Favorite {Photo} Friday--Madness

Last night before I went to bed, I wrote out a very specific To Do list of all the things I wanted to accomplish today. I have plans for Saturday which I wanted to head into completely guilt-free so I could enjoy myself, so I had a fair but do-able amount to accomplish before then.

I woke up thinking of the To Do list and was ticking away at it pretty well until 10 a.m., when I went out to meet the mailman (I had a stack of packages for him to take and send off to my Etsy customers, HOORAY!). It was then that my lovely neighbor, Roxanne, yelled out to me, "I wanted to let you know, don't be afraid..." and before she could finish, a big dog started bounding across the street straight at me. Luckily I trust her implicity and was not afraid, because this dog was... well, let's just say that I'd be intimidated if I met him on the street!

[Does he not look soooooo sweet here?]

The dog quickly attacked me with kisses and enthusiasm, and as Roxanne and I talked I learned the story... he'd been hanging out on our street since early this morning, being seen as early as 6 a.m. And he just hung out around our little cul-de-sac. He looked like a Boxer to me so I figured he belonged to someone; he looked healthy and well cared-for, except for around his neck... his chain had obviously dug into his flesh and he was bleeding a little bit, but he didn't seem bothered by it in the least. I checked (gently) to see if I could feel a chip and he didn't seem at all in pain when I checked his neck, but it still looked ugly and I felt so badly for him!

[See his owwie neck? It doesn't look too bad here but in person it looked really bad, poor guy!]

He wasn't wearing any tags but there was a clip on his chain collar, like he'd torn free from whatever was holding him (the clip was still there but hanging empty). And he was, AHEM [cough-cough], obviously not neutered, so I thought that maybe his, AHEM [cough-cough], hormones led him to tear himself free of wherever he belonged.

Since he followed basic commands and seemed very social, I loaded him up in my previously nice-and-clean car and drove him to the nearest Vet. I was hoping he was chipped.

I thought ahead enough to realize, "Hmmm, he seems very obedient, but maybe I should be extra careful..." so I left him in the car and went in and borrowed a leash (without locking the car doors). And then I had a moment of pure panic because when I came back to the car to get him he was no longer in the back! I honestly thought that someone had stolen him in the two minutes I'd been inside! But I own a station wagon and--DUH!--he'd gotten bored and climbed into my driver's seat! It was such a relief to find him! Thank goodness! He is a very good boy but did I mention hormones? Let's just say he got a little excited! :P

Taking him to the Vet (and exposing him to other dogs) made me realize just how much saliva Mr. Dog could produce in a very short period. I mean, seriously, have you ever seen Turner & Hooch? It was disgusting. He flung that stuff all over. {Barf.} He'd been relatively saliva-free for many hours, so to see the sudden outpouring and head-shaking-saliva-flinging was really... um, unsettling might be the best word?

Anyway. NO CHIP.

So I drove him back to our neighborhood and started knocking on doors. Nada. But it was quite lovely to see how our neighbors all responded to him! We have such nice and compassionate neighbors!!! They were all concerned about him and wanted to make sure we found his owners or another family to adopt him so he didn't get put down. (I assured them he wouldn't.)

Everyone on Facebook started telling me that I should adopt him. I wasn't in the market for a dog but when suddenly a dog starts acting like he belongs to you it's hard not to think of him that way!

When Jason came home I was sitting in the neighbors' driveway with him. Jason came down to visit and it quickly became apparent that Mr. Dog did not like Jason. I'd tried doing the whole, "He's a friend!" deal but Mr. Dog was not havin' that at all.

My neighbor Maren and I decided that we needed to take him in, because as nice as he'd been to us, he obviously had some aggression issues with men, and we wanted him in a safe location before Animal Control showed up, because we were afraid if he acted aggresively with them he'd be put down automatically. :( So we took him to a local shelter. We had to wait a bit until it opened back up in the afternoon, and in the meantime Animal Control (which is co-located with the shelter) decided to show up to their trucks. Maren jumped out of her car and in the nicest possible way said, "HEY DUDE, WTF, I'VE BEEN CALLING YOU ALL DAY?!?!" And the dude said, "Oh, ma'am, I don't think you've been calling me, 'cause I would have responded!" So we figured out the problem (we live just outside of city limits so all our calls were re-routed to the County which obviously doesn't give a flying EFF!!). But the nicy City employee took a look in the back of the car and said, "I know that dog!!!"

It turns out that Pretty Boy is named "Madness" and belongs to a woman in (we think) the neighborhood behind ours (Animal Control wouldn't tell us where she lived, but we didn't really expect them to). He did say that he's gotten out 10+ times this year already! The officer was very, very nice and knew right where "Madness" needed to go, although he did say that he'd take photos of Madness' collar injuries and the owner would have fines to pay before getting him back. Which I think is fair! And obviously Madness knew the Animal Control officer 'cause he went right to him with no problem! :)

So how could I possibly choose any other photo as my favorite this week, besides that goofy grin in the first photo? What a sweet doggie! I didn't get any of my To Do list done, but I *did* make sure a dog got home! Jason is convinced that he will run away again and come straight back to me and I have to say, his "owner" might just have to fight me for him then!! :)