But You Eat Chicken, Right?

This afternoon, I was relaxing on the sofa, reading a book with the dog and a warm banket. From the corner of my eye, I kept noticing something outside the window. When I stood up, I saw a dog running back and forth along our hedges. Since we live near a busy intersection, I ran outside to check for a tag and to make sure she didn’t run into the road.
She came right over to me and jumped into my lap, and I noticed right away that she had a very tight, broken chain around her neck. Clearly, she had been an outside dog that had broken loose. She also had a regular collar, but lo and behold, there were no tags. She was happy to have someone to play with, so I took her into the basement to warm up and try to figure out what to do. My husband had to use a screwdriver to get the chain off of her neck. She was thirsty and ate several treats, and she wanted to snuggle a lot!

Because of our dog Pub, we aren’t able to keep her. That poses two problems. 1. It is cold outside, and the life of a stray is no life at all, so we don’t want to let her back outside to fend for herself. 2. I am not comfortable giving her back to someone who is just going to tie her back up to a tree and ignore her for the rest of her life. She deserves so much more than that. We drove around the neighborhood for about an hour and asked people who were outside if they recognized her, but nobody knew who she was. We asked the few local businesses if anyone had called or come in to ask about her, but nobody had. Another neighbor said that she has seen her roaming the neighborhood for about a week. It was clear that she didn’t have a loving owner searching for her.

To make a long story short, we decided that the best thing we could do was to set up Bill and Pud’s big old crate and fill it with blankies, toys, and food. As of right now, she is staying in our basement, and we go down every hour or two and walk her and play with her for a little bit. She is absolutely adorable, quiet and sweet. She can’t get enough hugs or kisses, either. I have asked several friends and relatives if they are interested, but nobody wants another dog.

I am going to call a few more people tomorrow and see what I can find out about foster placement, etc. I desperately need to find her a home. She goes back in her crate when I ask her to, but she tries to talk me out of it with her big doe eyes and a snuggle. She is sleeping snugly and quietly right now, but I feel bad for her since she is down there all alone. I suppose it is better than being all alone out in the cold.

It breaks my heart to see animals who are neglected and discarded this way. She is a beautiful, precious girl, and I will see to it that she has a wonderful home. It’s such a tragedy that animals are just thrown away and left to fend for themselves on the streets. If anyone can help, please let me know. We think she is a German shepherd/beagle mix. She is probably 35-40 pounds.

Meet Annie: