Accidental, Temporary Dog Acquisition

How does one accidentally, temporarily acquire a dog without stealing it, not once but TWICE? Honestly, I don’t know, but I’m the only one this ever seems to happen to.

The first time it happened, it wasn’t that weird. One of my neighbors had a new German Shepherd puppy that escaped their backyard. He just happened to spot me as I passed their house during a walk. He followed me around the block back to my house, where I gathered my mom and one of my brothers to come walk the puppy back to his home with me.

Last Saturday, almost the exact same thing happened to me again--it was even on the same street! This time, it was a Golden Retriever that was running around the neighborhood and the park. He ran up to me and just about knocked me over with his enthusiasm as he jumped up on me. The dog was super friendly with the people and other dogs that he encountered, but none of the neighbors that I talked to recognized him. He also didn’t have a collar.

(That’s an actual photo of me and the dog.)

So, because it was a hot day and because there was a classic cars show on a nearby busy street, I led him back to my house.

As I was walking him up the driveway, my dad opened the kitchen window and yelled out, “You can’t bring a dog home!” Which I ignored as I roped the rest of my family into bringing a bowl of water and a plate of Little Smokies out to the yard.

We have cats. Cats who do not like dogs. Our older cat, Talula, is a dark gray color. She sat up in the treehouse in our backyard and just stared at the dog the entire time he was with us. As the sky grew darker, Talula became less and less visible. Until all you could see of her were her little bat-like ears as she glared down at the dog.

(This is Talula. She doesn't understand that she can't go outside through a second-story window.)

Our other cat technically belongs to my brother’s girlfriend. He’s a long-haired, white, Munchkin cat named Scrappy. He is strictly an indoor cat, but he had a good view of the dog if he sat in front of the big window on our backdoor. Poor Scrappy is probably traumatized now since, at some point during the evening, that door didn’t get closed all the way. So when the dog put his paws on the window to say hi, the door swung in. The dog was just excited to make a new friend, but I’m pretty sure Scrappy thought he was about to be eaten.

(This is Scrappy. He's chilling out in a pile of plastic bags.)

Good news for the dog: a community officer eventually made it out to my house to scan for a chip and found an address for our furry friend. But it was bittersweet for me having to say goodbye to him.

As my mom was telling the story to my aunt, she said that she had looked out the window of our storm door at one point and saw me and the dog sitting together on the front steps. I had my arm around the dog like the two of us had known each other for years.