That’s Not My Dog

Late yesterday afternoon we had a visitor show up in the backyard. After having cats for years, I’ve always chased dogs out of the yard (and it annoys me when I step in their poop). Yesterday’s dog assessed the situation and came right up to me. And, then he gave me The Look. And, you know what happens after you get The Look.

I got him a bucket of water but he wasn’t thirsty. But he was hungry. Seriously hungry. So, I got him a couple of pieces of salami. He took them right out of my hand and looked for more. I looked at the tag on his collar and the number started with an area code different than ours. This dog was a long way from home. The better-half got on the phone and called the number on the dog’s collar. We found out the dog didn’t belong to the man who answered the phone. The dog was a retired foxhound and had recently been adopted by another family. The guy on the end of the phone was vague and said he’d try to find the phone number of the new owner. I went back in the house to look for something else to feed the dog.

I came back out with some meatballs from leftover spaghetti and meatballs. The dog ate them in big bites. I ended up giving the dog the spaghetti too. He burped his appreciation. Then he got some sliced chicken. That’s when the dog decided he’d met the right people and he needed some loving too.

I sat on the back steps and the dog stood between my knees and enjoyed a really long scratch and rubbing session. At one point I stopped to talk to the better-half and the dog put his paw on my chest. He wasn’t done yet. When the dog started to get that sleepy look, I stopped and he walked up the rest of the steps and laid down. He looked pretty worn out and a little uncomfortable. Since I am a big sucker, I went into the garage and got a big tarp out and folded it loosely and walked up the steps. The dog looked at me, stood up and let me make him a bed. Then he went to sleep.

I ended up going through the freezer and found some year-old chinese sausages. I cut them out of the package and boiled them. Then I took off the skins and chopped them up. He ate half of those in a few quick bites and went back to sleep. I saved the other half in case he ended up spending the night.

As we were eating dinner, the phone rang and his owner reported that she lives just outside West Point. West Point is about 40 minutes away which equates to about 30 miles and the Pamunkey River is between us and them. No wonder the dog was tired and hungry. I gave the dog the rest of the sausages since he wasn’t going to spend the night.

About 45 minutes later the owner and her two young sons showed up to collect the dog. We found out the dog’s name was Zeus and they hadn’t had him for very long. He’d been gone since Thursday. We said he’d been a good guest and that he could come back any time. They thanked us profusely and took Zeus home.