Well, my 4th of July weekend is over and I’m back at the controls of this ship of fools! I hope that each of you were able to enjoy holiday and that you’ve eased back into the grind.
We had a Black Lab puppy, about 4 or 5 months old, wander onto our property on Friday (5th). He kept wanting to get into the jeep and I thought that his owner was somewhere nearby. I drove off and returned about an hour later and he was still here. When I opened the door he jumped in as if I was his owner and he was now at home! I ran him back to the house, fed him and gave him some water. The big, awkward clown (all paws and legs) had been trained to basic commands: come, sit, down, etc. I noticed that he had been neutered so I packed him back into the jeep and ran over to the vets in Leoma TN. No chip ! Back to the house we go .
Wifey is home now and, of course, falls immediately in love with the animal. I make up some ‘found puppy’ signs to posted them on the nearby roads. Wifey decides that we can keep him in the laundry room overnight. We do and find that the big guy is house trained. The next morning (Saturday) after taking the dogs out for a walk, where I discover that he loves to play ‘fetch’, he come back into the cabin as if he had lived there his entire life, jumps up on the sofa and, placing his head on the arm, falls asleep.
So now we have a real problem: my border collies do not appreciate the intrusion of this newcomer into their space. ‘Buddy’ (as I was calling him) went back and forth (he did not cower) with the collies for the next two days. We needed to find the owner or someone willing to care for Buddy quick. We were able to locate a rescue group on Sunday evening and called them on Monday morning. The kind soul that agreed to take Buddy in and keep him for a couple of days until either the owner could be found or a new owner could be identified. She asked us to bring Buddy to her home where we spent a little time introducing Buddy to her large poodle (Cooper). Late Monday afternoon she sent pictures of her kids and Buddy together and said that her husband fell immediately in love with him.
I sure hope Buddy is able to locate his original owner. It’s reassuring to know that if that does not happen then there are good folk out there that are willing to open their home to such great big loving clowns like Buddy.