Never A Dull Dog Moment

So here's the funny, coincidental story of my day yesterday. As I was driving home over the lunch hour, I came up over the top of a hill on Bob Billings Parkway and this little white, very wet doggy almost stepped out into the street in front of me. Thankfully he saw the car before stepping off the curb and he headed back onto the sidewalk. I pulled over onto the next side street and jumped out of the car with Hope's leash (which was still in the car from dropping her off that morning), half afraid that I would scare the poor little puppy and he would run away into oncoming traffic. Thankfully, I crouched down low and gave a whistle, and the little munchkin came running right into my arms! I leashed him up and walked him to the car, where he jumped in like he'd known me forever!

I got him home with the intention of leaving him in the garage while I ate, so that I wouldn't have to do doggy introductions or monitor his activity in the house or yard. He wasn't having any of that though. He was determined to go in the house with me, so I left him in the laundry room while I let Fresco out, but Celtic was completely aware that there was a strange, wet dog in our house. I let them sniff each other through a crack just to make sure my little stray was friendly, and since they seemed to like each other just fine, I let him out into the kitchen and then shooed him out the back door. Thankfully Fresco is super friendly, because the little white dog had marked about 10 places before Fresco even realized he was in the back yard. Fresco was slightly alarmed about the strange dog peeing all over the place--he sprinted straight at the little guy with his hair on end, but then stopped and sniffed and made friends as soon as he reached him. It was probably not super smart on my part to trust Fresco so much since I didn't know the little stray at all, but thankfully Fresco was very welcoming to the stranger!

I monitored them all from the deck for a while, and since things seemed to be going well I went back in to scooped up a bowl of cottage cheese (my new favorite food) that I could eat while watching them through the window. Pretty soon Fresco had decided he wanted to start wrestling with the little guy, which didn't work so well since there was at least a 50 pound weight difference! I went out to settle everyone down and took a few pictures of our visitor. He was a pretty cute little guy!

Celtic gets to know our visitor a little better.

He was such a little cutie!

Fresco kept batting at him, trying to get him to wrestle and play. Fresco tries so hard to be gentle, but the little dog wasn't having any of it!

I put the little guy in the laundry room for a few minutes so he could dry off while I finished my lunch, and he barked just once or twice before he laid down and relaxed. As soon as I was finished eating I loaded him back in the car and headed to the shelter. He was pretty good about riding in the car and only got into my lap on one occasion. Unfortunately, when we got to the shelter, there wasn't a lost report on him and he didn't have a microchip. For the first time since I'd met him, he seemed shy and scared when I took him into the building. I felt so bad, but since he had no collar or tags it would have been difficult for me to go looking for his family! I know the shelter will be the best place for his family to come looking for him. Plus, I knew it wouldn't be good to keep him at home once Hope got home from the hospital. She usually thinks small dogs are toys and probably would have started swinging him around by his tail. He definitely picked the right Hope-free day to be a visitor at our house!