Dumb Dog! Why are you following me?!

This week, I was served a reminder of why we are, at the moment, not pet owners. Don't get me wrong. We love animals. One of Lulu's and my favorite past times while walking is watching the gravity-defying Floridian squirrels scale trees and jump fly from tree to tree. We've even become accustomed to dodging squirrel poop just as we would do with seagulls and other birds of flight. (Seriously, we missed one by inches the other day)

 Tuesday, as I was pushing Lulu in a stroller and I had Reese's Pieces in my Baby Bjorn, I spotted an obnoxious and slobbery adorable Boxer puppy.  Lulu saw her at about the same time and we both began cooing and talking at it.  Which was all the permission the dog needed.  She came barreling towards us and accosted Lulu affection.  She appreciated this attention for about a minute and then demanded, "Go Away, Roofy!"  To which the dog took as permission to soak her with slobber. 

While trying to deflect RP from dog spit and full body hugs, I attempted to get her off of a very put-out Lulu.  By then, she was loved up more than she felt was necessary and started to tell the dog just what she though.

About that time, a car approach which prompted her to run head on towards it.  The car screeched to a halt and the driver gave me a dirty look.  Which provided proof that the animal was as dumb as a stump.

As we continued to walk towards the bus stop to pick up the girls, the dog weaved on and off the sidewalk/road.  As cars would approach, I tried to get her back on the sidewalk while shooing her home.  We were getting closer and closer to a very busy road...

By the time I picked up the girls, the dog stopped traffic, nearly got hit by 3 cars, ran into a neighbors home, hopped into one car and out of another (a man stopped to help me get her away from the road and had put her in his truck) and ticked off several of our new neighbors. 

The hope was that we'd find the owners by the time we got home.  No such luck.  We spent the next two days talking to neighbors and waiting for Animal Control to come by (apparently, as long as the dog is friendly, it isn't considered an urgent pick-up...never mind that the dog is hungry and stinking up my garage!)  With her penchant for charging on-coming traffic and the tornado 'extreme weather' warning, we couldn't let her go.  I gave it fresh water and as much peanut butter as I could, and even cooked it some ground turkey but the little puppy was ravenously hungry!

On the second morning, when I went into the garage to grab our stoller, this is what greeted me...

My heart melted a little bit.  But not enough for me to run out for a dog house, food and tags.  I was still ticked about the wet-dog funk that permeated our garage. 

Then swooping in and saving the day, my new neighbor showed up at my doorstep with a sign, that was asking for help in finding a lost Boxer puppy...and the people (in other words, disgruntled mom and dad) rejoiced!  

By lunch time, she was gone; returning to her very happy owner whose kids were about to appreciate their day a whole lot more.  I was relieved knowing she'd be going to her warm, safe home.  The girls were relieved that mom didn't drop-kick the dog after it destroyed all organization in the garage.

Our petless life returned to normal.

This experience, did however, cause me to reflect on the best dog there ever was...

 

Sigh.

I guess not all dogs can be as smart and wonderful as Beethoven.  He was better than Lassie, UnderDog and Wishbone put together.

At least I didn't have to pick up any dog poop.