Dog reunited.
Sep. 26th, 2013 10:52 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
pen_gruntI don't want to have a dog*.
Don't get me wrong. I like dogs just fine. Love them, even. If you have a dog, I will likely go out of my way to treat it kindly and talk to it and pet it and play with it. I've logged hours of belly-rubs and ear-skritches and fetch-playing in my lifetime. I would never hurt a dog or be cruel to a dog in any way.
I just know my limitations, and right now our schedule would be grueling for a dog. It's a lifestyle alteration that I'm unwilling to make at this time and a responsibility that I'm not willing to take on.
BUT: If I did somehow end up with a dog, I would be a good dog owner--because I'm a responsible pet owner in general. I would groom it and trim its nails, it would be spayed/neutered, it would have proper leashes/harnesses/tags, it would be current on shots and vet checks, and we would house-train it.
People that own pets--that willingly take on that responsibility--and then do NONE of those things *really* piss me off.
We found the owner of the lost dog. They weren't even LOOKING for it. We had put signs up around the neighborhood--they didn't even walk around that far to see where their dog had gone.
When D came home from work yesterday, we decided to fashion a sort of leash for the dog and take him out walking to see if he would "lead" us anywhere. While out and about we ran into another dog owner from the neighborhood. We asked if he recognized the dog. He sort of shook his head in dismay and pointed to a house that's about four away from ours, and across the street. We took the dog up, hoping for that triumphant reunion...because, well, if MY pet had gone missing, I'd be really glad to have it come home.
The woman answered the door and shouted to her kid, "Hey, I guess your dog is back." The kid was about 3-4, and was pretty happy to see his pup. In the short conversation, the woman said things like, "Oh, I guess that's why he didn't come home last night..." and, "Well, he's going away on Sunday anyway." (I can't remember the exact wording of that last one, but it gave the impression that he was going to another home instead of a shelter or to be euthanized.)
The dog also didn't really want to go inside. It just gave D and I a bad vibe. We don't think he was being abused--because he didn't exhibit ANY kind of flinching/people avoiding behavior that abused dogs do at first--but the owner definitely wasn't *thrilled* to see him or anything. It explains why he followed me everywhere, cuddled with me all day (and all night) and was so happy to have attention; he probably wasn't getting much at home.
So that was that. Not much we can do. It's not the worst situation for a dog to be in (he has a little boy who loves him!) but it's not the best, either. We left him there and conspired with our next-door neighbor (who had almost taken him in, but I was the last to pick him up, so I was saddled with that responsibility); if he runs away to our door we're just going to take him in, not tell anyone, and find him a better home ourselves.
*Caveats: I don't want to have a dog right now, and I don't want a small dog. Maybe someday I want a dog, because I liked having dogs as a kid, I think it'd be nice for MY futurekid to be around a dog, and it'd be nice to have a running buddy.
Don't get me wrong. I like dogs just fine. Love them, even. If you have a dog, I will likely go out of my way to treat it kindly and talk to it and pet it and play with it. I've logged hours of belly-rubs and ear-skritches and fetch-playing in my lifetime. I would never hurt a dog or be cruel to a dog in any way.
I just know my limitations, and right now our schedule would be grueling for a dog. It's a lifestyle alteration that I'm unwilling to make at this time and a responsibility that I'm not willing to take on.
BUT: If I did somehow end up with a dog, I would be a good dog owner--because I'm a responsible pet owner in general. I would groom it and trim its nails, it would be spayed/neutered, it would have proper leashes/harnesses/tags, it would be current on shots and vet checks, and we would house-train it.
People that own pets--that willingly take on that responsibility--and then do NONE of those things *really* piss me off.
We found the owner of the lost dog. They weren't even LOOKING for it. We had put signs up around the neighborhood--they didn't even walk around that far to see where their dog had gone.
When D came home from work yesterday, we decided to fashion a sort of leash for the dog and take him out walking to see if he would "lead" us anywhere. While out and about we ran into another dog owner from the neighborhood. We asked if he recognized the dog. He sort of shook his head in dismay and pointed to a house that's about four away from ours, and across the street. We took the dog up, hoping for that triumphant reunion...because, well, if MY pet had gone missing, I'd be really glad to have it come home.
The woman answered the door and shouted to her kid, "Hey, I guess your dog is back." The kid was about 3-4, and was pretty happy to see his pup. In the short conversation, the woman said things like, "Oh, I guess that's why he didn't come home last night..." and, "Well, he's going away on Sunday anyway." (I can't remember the exact wording of that last one, but it gave the impression that he was going to another home instead of a shelter or to be euthanized.)
The dog also didn't really want to go inside. It just gave D and I a bad vibe. We don't think he was being abused--because he didn't exhibit ANY kind of flinching/people avoiding behavior that abused dogs do at first--but the owner definitely wasn't *thrilled* to see him or anything. It explains why he followed me everywhere, cuddled with me all day (and all night) and was so happy to have attention; he probably wasn't getting much at home.
So that was that. Not much we can do. It's not the worst situation for a dog to be in (he has a little boy who loves him!) but it's not the best, either. We left him there and conspired with our next-door neighbor (who had almost taken him in, but I was the last to pick him up, so I was saddled with that responsibility); if he runs away to our door we're just going to take him in, not tell anyone, and find him a better home ourselves.
*Caveats: I don't want to have a dog right now, and I don't want a small dog. Maybe someday I want a dog, because I liked having dogs as a kid, I think it'd be nice for MY futurekid to be around a dog, and it'd be nice to have a running buddy.
