Rover

Here is why we did not attend church yesterday.  We intended to go, but something got in the way.

Miss Sugar looked out the window and said, “There’s a feral dog in the yard.  Get our dogs inside or they might fight.”

We started using the word “feral” during the wildfires in our county.  In my post “On the Run,” I wrote about two dogs that seemed to be pets who were now on their own and looking for something to eat.  They were scared and took off.

Now we had another visitor.  I hurried to the back door, where our two labs, Max and Sadie, were lounging on the deck, oblivious to any threat.  I opened the door and they entered at a leisurely pace.  As soon as I shut the door, the strange dog came up on the porch, right up to the glass door.  Our dogs did not notice.  Apparently, they are not watch dogs, but they sure can swim.

The wild, feral, trespassing dog was wagging his tail.  Maybe our dogs had assessed the situation and decided he was not a threat.  Maybe they had already gotten acquainted.  Our visitor’s ribs were showing.  So Miss Sugar gave him a dog treat, which he gobbled up.

I went outside and petted him.  He was not vicious or scared.  He was glad for the attention.  He was brown and white, with freckled legs and floppy ears.  I did not recognize the breed.  He probably has more than one breed in his DNA.

Miss Sugar thought she recognized him as our neighbors’ dog.  When we say neighbors, we do not mean folks whose radio we can hear.  We mean people in a house we can barely see, which is across the bridge about a mile away.

So I tried to lure Rover into the Pathfinder with two more treats.  He did not jump in, so I took a chance and lifted him up to the passenger seat, then gave him a treat.  I ran around to the driver side.  By then, he was occupying the driver’s seat, yet he let me in without jumping out.

We drove to the neighbors’ place, which involves opening and closing a gate.  He stayed in the car as I took care of the gate.   We found that no one was home.  I had no writing implement, nor paper, nor anything to attach a note to their door, so we went home.  Miss Sugar provided pen, paper and tape.  So we went back.  This time I let him out of the car, intending to leave him there.  I posted the note and drove along the ditch road back toward home.  Rover gladly followed me.  He even forgave me when we arrived at Cross Creek Ranch at the same time.  I told Sugar that he did not act like the neighbors’ place was familiar to him.

So Miss Sugar called Animal Control.  We live 20 miles from town.  By the time the nice officer arrived, it was too late to go to church.

I was sad when the officer loaded Rover up.  He commented that he probably belonged to an evacuee.  We told him that if they don’t find his owner and he is put up for adoption at the Humane Society, we would be interested.  Since we didn’t go to church, we figgered God would like to know we were kind to one of His creatures.  I bonded with Rover as we hung out together yesterday.  I miss him today.

P.S.  The neighbor lady called later in the afternoon.  Her dog was with her.  She does not know whose dog we found.