Can I Pet that Dog?
Yes, just don't let him drive.
Last week, my husband went off to run an errand, but called me shortly after he left.
“Come outside,” he said. “There’s something you need to see.”
I was up to my armpits in dirty aquarium water, so I’m sure I sighed loudly.
“I swear, you’re gonna wanna see this.”
Fine.
I dried off to head outside and see… this:
This is not our dog. It’s not any dog we’ve ever met before. It is, however, our car.
It seems that Husband was backing his car out and stopped to let a fellow pushing a lawnmower walk by. The fellow was followed by this dog.
Husband thought they might have been together, but no. The dog headed up into our front yard. So, Husband opened his car door and stepped out to say, “Hey dog, what’s up?”
And that’s when the dog decided the air-conditioned car seemed like the place to be.
He was a perfectly nice dog, and he seemed like he was ready for us to take him home, except we didn’t know where home was.
The lawnmower guy walked back by. No, it wasn’t his dog. It had tried to get in his car, though, and he’d not allowed that. It seems that the dog was following him around a bit, but the fellow wasn’t into helping him.
We got the dog water, and I got a leash and my son so that he and his dad could walk this ginormous dog around the neighborhood in homes of finding his people. But first, we had to get him out of the car, which we felt kind of bad about because he was really enjoying the air-conditioning. He even tried to lie down on the seats, but he was too big to fit. It’s only a Kia Seltos, after all.
My son decided to stand at the end of the driveway to flag down people to see if they knew where the dog lived. Fortunately, two people in a little car pulled over, and the passenger spilled out, gasping.
That’s my dog! My dog is in your car!
We told her how happy we were that she found us, since we were not keen on housing this fellow overnight. He climbed out of the car, and she was in tears, so happy to see him. He was nonchalant, and she put him in the back seat of the car while the driver, who may have been the woman’s mother, stepped out to thank us for keeping the dog safe. It turns out that his name is Mako and he had disappeared at around 5pm that day. He had been out for more than 2 hours when he hopped in our car, ready to go home.
While we were talking, Mako climbed into the front seat and sat in their car just as he had sat in ours. When the owners left, the younger woman sat in the back so the dog could continue to have the better seat. We laughed at that.
Husband and I were very much pleased to not have to take responsibility for Mako. But as the dog left, I thought about the mower dude who just ignored Mako, even though he was clearly looking for someone to help him.
Sometimes it’s easy to be that person. He had every right not to take care of the dog. He had no obligation to it, beyond the kind of obligation we have to others as creatures of the same planet, trying to live life at the same time. How far does that obligation extend? I don’t know.
Once again, the universe reminds me of the importance of being kind to others (and that includes animals). While we certainly can’t help everyone, we can all help someone, you know?
Anyway, that’s just a short story with a happy ending for your day!
Tomorrow I head off for almost a week in Arlington, Texas, at the Artistic Swimming Junior Olympics. We are ready to have a good time! I’ve made something fun for the team swimmers and parents, and we’ll see how it’s received. I’ll tell you more about that next week.
My new class is up for sale! It’s really not a class; it’s a fun backyard competition for dogs with some agility training. I’m doing this on my own for the first time (as opposed to part of a larger school), so I got to make my own sales page and such. It’s not perfect, and there are things I’d like to add, but with the time crunch I am currently under, I’m lucky this worked at all! If you are a dog person and you’re interested, let me know if you need more info. It’s going to be a blast, I think!
Recent Amazon purchases include my favorite leave-in or wash-out conditioner, and Purigen, which is an amazing water polisher for your aquarium, if you’ve got one of those (it’s on mega sale, too!). Remember that I may earn from purchases made through the links above.
See you next week!
Thank goodness you took care of the dog and happy to hear he found his owners 😊