Every day, with few exceptions, Renn gets a nice long walk around the neighborhood, park nearby, and walking trail. Total walk time in one circuit is 30 to 40 minutes depending on how long he stops to sniff and how many other doggies he meets. This walk is one of the best parts of my day because it is relaxing, healthy, and I just like being outside. Interestingly enough, although we walk the same circuit, it does not get boring. We can generally find fun things to keep us occupied. One thing that Renn is especially good at is attracting lost doggies.
Our first lost dog encounter was quite some time ago. We walked past an apartment complex off the trail and two dogs came running up. One was an adult chihuahua, and the other was a young medium sized mix of some kind. I was a little annoyed because I saw two people standing about 50 yards off, and I thought the two dogs belonged to them. It's not cool to just let your dogs run around without leashes around here. However, the two individuals looked my direction and then turned and went inside an apartment. Apparently these two little guys did not belong to them. I continued on my walk thinking that the dogs would go back to their home; however, they just kept following me and Renn. Renn was perfect during this time. A true pack leader! We couldn't take them home with us, so I had Renn follow me to the office of the apartment complex, and the doggies followed him. The office workers had been watching us and were already ready to take the dogs into the office.
Lost dog encounter number two was not too long after that. Again, two little ones came running up. Fortunately, this time both had collars and tags. I took Renn's leash off of him and put it on the more skiddish of the two strangers so she wouldn't run farther away. Then I called the number on their tags on my cell. Turns out, their home was in the neighborhood, but their family was moving and leaving all the doors open in order to take things out of the house easily. I walked one of the lost dogs while Renn and the other followed us back to their house. The owner seemed really embarrassed and thanked us (well, he really only thanked me, but I'm sure he meant Renn as well) for bringing his dogs back.
Those two encounters happened in 2009. This year has been about the same for finding lost animals.
Last month, on the street behind us an older dog came up to Renn and I. We were very lucky that a father and his son were out in the schoolyard next to where we were walking, because they recognized the dog and said it belonged to a family a few houses down. That was easy enough to resolve. I just put the leash on the other dog instead of Renn, and we walked to the house in question. The family was home and took the dog back in.
Two weeks ago, a lost dog came running up to Renn and I. It was a male mix of some kind and yellow/white in color. It looked pretty healthy, but it didn't have a collar or tags. I saw a young kid (maybe 17 or so) running up to us, and I assumed it was his dog. But, he told me that he had been chasing it for a few hours in order to rescue it and take it home. By that time, the dog had already trotted a few paces away, so I wished the kid good luck, and Renn and I went about our walk.
Then yesterday, we were once again on our familiar path. A female Shepherd mix came sprinting up to us out of nowhere to say hello. She had a collar, but no tags. As there were no people out, I called Christopher to bring the car to pick us up so we could find her owners. She was super sweet and a really good back seat passenger. The first thing we did was take her to our vet to see if they knew where we could drop her off. Our vet (who is extraordinarily nice) first brought out his pet microchip finder to see if the dog had one. Unfortunately, she did not. So, he gave us a few numbers to call to have her picked up. The Animal Control rep was out, so I left a message while we drove back over to the street where we found her to see if we could locate her family on our own. We didn't have any luck there, but the employee called us back so we could meet her to drop off the sweetie. A few minutes later, we met with the employee behind City Hall where they keep their trucks. Our city doesn't have an animal shelter, so she was going to drive her to the next city to drop her off. By the looks of her collar and face, she was definitely someone's pet. Hopefully she didn't have to spend the night away from home, and the family called the local shelters quickly.
All these little adventures are fun but also a little sad. In the 7 lost dogs that we encountered, only 3 had any form of identification. Keep collars, tags, and microchips people! That way, the lost dogs can get home swiftly! In the meantime, Renn and I will still be walking our normal route corralling strays.
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