I don't know what it is about us but somehow we seem to attract stray dogs.
Well, I know that part of it is that we're one of the only families in our neighborhood that spends any time outdoors at all. That means we're the only ones who actually notice that there's an odd dog coming around.
I think another possibility is that we live near the border of our county, which does have leash laws, and the neighboring county, which has no leash laws at all.
In the last few months, we have probably called Animal Control to our house to pick up a dog no fewer than 6 times.
One repeat offender is a large black lab who is rather aggressive. He loves to run around our yard, marking all our shrubs, rolling in the flower beds, and generally harassing us. He's a real nuisance. We call to have him picked up and a few days or weeks later, he's back again. He somehow manages to escape his electric fence over and over. I'm pretty sure he's immune to the shock collar he's wearing.
Poor guy. I feel bad for him. He's hot and miserable. But I don't feel bad enough to let him hang out terrorizing us.
And then there was this little gal.
She hung around the neighborhood for more than a week.
At first she had a collar but it had no identification on it. After a bit, the collar was gone, lost in the woods we think.
She was so sweet and precious. She loved to be petted and the children adored her. But she wouldn't come when you called to her and wouldn't stay put for even a short time without a leash.
She spent days and days roaming the woods behind our house. And running up and down along the treeline, howling.
Howling at dusk. Howling at 10 p.m. And worst of all, howling at dawn. Argh! We started calling her "Rooster".
Finally one day she came back up to the house and right up onto the deck where Amy Grace and I were reading a book. So we got the collar and leash and I called Animal Control.
In the meantime, we gave her food and water. And Amy Grace went from calling her "the Beagle" to giving her names.
Sarah.
Sparkle.
The kids all begged for us to keep her. And she was such a sweet pup. But without a fenced backyard, there was no way we could keep a wandering beagle.
By the time they came to pick her up, Amy Grace was a puddle of tears and misery. "But Sparkle needs me, Mama! I won't ever see her again!"
Geez, talk about ripping my heart out. Sweet pup, we hope and pray your real owners got you back and you are happy at home now.