Every Dog Has Its Day.

We had a houseguest for most of last week, and she was a real bitch. No really... she was a little female puppy that was running in the street when Hobey and I were walking to the park on Monday morning. She had a collar but no tag, appeard to be healthy and maybe six to nine months old. Nobody was running after her, and I couldn't just leave her roaming the street, so I got her to follow me and Hobey home. It didn't take much coaxing. She was very friendly and happily joined our conga line.

Mr. Remarkable Monkey took her to our vet to see if she was microchipped. She was, but the chip was still registered to Broward County Animal Control. We called them with the chip number to see if they could tell us who had adopted her. As it was Monday, they were closed, and the person who answered the phone didn't seem interested in being helpful. All he said was "the chip was never updated after adoption." Duuuuh! Ya think? But they have to have some record of who adopted her, right? I figured we might get a better result if we called the next day when they were open, so we posted some flyers around the neighborhood hoped we could find the owner quickly.

The next day I called Broward County again, and this time a very helpful gentleman gave me a name, phone number and address of someone here in Tampa who had adopted the pup. I called the number and got a generic voice mail greeting. I left a message saying we found his dog and gave our cell and home numbers, thinking surely he'd be relieved to know his pup was safe and sound, and waiting to come home. We didn't hear back, and because the address we were given was slightly off (the street we were given doesn't have the directional designation that was included), I wondered if the phone number might also be a digit or two off. So I Googled the name, and found a few area residents. We tried to contact a few of them, but got no response or the dog wasn't theirs.

On Wednesday I tried another internet search again, and this time found a listing with the same name and the correct street address. Bingo! That allowed me to determine the apartment complex the guy lived in. Since we still hadn't heard from him, I called the complex manager and explained the situation. I knew they wouldn't be able to give me any information, but I asked if they could get a message to this person if he did indeed live there. The manager was more than happy to help, and even called me later to let me know she had left a message for the guy.

He finally called us back on Thursday morning and said "Oh I gave that dog away a couple months ago." We asked who he gave her to so that we could get her back to them. He said, "I don't know... somebody in the dog park who said they wanted her." Riiiiiiiiiight. It's pretty obvious that douchebag dumped her. Poor pup! In the meantime we'd been fostering her, reluctant to take her our county animal services as the Humane Society requires for any strays found so that their owners can locate them. I wondered if they'd now make an exception since we already tracked down the owner and he didn't want her.

Hobey displayed an amazing amount of patience
with our exuberant visitor!

Now, she was a very sweet and affectionate pup, but the monkey cage is ill equipped to handle an energetic and poorly trained young dog. She wasn't fully housebroken but had the general idea. She also seemed pretty smart, but mischievous! She was a playful little thing, and she absolutely adored Hobey and wanted to be right next to him all the time. Little Goo (short for Goober) as we called her, would get in Hobey's face wanting to play. Hobey would growl at her, which she took to mean "Game on!", and she'd start swatting and jumping at him, wanting to play. Poor old Hobey is starting to have arthritis and mobility issues and couldn't get away from her. She was really too much for him. As sweet and loving as she was, it wouldn't be fair to him to bring a rambunctious pup into our home, nor would it be fair to her. So we had to find her a home quick, or we'd have to take her to a shelter or rescue.

Thankfully, after spreading the word and photos to all our pals and asking them to pass it along, a coworker of a friend called on Friday to ask if she could come by and see Little Goo. Said she'd been thinking about getting a dog for a while and wanted to come and meet her. She came the next day, and I think it took all of about 30 seconds for her to fall in love with her. Five minutes later, she said she wanted to take her home. Yaaaaay!!!

We kept the pup a while longer and packed up a bag with some toys, treats and food while her new mom went to get a crate and other necessities. And then she came back, loaded pup in the car and we had to say goodbye to L'il Goo. Honestly, I was a little sad to see her go, but so very happy and relieved that she was going to a good and loving home.

Little Goo... behave yourself, obey your new mommy, give her lots love, and grow up to be a good doggy!

As for the feckless wonder who abandoned her, I can only hope Karma repays him tenfold. Personally, I think he should be hitched to a truck bumper by his ankles and dragged naked through a cactus field, but maybe it's just me.