Lexy's Story: Part 2

The last we left off, JJ and I were on our way home from animal control and I was torturing myself. Did I just make the right decision?

When we pulled into our neighborhood, there was a house a few down from us that had its lights on. Now, earlier when we had been going door to door no one had answered at that house. We decided to stop by and ask them if they had lost a dog.

We rang the doorbell and waited a few seconds. An overweight man opened the door and he was not wearing a shirt (GROSS!). He didn't look very friendly but I put a smile on my face and asked him if he had a dog that was missing. We told him we found a small, tan dog running around the neighborhood. He answered, "We have a dog but I don't know if he got out. Let me see if he is in our yard." I was confused because the dog we had found was a female. I was also irritated that this family got home and didn't even check on their pets. I know I may be a bit odd but I really look forward to seeing my Piper when I get home. The first thing I do is let her out and play with her. She makes my evening so much better!

So the man opens his back door and whistles. He waits a minute, closes the door and says, "Well he's not out there so maybe it was mine." I told him that the dog we had found was a female and he thought that maybe it wasn't his dog after all. I described the dog again including details about the color of her collar. After we talked for a bit we were pretty sure it was his dog. I told him that we had brought her to animal control and that he could pick her up there.

His answer? Was it "Oh thank you so much! We can't wait to go get her?" Hell no. His reply was, "Well we are just going to leave her there. We have been trying to get rid of her for a while and no one will take her." I was stunned. I stood there for a moment completely speechless. I explained to him that there was a chance that they would put her to sleep. He said, "Oh really? Well she just won't stay in our yard and she tried to bite my son once so we just really don't want her." (Side note: after spending a couple of days with her, there is NO WAY she would try to bite someone unless she was playing or extremely scared. In fact, there were times when she was with me that she was extremely scared and NEVER tried to bite me. He was lying.)

I was beyond furious. What kind of person gets a dog, throws it in the back yard, doesn't check on it when he comes home, and doesn't even know the sex of the dog? I snapped at him and told him that I would take care of her. There was no way I would let her be put to sleep. Thank goodness JJ was there or else I would have taken a swing at the guy and he was way to big for me to attempt that! I stomped out of his house and we went home. I took a shower and cried. I cried for the poor little girl that was stuck in animal control. I cried for the life she must have had. Now, I realize that there are situations that would be much worse. I don't think the man ever hit her. But her collar was too tight and she was very skinny. She was not socialized and was not used to other dogs or people. That, in my opinion, is not how a dog should live. Also, I want to say that I don't have a problem with people who keep dogs outside. There are some dogs that really enjoy that. I prefer for my dogs to be living inside by my side. I think that is best for me and my dogs.

After taking a shower (and crying some more) JJ and I decided we would go back to animal control the next day to see if we could pick her up. I would start calling around to try to find her a home. I figured we would make a few phone calls and this whole thing would be over. I am an idiot...