They say timing is everything and how true that was today.
I work part time as animal control for a very, very tiny municipality. Borderline Unincorporated. I have been on for almost a year and never had dogs I could not find the owner for or whose owner has not come forth to claim them after half of a day. That all changed last Friday after catching 2 the same day, hours apart from each other. That’s rare.
A part of the ordinance states after the City 3 day hold period I am to take them to a vet to be put down. I’m a dog guy (obviously) and I refuse to allow that to happen. So after that 3 days, these dogs are on me and not the City.
Day 4 arrived. I’ve had several inquiries about both city dogs. Brunno (a huge pit and his temporary name) got a first attempt the evening of day 3 and was brought back within an hour. A blessing in disguise it was. I had potential homes for both lined out on Day 4 but my conscious was eating at me to get them checked for chips first. Which is a huge process and ordeal considering I live 30 miles from anything but I’d hope someone would do the same for me if it were my dogs…so it was bothering me to not do that yet still adopt them out.
I went back and forth for a couple hours debating on delaying adoptions or going through with them without chip checks. That back and forth, the fail yesterday for Brunno, me refusing to take them to be put down today…it was all a delay by fate itself. I struggle with fate, destiny and the meant to be mentality but I can’t deny some universe cosmic voodoo involvement on this one.
I convince myself I’ll buy a reader out of my pocket and as I’m looking at them online, suddenly out of the blue I get a message that someone is looking for these dogs. They just moved to town. A neighbor told them they saw their dogs on FB. Turns out Brunno literally pushed an unsecured outdoor kennel off its foundation to escape. She was scared a farmer shot Brunno or something. How she was 3 blocks away and did not hear them constantly barking is a mystery.
Before she showed up I spent a little time with both. Casper (a smaller Husky mix and his temporary name) and I formed a nice bond over the past 3 days. He was reported aggressive…pfft. Not in any way. Casper was caught laying next to Brunno’s kennel after I caught Brunno earlier that day. I suspected they were together and was hoping they weren’t dumped together.
The day before, some kids stopped me while on our evening walk and wanted to pet Casper. While not aggressive he is scared and nervous. I and he were both nervous but allowed it and those kids LIT UP and had a full blown little kid conversation with me while petting him. Casper secretly enjoyed it too, I could tell. It was a nice moment and experience for all of us and made the past few days completely worth it. Kennel destruction repairs and all.
So bon voyage BIGGIE and JACK (their actual names)! You were both sweethearts but it will be nice to get back to my daily routine and let go of some dog stress, foooor suuuure.