We recently lost our 16 year old Dalmatian Patches. Before you get too upset, I must clarify. He didn't die, we lost him. This was a very odd thing to happen considering, he is very old and quite decrepit and he generally stays pretty close to come, simply because he can't walk very far. One beautiful Saturday a couple of weeks ago, he disappeared. Michael went for a run and apparently Patch followed. We usually don't take him running anymore because it is too hard on him. He can't keep up. Michael didn't realize this because he has just started running and hasn't learned all of the tricks like putting the dogs in the kennel before you leave etc. Anyway, Michael got ahead of the dog. He turned around to make sure he was coming after he turned a corner and the old guy was gone. He turned around to find him and there was no Patch. We didn't worry too much about it, we figured he had just taken a detour into someone pasture like he often does. When he didn't show up, we went looking, no dog. We looked and looked. Finally Sunday afternoon, we were thinking the worst. The run must have been too much for him he had crawled away and died. We were sad, we had had this dog for years, and were upset that he would just be dead somewhere and we were not able to even say goodbye. We notified Karlee that her dog was most likely dead. She posted it on her facebook, this lead to the phone call.
"Hello, I think my sister took your dog to the pound" she said.
What!
"Yes, she found him on East Lane and he was walking funny, so she took him home, he didn't get along with her other dogs so she took him to the shelter"
Well, he walked funny because he is 16 years old.
It was Sunday afternoon so nothing could be done until Monday at noon, when the pound opened. Monday morning, we got the call from the pound, "We have your dalmatian Patches here, you can pick him up after noon."
We headed to the pound and were there awaiting anxiously to get this poor old dog. We were met by an animal control officer and the whole story of Patches wild weekend unfolded.
I was told that because they had picked the dog up, it would cost us $60 on top of the $46 we had to pay the shelter for 'boarding' our dog for two days. (you see it was over the weekend, so it was two days).
"We live in the county, I told her there is no leash law in the county."
she shook her head, "I am sorry, he was picked up on Dow and Lewis street, I am going to have to issue a citation for dog at large"
suddenly the pieces all fell into place. " He was dognapped" I informed her. My son had gone for a jog and a 'lady' who used to live in the neighborhood had been visiting her parents, she was headed back into town when she passed Michael who was jogging home, and turned the corner and ran across a dog that was so abused and mistreated that he was WALKING FUNNY!! She snatched him up, less that 200 yards from his own home, and just around the corned from my son. She took him home. My guess is, she got him home and realized that instead of rescuing an abused animal, she had stolen someone's very old dog. Her solution was to call the animal control officers and tell them she had found a stray, she didn't mention that she had picked the dog up in the county and actually transported him into town and the reported him as a stray. So instead of poor old Patches being able to waddle home, and sleep in his own comfy bed with the family who had cared him years, he was forced to go to the pound and sleep on concrete for two nights, wondering what he had done wrong.
At first the animal control officer didn't believe me, "I am sorry" she said, it said here he was picked up in town. " Just then, they brought Patches out. He came out shuffling like the old man that he is. She took one look and realized that this dog, did not walk the six plus miles into town, she checked with the shelter to make sure that we did actually live in the county and that unless she was willing to pursue dognapping charges, it was all over.
She let us off with just a 'warning' I guess we have learned our lesson, Never turn the corner while running with an old dog unless he is right by your side.
I feel sorry for the silly lady who picked him up, I guess I worry about people who keep their nose snuggled up into other peoples business. I am sure that on the surface, she thought she was an animal hero, the sad thing is, if we just assumed that he had just crawled off somewhere and died, and Karlee had not posted it on facebook, he would have probably been eternized, far away from those who love him, never knowing what he had done wrong.
Thank goodness for busy bodies.
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