flat out through the woods from right to left. Literally stopped dead when I whistled and looked at me then calmly walks over to me, like she does this every day. She’d never heard me whistle before so it seemed like it probably wouldn’t work.
satby
@TaMara (HFG): yeah, I would be suspicious of people who “lost” their dog twice and who also didn’t have him chipped or tagged. Glad you know they’re good people, but a higher fine might make them a bit more careful. He’s too small for some drivers to see, and small enough to be easy bait not just for coyotes but hawks too.
Spanky
@satby: “Lost” their dog twice that we know about. Who knows how many times he got found?
Gvg
My sister adopted a hound mix with too much of the run run gene. Escape artist, escaped 30 minutes after we brought her home. All the extended family in town came to help us find her. The weather in Florida in July changed from hot broiling to a surprising really cold rain which is not normal. Cousins girlfreind got her car stuck in the sand on a nearby dirt road. It was a long day, but a never give up dog loving aunt found her.
My sister called the adoption agency to report and was then told she had run away from three prior homes but they hadn’t told us then. She must have been starving before because she remains a garbage can tipper and food hoarder her whole life that we had to watch carefully. The yard she escaped from was fenced, she got under a few inches. We mostly solved it by adding a secondary system of invisible fence radio shock collar. Luckily my yard at the time was fenced front and back with a driveway gate. After that, every place we lived had a double airlock arrangement of fences or screened porches around all doors and we arranged for pet sitting on vacations to come to her.
biff murphy
“I on the other hand got absolutely NOTHING done yesterday” … Dog and owner back together, probably after a scare for both of them. I would say you accomplished quite a lot. best, biff
Anne Laurie
@Gvg: After the second or third time Zevon pulled his Houdini routine, I became convinced that’s why an otherwise ‘perfect’ dog (housebroken, not a persistent howler, okay w/kids, cats & other dogs) got turned into the shelter, complete with five years of veterinary records. He’d just scared his first family one time too often!
The breed rescue group we got Zevon from apparently thought (hoped) that neutering him would solve his runaway issues. It does work for many male dogs — testosterone makes dogs stupid, too — but Our Little Runaway didn’t care about the ladies, he just couldn’t resist the call of the road…
laura koerber
Please so not return him. He obviously does not think of those people as “home”.
Another Scott
@Mnemosyne: My great aunt had a Pomeranian that could bark/say “out!” When one heard it, it meant “I’m going to leave a puddle or more if I don’t go out right now!!” so it got attention!
Cheers,
Scott.
zhena gogolia
Penzey’s messages are my favorites:
Percysowner
I have been very lucky. The two dogs I had that got out had run, run, run, in them, but they always stayed close enough to home that they came back within 5-10 minutes. They run in a big circle and seem to have a compass that points toward me. I also make them wear their collar at all times and they are chipped, so no chance of losing them even if the compass goes down.
I do hope the dog’s owners get him chipped. They can lose their collar while escaping, but a chip doesn’t fall off. This guy sounds like real escape artist.
Do you think your dogs would accept him? If so, instead of turning him in to the Humane Society, keep him a couple of days and post on PetFBI and message boards. That will give the owners a chance to find him. Good luck, he looks like such a cutie.
bluefish
Delurking to say whoever owns this cutie pie needs to get their stuff together and do whatever needs to be done to keep him safe. My dog was once that little. Gotta use your head! They are beyond lucky to have you just down the road.
TaMara (HFG)
@zhena gogolia:
I think this needs to be a rotating tag. I may make that happen.
Mary G
The saga of Popcorn has brightened my day. That name is perfect. One of our neighbors used to have a golden retriever named Bob who would get out and go door to door with his stuffed porcupine looking for someone who would throw it for him. My cats were not amused.